The Legend of Zelda: Rise of the Reploids
by Evanlicious
Summary: The Triforce is no longer bound to Hyrule in this tale of swords and heroes. When a blue armored man saves a dark young girl from death, their paths become intertwined with the golden power, the legendary Master Sword, and the greatest evil ever known.
1. A Blue Light

**Author's Disclaimer:** I of course in no way own the rights to any of the following companies or the characters that they have created:

1. Capcom

2. DC Comics

3. Nintendo

4. Squaresoft or Square-Enix

5. Sega

6. Marvel Comics

7. Anything else I forgot to mention

Editor's Notes (Updated March 20th, 2009) – I've been doing a lot of other stuff. Graduated college. Working in real life. Working on some true fiction. So on and so forth. This story has become something so huge for me it's unreal, and I just keep learning the more I write and try new things. Almost 400k words now, and it probably will hit about 450k with the end finally in sight.

As an additional disclaimer to everyone reading this, I must warn you that it will not appear to belong in the Zelda category at first. Truth be told, it really didn't when I began, and I moved it here a while back. Though it started as a simple Teen Titans / Mega Man X crossover based on a few strange dreams I had had when I was younger, it evolved into a story that I thought the characters from many games deserved, especially ones like Mega Man who tend to not get a fair share in the storyline & plot department. This story is a crossover of Mega Man, Mega Man X, Teen Titans, The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy 7 & 10, The Adventures Sonic the Hedgehog, and a few others even, but ultimately the plotline is most closely related to that of the Zelda games, and that is why it is here.

Happy reading everyone. I hope you enjoy. Please forgive my early chapters. I've edited these only slightly so that I can preserve and observe my own growth from a very inexperienced writer to one who feels much more comfortable and fluent doing this.

**Chapter 1 – A Blue Light**

High above the bustling streets of Jump City, hovering just above the atmosphere in orbit of the Earth, a lone ship waited amongst the stars with a single passenger aboard it. This ship was extremely large for a single person, but unless someone happened to be looking directly at the ship with a telescope, nobody was going to spot it, despite its massive size. Perhaps only the most advanced technology would actually be able to penetrate the ship's advanced stealth systems. The being operating the controls figured that this wasn't likely to happen, and therefore he remained calm and cool in that respect. However, the man clad in blue armor had a narrow look in his deep green eyes. He knew that trouble was near. There always was. Mavericks, the rogue machines from his world that he had sworn to hunt down and destroy, were active on this planet, but for what reason he knew not. His computer readout of this Earth before him didn't show anything particularly special in terms of technology or in mineral deposits that could not easily be found in more plentiful amounts on other worlds. Frustrating him even more so, there had been no news on this planet of any attacks by his enemies, and while he was satisfied with the fact that no one had been hurt, it left him pacing back and forth on his ship, studying the movement patterns of a few Mavericks he had located, reading old survey records of Earth and trying to find some clue as to what they were doing.

A wave of anxiousness came over him. The man in the blue armor just wanted to go down to the planet, exterminate them and be done with it, but he was too logical and not at all rash enough for such an act of stupidity. He knew he couldn't do that without the risk of many lives being lost due to some photon missile launcher, planetary plaque, earthquake generator or whatever else he might miss should he dive in and start exterminating without a plan. The only lead that he had was a grid of where his ship's sensors had picked up the Mavericks, and at the center of their activity there lay a small island with a huge tower in the shape of the letter 'T.'

He paced back and forth, looking at the awkwardly shaped tower in an even more awkward place; in the middle of massive river splitting two halves of the busy city below.

"What could possibly be so interesting in that building? Looks like a bunch of spoiled, rich teens or some kind of corporate giant. Who else would make a tower shaped like a "T"?"

He let out a breath of irritation at his ignorance towards the situation.

"They do seem to have a lot of high-tech in there compared to the rest of the city around it, though… and then there's the fact that one of the five life forms present only partially registers on the sensors."

He rubbed his fingers across his chin and thought about this. His eyes rapidly moved while he searched for an answer. It did not take him long to come up with a theory.

"A cyborg, maybe? ……I guess it's possible. This Earth _is_ advanced enough for it. Either that or some small animal that's coming up on the sensors as humanoid."

Regardless of whether or not his theories on that life form were right, it didn't get him any closer to an answer. The Mavericks were far more advanced than any cyborg, and they would definitely have no use for someone's beloved pet. No, they were definitely looking for something else.

"Could just be information…" he wondered, his metallic boots clanging lightly with the even softer sound of a hydraulic hiss as he walked about.

The man in the blue armor had been at this search for nearly a week now, and his patience was waning. Deciding that an hour of rest would suit him well, he began to head towards the automatic sliding door that lead to his quarters. Walking down the corridor, his mind wandered, as it often did. This bothered him, because it always led him to think too much. He often wondered why he didn't just take his ship and live out his life somewhere more peaceful without all the fighting and chaos, but a strong sense of justice within him never ceased to bring his mind back to what he knew was right. As the blue soldier entered his quarters, he prepared his hibernation capsule in the corner of the room; his form of sleeping. The mechanical buzz and low humming noise coming from the capsule let him know that it was preparing, and while it did this, the man in the blue armor looked across the room at a sword that hung on a highly decorated mantelpiece. He stared at it in its gold and purple sheath. Postponing his sleep for just a minute more, he walked over to it and unsheathed the blade. It was beautifully crafted even though it was intended for combat, and the ornate design of three golden triangles connected to each other at the base of the blade always had a way of captivating him. There was no real need for a sword when the arsenal of weapons on his own body could defeat a small army, but when he held the sword in his hands, it felt as though there was a gentle power residing within it; something that felt almost legendary. It was more than enough reason for him to keep it. Out of all the treasures and relics he had collected in his several years in space, it was this sword that held the most value to him.

"What have you got in store for me?" He asked the weapon in his hands, hoping that maybe it would actually give him an answer. It of course didn't say anything in return, but he smiled at it anyway. The man in blue armor placed the sword back where it originally lay and headed for his own resting place, but he would not get the sleep he desired, for just as he was stepping in, an alarm accompanied by the ship's lights turning red alerted him that the Mavericks were on the move. He bolted for the door, but stopped and looked at the sword. With only a moment's hesitance, he grabbed it and strapped it to his back. His pace returning to the bridge was much faster than it had been on the way to his quarters, and when he arrived, his jaw tightened and his face was now very serious. He now hoped that the five inside the T-shaped tower, no matter how spoiled or obnoxious they were, could defend themselves, because three powerful mavericks were quickly converging on Titan's Tower.

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A light breeze blew across the short grass covering much of the Titan's island nearby the massive bridge raised across the river. Those driving across the bridge, if they looked closely enough, could see two of the Teen Titans on the beach getting ready to train as they regularly did, so they would be able to better protect the city they loved so much. One of the two, however, was not as enthusiastic as the other.

"Robin, I do not think that I can do this …" said a nervous Starfire as the Boy Wonder Robin firmly blindfolded her. The young alien, usually just referred to as 'Star' by her comrades, always wore a purple tube top and miniskirt. Not because she wanted to be revealing, but more because it was a common outfit on her own home world. Starfire was still catching on to many of the customs of Earth, and her seemingly infinite innocence made it so that it never occurred to her that others might be staring.

"Come on, Star, it's not all that hard," said her partner in training. "You just need to use your other senses instead of relying on sight. Listen to your opponent's move, and feel it when they brush past you."

His encouragement didn't make the young Tamaranian girl feel any better about the situation.

"Robin, I do not think that I will ever have to fight a real enemy while wearing a piece of cloth around my head."

"Don't worry Starfire, I won't go hard on you," the Boy Wonder reassured her. "All right, here I come!!"

The leader of the Teen Titans crept quickly around her in his red and green outfit with his large yellow cape remaining soundless behind him. Starfire stumbled around, trying to hear where Robin's footsteps were coming from, but between his light steps and the sound of crashing waves on the edge of their little island, she didn't have a clue where to start.

"Ow!!" She yelled as she felt a light jab to her side from what must have been Robin's staff. She quickly launched a shining green star bolt from her hand in the direction that she had been struck, but it hit nothing. She felt another jab in her right leg and launched a star bolt from each hand, but again Starfire only heard them hit the ground. After two more strikes, this time to her back, she was not interested in playing the game anymore. She clenched her fists tightly and flung a massive volley of bolts all around her.

"Whoa, Star!" yelled Robin as he strafed and ducked to dodge the barrage of attacks that were only narrowly missing him. "STARFIRE, STOP!!"

The redheaded alien girl ceased and took off the blindfold. "I… did something wrong?"

"No, it's just… maybe you _don't_ need this training," said Robin as he tended to the singed tips of hair on his head.

As Starfire handed the blindfold back to Robin, a dark figure floated across the ground wearing deep blue robes. Normally a visage that would be quite frightening, the two sparring partners knew that this was the ordinary appearance of their friend, and also their fellow Teen Titan, Raven. The only time that they needed to fear Raven was if she was angry. As she lifted her dark hood and let light shine on her face, the pulsating red vein on the forehead of her otherwise pale and colorless face revealed that she was indeed quite angry.

"Uh, Raven? Is… something wrong?" Robin dared to ask. She didn't say anything in response, but her eye twitched in fury as she brandished the backside of her cape, which was now full of scorched holes. Blushing heavily, Starfire backed away from her.

"Um, sorry Raven. Starfire and I… we were just practicing and, uh…"

Raven's silence said very clearly to them 'watch what you're doing next time.' They both got the point and moved on to other forms of training. Raven grumbled and flew up toward the top of Titan's tower, where she used her spiritual powers to phase directly through the wall into her room so she could change into something else, although it would most likely be another replica of her usual superhero outfit. She always wore a similar attire that she felt suited her best, which was like a long sleeve, one-piece bathing suit (always black) and a long blue cloak with a hood that reached down to her feet. While she was changing, she could hear the two remaining Titans, Beast Boy and Cyborg crashing about the hallways in the tower; probably playing some game they invented which Raven would undoubtedly find absurd and pointless. As she clamped the ruby brooch at her neck that held her robe on, a massive knock from the half human, half machine colossus, Cyborg, prompted Raven to open her door although she was reluctant to do so in the combined presence of he and Beast Boy. After already having one of her outfits made to resemble Swiss cheese, she was not thrilled to see her to fellow titans with ear to ear grins on their faces that were obviously asking her to join in. Raven was a respected member of the team, but her tolerance for ridiculous fun and games was limited. She was always much more interested in reading a good book or meditating.

"Hey Raven!" blurted out Cyborg, the hulking, half human, half machine in front of her. "I know you wanted us to clean out the fridge of all the food with the blue mold on it, so we found a fun and exciting way to do it! The way it works is, Beast Boy morphs into a freaky combination of three different animals, and if you can't guess what he's made of, then you have to eat one piece of the blue furry food!"

Raven could feel her insides steaming at the stupidity in front of her. "Or, we could just have Beast Boy turn into something huge and jam it down his throat, couldn't we?"

"Hey!" Screamed the small, green-skinned Teen Titan, "You KNOW I'm a vegetarian and that furry blue mold _definitely_ qualifies as some kind of weird, meaty nastiness."

"If you two don't clean that garbage out of the fridge and leave me to my meditating, I'll…" Raven couldn't finish her words before Robin's voice came over the sounds system throughout the tower.

"Titans, trouble right outside the tower! Get out here now!!"

Raven immediately sprung into action. Her eyes glowed white and her body formed into the shape of large bird composed entirely of dark energy. She then enveloped the other two Titans and phased directly through the walls of the tower just as she had entered. Landing herself and the other Titans right next to Robin and Starfire, she turned back into her original shape and raised her head to look at the challenge that presented itself to the Titans. The five heroes had confidence in themselves for all the victories that they had had in the past, but the three figures in front of them today looked somehow much more threatening than many of their other adversaries. Three strange machine-like… things… stood before the Titans, each of them inside what looked like huge tanks with arms and legs. The one in the center looked like a small man wearing a black suit of armor with a small t-shaped opening in the helmet, but the Titans were very disturbed that they could not see any face or eyes in the opening. He was obviously the leader of the trio. The machine in the tank to his left looked like an oversize metal bird, while the one to the right had four arms and a tail with a vicious looking stinger poking out of the tank it was riding.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Demanded Robin, as he was the leader of the Titans.

"My name is Vile," replied the dark metallic voice of the Maverick leader, "And if you do not remove yourselves from this island now, we shall eliminate every one of you."

At this threat, Cyborg, who was now much more serious, shifted his cybernetic right hand. His machine palm split apart and retracted into the sonic wave cannon that he used against the more threatening enemies, and Beast Boy used his shape shifting abilities to expand himself into the powerful body of a triceratops.

"Sorry, Vile, but the Teen Titans don't just surrender to anyone without a fight," grinned a slightly cocky Robin.

Vile was not even slightly deterred by Robin's words. "Very well, foolish human. Your blood will stain the ground you stand on, and we will get what we desire just as easily." He turned to his comrades, "Overdrive Ostrich, Magna Centipede… kill them all."

The battle had begun. The humanoid tanks that Vile's henchmen were riding surprised the Titans with their incredible speed. They both dashed towards the center of the Titans, causing them to disperse and separate. Raven and Cyborg were driven in one direction by the Overdrive Ostrich, and the other three Titans took on who Vile had called Magna Centipede. Raven launched herself higher in the air as the arm of the Ostrich's tank swung at her and only narrowly missed. Cyborg took the opportunity to strike the tank with his sonic cannon from the side, and as an explosion erupted from where his cannon struck, he slightly lowered his defenses, thinking he was already victorious, but the Overdrive Ostrich drove the tank's fist firmly into Cyborg, knocking the tin man clear out of the fight and into the bay. Raven, now fending for herself, flew several feet out of reach of the Maverick and the land based tank it rode in. Raven moved her arms with careful precision as she threw beams of spiritual energy at the tank, but they had little effect other than irritating the driver. Raven instead then tried to aim her blasts at the Maverick instead of trying to disable the tank, but she could not manage to get a clear blast at the fast moving target. She needed a diversion. Raven lowered herself to the ground, trying to make herself look like she was out of strength and the Maverick took the bait. As the giant fist flew at her, she soared into the air again and gathered enough energy for a single, massive attack intended to eliminate the Maverick, but when she turned herself to face her enemy, she stopped. The tank now lay motionless without its controller anywhere in sight. The dark girl in the air above dropped the energy she was building, and her guard.

"What the…? Where did he… AAAAAHH!!" Raven felt the steel body of Overdrive Ostrich clamp on to her from above and they both plummeted to the ground. Raven would not let herself be beaten so easily, and she phased through the ground, leaving nothing to break the maverick's fall. When her dark figure erupted from the ground, she was face to face with him. The bird-like machine smiled, barely even dented from the fall.

"Sorry to break it to you, little girl, but I can easily jump just as high as you can fly."

She began to glare back at him and his insult, but her stomach contracted in horrible pain where Overdrive's powerful leg struck her.

"Ugh…" she could barely breathe, "So fast…" She was lifted up by her neck, and no matter how hard she tried to release his grasp, Overdrive Ostrich held on firmly.

"Any last words before I rip out your throat?"

"As a matter of fact…" gasped the dark sorceress with what little breath she could muster, "Azarath, Metrion, ZYNTHOS!!!" Blades of energy danced all around and forced the beast off of her. As her lungs sucked in the air she was being deprived of, Raven was just slightly relieved to see that The Overdrive Ostrich was having a little difficulty picking himself up.

"Finally, I think I managed to actually _hurt_ that thing." By now, Cyborg, slightly damp from being tossed in the bay, had swum his way back onto shore to support his fellow Titan. He had learned from his mistake that it was going to take a lot more power and teamwork to take out this machine. The two positioned themselves between the Ostrich and the tank armor that he had previously been riding.

"Whatsa matter, bird-bot?" Taunted Cyborg, "Not so tough without the big guns, huh?

Unlike his leader Vile, the Maverick was furious at the smug expression that the Titan wore, but he was not stupid. "I've got more than enough power to crush you on my own, you inferior piece of scrap!" He leapt high into the air and spread his arms out, releasing bright energy blades of his own that rained down upon Raven and Cyborg. Raven easily put up a dark barrier around them both to stop the attack, but Overdrive's intent was very successful. He was now once again in the carrier tank, and the two Titans were back at square one.

Robin, Beast Boy and Starfire were not faring much better against the Magna Centipede. Beast Boy's Triceratops body, despite its size, was stopped in its tracks by the stronger arms of the Centipede's massive tank. Beast Boy struggled in a battle of pure strength as the tank arms held upon to his horns, and with one deft twist, the Centipede had forced him into the dirt. Beast Boy shifted into an Eagle and rounded about in the sky, preparing for his next opportunity to attack as Robin and Starfire stepped in for a round with the four-armed Maverick. Starfire's star bolts hardly left a mark on the tank, and those were on the occasions when she actually managed to hit her target. The Centipede's tank was just as fast as Overdrive's, and Robin hardly had a chance to fight when he was too busy dodging the machine's massive arms. Robin dodged a punch from the left and then leapt over one from the right.

"Star! Distract him!" Without even having to think about Robin's request, she began to fly around the tank in circles. The Centipede realigned his attention and swung madly at her, only hitting air while Robin climbed up the backside of the machine. He wished that Star could get the Centipede to stop turning the machine around because it was like hanging on to a wild bull without having any hands. The Boy Wonder finally managed to drag himself to the top, and the Maverick was still distracted by Starfire's mosquito impression.

"Great!" Thought Robin as he reached into his utility belt for his ice explosives, but stopped when he felt to cold, metal hands grasp his shoulders. The Centipede had grabbed Robin with the two arms that had been lying dormant while he used the other two to continue to attack Starfire! Robin was flipped around to the Maverick's front side. Robin braced his body as best he could as the machine's solid steel head came crashing into his face.

"AUGH!!" Robin landed hard on the ground and he could feel blood leaking out of his nose. His head was throbbing, and the next thing he could focus his eyes on was the massive leg of Centipede's tank about to crush him.

"LEAVE… HIM… ALONE!!!" Starfire screamed. She lifted the foot away from her friend with her incredible strength and tossed it aside. The Centipede's eyes widened in surprise and he struggled to regain control over his carrier armor, but the Tamaranian girl was quickly upon him. A powerful laser from her eyes knocked the Maverick away from the controls, and she dove on top of him, which proved to be a fatal mistake.

Starfire felt a sharp stinging in her back, followed by a deep burning in her whole body. A very small hole was left in her lower back where Magna Centipede had injected her with poison from the stinger on his long tail. Starfire's body felt weak and limp. She could barely move, and her eyes began to roll into the back of her head. The Maverick tossed the Tamaranian aside like a rag doll and reactivated his tank once again; more than eager to get back into the fight.

The Titans took a moment to fall back and breathe. They were losing this battle, and the ones on the battlefield who were still able to move knew this. Robin and Starfire could barely move, and were only narrowly grabbed away from death by two massive claws of the eagle shaped Beast Boy. The changeling himself was sore, and Cyborg was damp and beaten. The dust settled as the strange machines in their tanks waited for the Titans to make the next move.

But Raven heard something in her ear. It was a quiet, malicious snicker. Someone quietly laughing as if this bloodshed were amusing. She cocked her head and saw where it was coming from. It came from the machine in the black armor with the faceless visage, Vile. He stood at the edge of the battle, not having moved once since it started, and the idea of killing the Titans entertained him in such a way that was only matched by some of the worst threats that the fivesome had fought over the years. Raven's anger welled up inside her as she looked at Vile's empty face. Her body tightened and she screamed.

"ENOUGH!!" Dark energy flew out around her and began to consume the tanks of both Magna Centipede and Overdrive Ostrich. The two mechanized beings couldn't maintain control over their weapons, and they both bailed out of the way of Raven's fury, leaving their machines at her mercy. The arms on one of the tank armors began to slowly rip off under Raven's influence, but their durability took an enormous toll on Raven's strength.

"RAVEN, LOOK OUT!!" Shouted the changeling from behind, But Beast Boy's words were not enough. Vile saw that he would actually have to dirty his hands in order to finish off the Titans, and he had decided to start with the Titan that posed the greatest threat. The dark sorceress did not realize what was happening to her until it was too late. Vile's tank had grabbed her by the torso and smashed her body into the ground. She felt intense pain from so many places; she felt a rumble through her body from a bone breaking somewhere, but she did not even have enough time to tell where it was before she was picked up again by the monstrous Maverick. Vile began to smash her into the ground over and over again, so brutally that she could barely even think. Her friends rushed to her aid, but the instant they approached her they were beaten back by the free arm of Vile's powerful tank.

"LET HER GO!!" Beast Boy screamed as his body expanded into a powerful T-Rex. The massive reptile roared and showed his teeth at Vile, but the changeling's mere size would not take down this cunning enemy. Now a huge target for Vile, Beast Boy was easily struck by an electrical burst from the laser weapon mounted on Vile's shoulder. Beast Boy was not severely hurt by the blast, but he was forced to change back to his human form, and his body twitched as the electrical surges immobilized him.

Raven could barely see through the hot tears in her eyes. She was afraid. Vile was so horrible, so brutal. Her body smashed into the ground again. She had never experienced anything so physically painful, but she was afraid, too. Her friends couldn't save her. She couldn't see anything anymore, but she could hear her friends failing to save her. She felt her ribs breaking worse with every impact, and she could feel dampness on her body that could only have been from her own blood. Raven was losing consciousness, and just as she was on the verge of death, Vile lifted her up high for one final blow. The young sorceress, with her last bit of thought before she blacked out, knew that something must have happened. Vile did not finish her off. In fact, she thought she even felt the grip on her body loosen. As she collapsed in a heap on the ground, she knew that either one of her friends had saved her, or that she was already dead.

Standing between the battered girl and Vile was the man in the blue armor, holding out the sword he had used to cleave the tank's arm clear off of its body. If Vile had a face that could actually show any expression, it would have been of the most deep and intense hatred that one could feel. He clenched his fists so tight at the blue Maverick Hunter standing before him that he almost twisted his own metallic fingers. The other two Mavericks almost seemed afraid.

"Damn you, Mega Man X!" He spat at the man in blue armor, "Why must you always come between your fellow reploids and what we deserve?"

"Because it involves slaughtering innocent people," countered Mega Man X. "Now Vile, let me ask you a question. How many times do I have to kill you before you stay dead?"

"I told you, Maverick Hunter, that I would haunt you until the day you die, and I intend to keep that promise!!"

Vile exuded an aura of power, but he was not confident in his chances of beating Mega Man X, especially with the help of Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Robin, who had all managed to gather themselves again. He tapped a device on his wrist and began to retreat towards the edge of the water with his comrades where a massive ship began to surface. Mega Man X and the remaining Titans started for them, but they could not reach Vile with the speed of his carrier armor, and the Magna Centipede simply vanished when Cyborg used his sonic cannon at him. Overdrive Ostrich was fast on his own, but not fast enough to escape the concussive blasts of Mega Man's X-Buster on his arm. Overdrive realized that his fellow Mavericks were already on the ship with the bay doors closed. They had abandoned him, leaving him in X's hands. Mega Man X and the Titans did not show mercy on him. Beast Boy now towered over the Ostrich, once again as the giant, green T-Rex, and the changeling used his massive jaws to clamp down on the machine and toss it in the air so that Cyborg could finally make a successful hit with his sonic cannon. Robin followed by jamming an ice explosive down the bird's throat before it could recover from Cyborg's attack. The explosion contained within him caused him to shake and malfunction. Sparks shot out of the Ostrich and there were electrical surges across his body. It only took one more blow grand blow to finish him off. Mega Man X's body was glowing brightly as he charged enough energy for the finishing blow. With a shout, he released a ball of blue and green energy from his right arm that completely consumed the Maverick. Those left standing in the battle covered their eyes as the machine blew into pieces. After the explosion had cleared, Robin could see this person known as Mega Man X glowing as small rays of light seemed to join with his body from where the Ostrich had been. He wasn't sure what to think about their savior standing before them…

Silence accompanied the air as the dust settled, and the Titans relaxed their sore bodies, but only for a moment, because they knew that two of their friends were hurt, and badly.

Robin rushed over to where Starfire lay and lifted her head up off the ground. Her body was covered in cold sweat and her skin was tinted as purple as her oufit. "Hang in there, Star," he said softly with worry in his eyes.

Mega Man X was not as concerned. "Don't worry, just get her inside and give her some antibiotics, and she'll be fine." Robin looked at X and did as he was told, knowing that he had no choice but to listen to the person who had just saved their lives.

Cyborg and Beast Boy were not far away, trying to tend to Raven, but the blood stained heap of the pale Teen Titan looked beyond help.

"Cy… how bad is she? She can heal herself like always, right? Right?!"

Cyborg did not even have to look at his sensor readout to tell how bad it actually was. Raven was dying. She was too close to death to put herself into a healing coma.

"B.B… I don't think there's anything we can do, man."

Neither Cyborg nor Beast Boy wanted to believe that they were going to lose their friend. They sat in silence, holding back tears as they looked at her twisted, bleeding body. Mega Man X stared at her a few feet from behind Beast Boy. He hung his head and closed his eyes. A hand went to the red jewel placed in forehead of his armor, and he knew what he had to do.

"Move," He commanded Beast Boy and Cyborg, "I'm going to try to save her." They didn't even know who this man in blue armor was, but they figured he was her only hope.

Mega Man X knelt down beside her and placed his hands just above Raven's broken body. X prayed to himself.

"Please, let this work. Please, let this work!"

The jewel on his forehead began to resonate. It was glowing, faster and faster, and it released a high pitched humming sound. He was taking huge breaths, preparing himself for what he was about to do. He muttered under his breath.

"Almost, almost. Just a few seconds more…… NOW!"

X placed his hands down on Raven's body, and her eyes opened wide and she screamed so loud that neither X nor could the Titans hear anything else. A bright light surrounded them both, and she could feel every wound and every broken bone in her body with ten times the amount of pain she had suffered when it was happening, but as she screamed, X started to scream in pain, too. Her broken bones started to come back together, and X's body began to break apart. The blood stained areas on her body started to seal up, and X's outsides began to rip open. The screaming from them both only lasted a few seconds longer, and then it stopped. Cyborg and Beast Boy squinted, trying to see something; anything. Once the light had faded, they looked at what had happened, and they could not believe their eyes. Raven and X were now both in dire shape, but they would live. Raven's injuries had lessened, and X's had become much greater.

"There…" panted X. He tried to fight the pain, but his face began to glaze and his limbs were limp. Slowly, he lay down next to Raven and shut his eyes.


	2. Bonded

**Chapter 2 – Bonded**

There was darkness all around. And there was silence. At least, he thought there was silence. Faint voices seemed to be creeping in from somewhere in the back of his mind.

"Ugh… I feel like I've been hit by a plane…… what?" He though he heard something whisper to him weakly. He was sure of it, but he couldn't make out what it was. "Who's there? …I'm sorry, I can't understand what you're saying."

He listened as hard as he could.

"Maybe it's not someone saying something," he thought as he focused on the sound. "Maybe it's someone… crying?"

X's vision was blurred as he opened his eyes. His head was pounding, along with much of the rest of his body. He could feel the tingle and itch of where his wounds were healing themselves, and judging by the difference in pain between now and before he had collapsed, he knew he had been unconscious for at least a day or two. X focused his sight and realized he was staring at a ceiling. He didn't really feel like moving; it hurt too much to move, but he had to find out where he was. X wriggled his arms upward, but they wouldn't go anywhere that he wanted them to move. Tilting his head up, he could see that he was barred tightly to the medical bed that he had rested in. He tried to forcefully pry up his arms and legs to break the bonds on him, but he quickly found himself in no shape to do so. X was further dismayed when he realized that a device on his right arm kept him from using his X-Buster, the cherished weapon that had been with him all his life that he could normally replace his right hand with. Feeling pathetic and defeated, he had no other choice than to lay there until either his captors came or until he gained enough strength to break the solid metal restraints from their place, and he was sure that the latter wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"_Damn_," he said to himself, "_Wonder if more Mavericks came and wiped out those kids? And that girl… I sure hope I didn't try to save her for nothing_."

A curtain divided one half of the room from the other, limiting X's knowledge of his whereabouts. He couldn't see or hear anybody in there with him. Where had those voices come from? X did hear the sound of rain hitting a window somewhere accompanied by the occasional rumble of thunder. It must've been on the other side of the curtain. Maybe the voice was just nature's noise fooling with his weakened senses?

A door swooshed open to X's left and provoked him to turn his head toward it.

Two of the humans he had fought against the Mavericks with entered the room. The first was the small boy with spiked black hair wearing a red and green jumpsuit with a cape. The second was a bald, dark-skinned, massive being that appeared to be half human and half machine. He focused the single organic eye at X intently.

"_At least that explains the sensor readout,_" X thought, although being taken prisoner seemed to take the satisfaction out of the mystery being solved.

"Good, you're awake," The caped one greeted him harshly with Cyborg following behind him. "We've got some questions for you."

He didn't like the looks on their faces. X was then struck by a terrible realization

"_Oh no,_" he thought. "_The_ _girl probably didn't make it and now I'm being held responsible_."

"We didn't restrain you at first," Cyborg added, "but things have changed since the battle a few days ago."

X's eyes softened. "Look, I'm really sorry your friend didn't make it. I was just trying to help." He felt like a failure. Because he held off too long trying to find out their plans, the Mavericks were able to kill an innocent human. That was another death that weighed on his shoulders.

"She isn't dead," said Robin, and he pulled the curtain back from X's right, and the blue armored robot sighed with relief.

There she was, lying in another bed right next to him the whole time. X's face livened and a surge of adrenaline rushed through the sore limbs, numbing the pain. She was alive! The girl was no longer in her hero outfit, but instead in a light smock, the kind of one that hospitalized humans normally wear for convenience to the medical staff. She had a mask on her face undoubtedly supplying oxygen to her brutalized body, and an IV needle was sticking out of the backside of the hand that was closest to X. The Maverick Hunter's enthusiasm began to fade when he saw that she was also connected to various machines that looked like, to him, somewhat old fashioned life support. After three days when she should have been healing, she was instead still dying. What had gone wrong?

"What happened? Was it not enough?" X painfully asked himself aloud.

Robin raised an eyebrow at him. "Actually, we were hoping you could answer that. Normally, when she's seriously injured, she puts herself into a meditative coma until her body is mostly healed."

"She's not doing it now?" said a puzzled X.

"She's in a coma alright," the angry Cyborg said, "But she's not healing herself at all. She's slowly been getting weaker over the past few days, and now we have to resort to life support just to keep her going. At this rate, she probably won't last more than another week. And what was really strange was when we tried to move you somewhere more secure yesterday…"

"What happened?"

"We're not really sure," said Robin. "Both you and her started to toss and turn violently in your sleep. The jewel on your helmet started glowing, and so did the chakra on Raven's forehead."

It didn't make any more sense to Mega Man X than it did to Robin. He didn't know anything about this girl; the jewel on his head normally only glowed when he was in danger. Maybe it had something to do with those voices he had been hearing? X shook his head. This was too strange, and he couldn't concentrate; he was still too weak to uncloud his judgment.

"I'm sorry," pleaded X, "I don't know what's wrong with her. All I did was try to heal her wounds using my body, and it looks like that worked. I don't know anything else."

"Can you do that healing thing again?" replied Cyborg.

"Absolutely not. I'm still in terrible shape. I'd probably end up killing both of us if I tried to do that now. Besides, it doesn't seem like there's anything physically wrong with her that shouldn't heal itself."

X wished that he could fix the problem like that, but the strain on his body was probably too much to even attempt it. He was not a doctor, either, and there was not another soul on his ship who could diagnose the real problem. The Titans looked at each other, trying to decide whether or not he could be trusted. They needed to find out more if they were even going to have a chance at saving Raven.

"Ok then," said Cyborg, interrupting the moment of silence that had transpired, "how 'bout telling us what exactly you are? We thought that you were human because of your face, but we got quite a shock trying to remove that armor of yours, and even though I can't make heads or tails out of most of the tech you've got," (a fact that he was clearly annoyed about), "I can tell that it's not much different from the machines that tried to wipe us out."

Mega Man X hated this question. The Titans had discovered that he was not human at all. He was in fact a machine, not physically far apart from the Mavericks, but his face resembled a human's thus creating the façade that he was one. It was not the first time he had to answer this question, and he detested being compared to the Mavericks. His eyes narrowed in anger. He was nothing like those vicious machines. He was not a ruthless killer, like they were. His body just made him guilty by association. X looked up at the two faces interrogating him. The Titans were still looking at him for an answer.

"I'm a reploid," he grumbled, "A highly advanced robotic life form. The Mavericks, the machines that attacked you from my world, are reploids too, but I'm not like them…"

"What makes you so different?" asked Robin.

It took great discipline for X to control his frustration. "I'm a Maverick Hunter. It's my job to destroy the Mavericks so they can't continue enslaving or destroying other races just to prove their own superiority."

Mega Man X made the last statement very matter-of-factly; such a way that probably made it sound very unconvincing to the Titans, and he realized it. He took a deep breath and swallowed it to calm himself. There was no point in letting his irritation make the situation worse than it was. An innocent girl was hurt by the Mavericks, and X felt it was his responsibility to make it right.

"Please, I have some medical experience. If you let me examine her, I might be able to do something to help."

Robin and Cyborg looked at one another with skepticism. They walked out of the room to confer with each other and left X imprisoned there in bed. Mega Man sighed and plopped his head back down. He tried to reevaluate the situation. First, he was trapped by a handful of super hero teens with his ship left in orbit; Vile and who knows how many more Mavericks were somewhere in the city searching for something that X wasn't even aware of, and then there was the dark young girl lying in a bed in the window.

X stared at her for a minute. He felt something stirring inside him as he looked at her body slowly expand and contract with breath. It was a curious sensation, like he already knew her; like they were two halves of one mind. X wanted to get a closer look at her…

"_Help me!_" A voice screamed inside him.

X gritted his teeth. His insides were tingling. He knew it had nothing to do with his injuries. He had been hurt more seriously than this before.

"Ungh! My head! What's happening to me?"

The pain subsided after a moment and X breathed heavily in relief. He tried to relax himself again and tried to think clearly. He had to get back to his ship and run a diagnostic on himself. He didn't need to have distractions like these while fighting the Mavericks, or at any time for that matter. What was going on? Did this girl have something to do with it?

Robin and Cyborg reentered the room with good news.

"Alright," said Robin, "we're going to let you loose."

Robin adjusted the controls on the wall and released X. The Maverick Hunter sat up slowly. He was sore, but he was happier knowing that he at least had freedom to move again as he wished. Robin held out his hand to make the greeting official.

"I'm Robin, and this is Cyborg. Welcome to Titans' Tower."

"Good to meet you. My name is Mega Man X, but I'd prefer to just be called X." He thought for a second and recalled that there were a total of five Teen Titans. "How are the other two doing?"

"Beast Boy, the green one that changes shape, is just fine. Starfire is still sick from the poison, but she's been getting steadily better, thanks to your advice."

"I'm glad," stated X. As he stood up for the first time in three days, his artificial joints ached, but he was more concerned when he realized that his sword was no longer on his back.

"I… my sword." X was desperate to have it in his care again. "Can I please have it back? I really don't like not knowing where it is. Just… could I have it back, and I promise I'll do everything I can to help Raven."

Robin nodded towards Cyborg, signaling him to get X's prized possession. The door slid closed, leaving X and Robin standing above the dark sorceress girl.

They looked at each other and then at Raven for a minute. They both had bleak looks upon their faces while they looked at her vital signs on the monitor across from her bed. The glowing screen told them everything there was about the girl's body, except how to help her live. Her scars and broken bones had been patched up or put into casts, but her own body could not or would not finish the job.

X noticed the chakra on her forehead that Robin had mentioned. It was a tiny red jewel, much smaller than the one on his own head. The dim light in the room reflected off it ever so slightly, and it shined across his face. The expression on her sleeping face should have been empty, but it somehow felt like it was filled with deepening pain. Mega Man X could sense it himself when he looked at her.

"X," Robin's voice startled him. The reploid had been completely lost looking at Raven. He shook his head and tried to ignore what was going on with his mind.

"X, are you alright?" asked Robin.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied. "Robin, look at her brain activity," he pointed at the top of the screen where a green line waved passively and then seemed to almost explode sporadically at random.

"We noticed that, too, but we haven't been able to make anything of it," he replied tonelessly. "She's not completely human, so it's not necessarily abnormal for her in an unconscious state. Her psychic powers might be causing that naturally for all we know."

"_Psychic powers?_" he thought."_The voices… that must be it._"

X knew he had the answer, but he did not like it. It was probably going to mean doing something that could endanger him and this young girl yet again.

"Robin, I have an idea of what might be wrong with her…" His enthusiasm was weak, and Robin easily sensed it in his voice.

"Why do I have the feeling I'm not going to like this?"

X looked at Raven fearfully. The answer he did want to share with Robin was that someone had to go into her consciousness and fix whatever had gone wrong. She was inside there somewhere, maybe hiding in terror from the image of Vile that had been burned into her mind, or maybe just lost in a jumble of her own memories. He just hoped there would be someone else who could do this other than him, because the danger of losing his mind inside the tormented thoughts of another was very real.

"Robin, please tell me you know someone other than Raven with mental powers?"

Robin searched his memory, but only one such man entered his mind. "The only person I can think of is Brother Blood." X looked optimistic, but Robin dashed his hopes. "No way, he's not going to help us, if that's what you're thinking."

"Not one of the good guys, I take it," said X. Robin shook his head.

Mega Man X took a long look at the girl. Even though she wasn't moving a muscle, something deep inside him knew that she was suffering. He looked at the tiny chakra on her head. Almost like a carnival mirror's reflection, the chakra on Raven's forehead was identical except for it being smaller than the one implanted into the protective helmet covering X's forehead.

He sighed, placing his hand on the jewel.

"Alright, then… I guess this is up to me. I'm going to need some time to prepare."

"X, is there anything we can do to help?" Robin asked. "She's our friend, too. We want to do all that we can."

Cyborg came through the door again holding X's treasured sword, now back in its glimmering sheath. Mega Man X took it in his hands and strapped it back on. He held onto the sword's handle behind his head and clenched his other fist firmly.

"No. If there's no one else with telepathy then I have to do this alone. I'm going to bring my ship down from orbit and land it next to the tower, if you don't mind."

"That's fine," said Robin. "Cyborg will escort you out of the… wait, how did you get here in the first place if your ship is still in space?"

"Like this." Mega Man X's body began to glow brightly from the feet up. The two Titans backed away from X when Robin's hair began to spike up from static electricity. X surrounded himself in a blue sphere of energy that released enough heat so that Raven could lightly feel it. The plastic mask on her face fogged up with the hot breath that came out of her lungs and her hand tightly clenched the sheets at the edge of her bed. Then X suddenly collapsed into a shapeless mass that uniformly shot up threw the ceiling without leaving a mark. Raven's brief moment of strength was gone as soon as X's presence had left the tower. It went unnoticed by the two Titans in the room with her.

"I don't like this Rob," said a worried Cyborg as he stared at the spot that Mega Man X had vanished from.

"I know, Cy… I know, but Raven doesn't have any other choice."

The two Titans didn't need to discuss why it was uncomfortable. They had been betrayed once before by a close friend, and it nearly cost all of the Teen Titans their lives, so their trust in strangers was very limited. None of the Titans wanted to experience that tragedy again, but Robin was right. The dark sorceress girl was lying crippled without any hope but the man in blue armor.

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The cars crossing the bridge in or out of jump city were accustomed to seeing Titan's Tower sitting on its secluded island out in the river, but many of the daily travelers who used the bridge could not help but stare in the tower's direction once the storm had cleared as they drove to and from work. Not long after the sun began to shine through the clouds and across the city, one such man's mouth dropped open at the enormous silver spaceship situated next to the tower, nearly as tall as the tower itself and significantly wider. It didn't look like a UFO. Rather, it had a sleek grace to its presence that caught many a passerby, and like a few others poking their heads out of their vehicles, this man neglected to pay attention to what was in front of him. He struck the rear bumper of another car with enough force to break it. The car in front came to a screeching halt and its driver nearly ripped his own door off as he burst out of it.

"You asshole! Look what you did to my car!!" The beast of a driver screamed.

The man at fault cowered behind the airbag that had been implanted in his face. It was going to be a very ugly scene.

On the beach of Titan's Island, Mega Man X sat, legs crossed, meditating. The car accident on the bridge was out of earshot, but it was petty compared to the task that X was preparing himself for. He tried to ignore all the sounds around him and just let the waves of water gently touch his blue metal legs as tide started to come in. The voices in his head that he now determined must have been coming from Raven were becoming relentless. Her pleas for help drove him to mental agony, but he had to try and meditate to ready his mind and body for the journey into her consciousness. X shivered at the visions that he could not fight off. The image of Vile nearly murdering the poor girl would not escape his mind. It instead stayed with him like a tiny parasite devouring his insides. He could only imagine the horrors that would present themselves inside her tortured thoughts.

"_No,_" X told himself, "_I can't think about that._"

He breathed deeply in and out. The reploid needed something to help him focus; to at least give him some direction on how to help save this girl Raven, whom he realized he still didn't even know.

Light footsteps made Mega Man X open his eyes and turn about to see the redheaded alien girl, Starfire. Her eyes were bloodshot and her skin still was not quite the rich color it had been before, but her cheerfulness still found its way through in the sweet smile that she wore on her face.

"Hello, friend Mega Man X!" she beamed with what strength she could muster. "How goes your meditation?"

He eyeballed her, slightly confused. "Starfire, right?" He asked. She nodded and smiled at him. "This is the first conversation we've ever had, and you're calling me friend? Has anyone ever told you that you're too trusting?"

She plopped down in the sand next to him. "Yes, my fellow Teen Titans tell me that quite frequently, but I find it hard not to consider you a friend when you saved us from those terrible machines, and now for what you are doing to help friend Raven."

"You _do_ know that I'm one of those… terrible machines too, don't you? Doesn't that bother you?"

She was still smiling. It was almost creepy. "Hardly, friend X. My sister Blackfire has done many terrible things, but even though we are of the same blood, we are very much different. I believe that you are the same way when compared to those you call Mavericks."

X half-smiled at Starfire's comment, but he felt much more welcome on the inside than what his mediocre expression was showing. It was not often that he received such kindness on his travels. It was just the motivation he needed to focus, and a very nice alternative to being chained to a bed.

"Thanks, Starfire."

"You are quite welcome," replied the alien girl.

Silence sat in the air for the next few moments along with the sounds of water rushing in front of them. X stared at the water and let it clear his mind. Starfire sat there, fighting her illness with a smile the whole way. It was Mega Man who spoke next.

"Starfire… What can you tell me about Raven?"

Starfire's joy dwindled ever so slightly at X's question. She wasn't completely sure how to answer it. No one really was. Raven was without question regarded as a friend by every one of the other four Titans, but she had many hidden shadows in her past, some of which the other Titans were not even aware of. Starfire chose her words carefully so that she could represent the truth about Raven as she knew it without making it sound negative to X.

"Raven is… complicated. There are many things we still do not know about her. We all trust her, but she is very different. She is usually quite reserved and does not show us her emotions, but she is occasionally prone to outbursts when she is suffering from emotional trauma."

"What sorts of things would cause that kind of trauma?" X asked.

"She… has had family problems in the past…" The alien looked like she was more than ill after making this comment. It looked as though Starfire felt that she had shared something that she should not have, and she did not finish her words. X sensed the hesitance in her voice and he jumped in to prevent her from feeling anymore embarrassment.

"It's alright, Starfire, you don't have to share those sorts of things with me."

Starfire wanted to tell him more, but she winced in pain and wrapped her arms tightly around her exposed midsection. X immediately rushed to her side and squeezed her shoulder gently until the pain subsided.

"You're still ill, you should be resting," he told Starfire.

"And you are still injured," she said as she pointed at the damaged parts of X's body, "but that does not keep you from doing what you wish to do."

X succumbed to Starfire's endless optimism, and he could not help but smile at the Tamaranian girl just as brightly as she smiled at him. They both stood up to head back to Titan's Tower, but they stopped to see Robin bolting toward them.

"X!" he shouted, "Raven's getting worse. Whatever you're going to do, you've got to do it soon or she's not going to make it."

"Alright, I'm ready," he said, but it was an obvious lie to himself. He wasn't prepared for this at all. He wasn't a skilled telepath, this girl whose mind he was going into was somehow bonded to his already, and he wasn't even physically healed. Still, the only choice was right there in front of him.

Mega Man X followed Robin as he climbed the flights of stairs leading to the room where Raven's body lay. X's moved his legs without thought as they traveled through the tower while his mind gathered up as much courage, strength and wisdom as it could. They reached the same room that X had found himself imprisoned in not long ago, still holding the dark sorceress girl inside it. All four of the other Titans were in the room, looking as though they were awaiting a miracle. The responsibility was intimidating, but X had no other choice. He slowly sat next to her, and with his left hand, he held tightly on to hers. With his right hand, he placed his thumb just underneath her eye, and spread his other fingers out across her cheek and neck. He closed his eyes just as Raven's unconscious body spoke to him once more.

"_Please, help me!_" her voice said in fear.

Frightened, but determined, X returned her plea.

"_Don't worry,_" he said back, "_I will_."

Darkness flew into X's mind and all sensation of anything around him was left behind. He could no longer feel the bed he was sitting on or see the dim light of the room. He felt himself falling, deeper and deeper without hearing or seeing anything. A dark abyss enveloped him and the physical world was gone.


	3. Return to Nevermore

**Chapter 3 – Return to Nevermore**

Mega Man X felt cold pricking against his face. He pushed himself up off the ground and found himself spitting out clumps of icy gray dirt. Standing up and getting his bearings was harder than he thought it would be. Senses came back to him one by one. Touch had already come, and sight followed the frigid temperature with what looked like the black emptiness of space. There was a smell of stale earth permeating his nose and mouth, and he even thought he sensed a hint of something that was completely rotten. But where was his hearing?

As his foot pivoted on the flat rock that floated in the middle of nowhere, he realized that he could hear. Aside from his presence, there was no sound at all in this place. Nothing. The only noise that consistently pierced the darkness of this place was the beating of X's heart, and the slow movement of his breath. Everything else… just vast, terrifying emptiness. X looked at himself. He would have felt nostalgia if his fear had not overpowered it. The blue armor that he donned normally looked exactly the way it did when he had first lived; plainer and less protective.

His injuries… were gone? And his sword… it was also gone. Raven had only let a very raw, basic Mega Man X into her mind. As his chest beat louder and his eyes raced to try and find something; anything; he felt like danger was all around him.

"_Great_," he thought, "_she's already proven that I don't have control in here_."

Mega Man stared ahead at the landscape in front of him. A barren wasteland comprised of nothing but the dirt and rock that X brushed off of his body. He turned around. No difference. The surface beneath him was dry and cracked, too, so that every step would kick up a tiny cluster of dust. X pointed his eyes upward. There were what appeared to X to be stars and blood red clouds, but he knew they were not. He had been in space many times. It was not as frightening as this was.

He started to walk out into the desert of Raven's mind. There wasn't really any other choice He stared at his feet in hopes of ignoring the land before him, while fighting the deep anxiety within.

"_Where are those stupid voices now that I need them?_" he asked himself.

As if his prayer had been answered from above, a whisper flew through the silent air only a moment after he had thought about it.

"_Thisssss wayyyy_……" leered the scratchy voice of a pained woman. It echoed across the entire wasteland and vibrated X's body gently. X couldn't tell where it had come from, so he ran forward at a hurried pace. Using a burst of blue light on the bottom of his metallic legs, he glided across the sands much faster than he could sprint until the boosters could not hold out any longer. X skidded to a stop and crossed his arms. He turned back towards where he had come from.

"WHOA!" X jumped back so fast that he fell over. He knew that he had just covered over a mile of land, but right before his eyes, everything that he had passed by was gone! There was no trace of his footsteps or where the tips of his metallic boots had dragged across the dirt. There was nothing there but a desolate void beneath him. Mega Man X turned back only to reveal that there was nothing in that direction, too! He was standing on a tiny rock with nowhere to go, and nothing else in sight.

"_Thisssss wayyyy_……" taunted the tiny voice again.

"What way? What are you talking about!" He shouted. "There _is_ no way!" X panicked. What if the tiny floating rock he stood on vanished as well? He thought he would fall into the shadows of Raven's mind for eternity, at least until Raven expired, and then they would both die.

"_Come thissss wayyyy_…… _you must help meeeee_" it repeated, this time with more urgency. The voice was filled with despair, but X didn't know how to answer it.

"Think, X, think…… wait… that might be it. I'm in her mind. I have to _think_ my way around here."

X calmed himself and prayed in his thoughts.

"_I want to go where that voice is coming from_."

His words echoed throughout the void the same way the girl's voice did. The rock beneath his feet suddenly began to expand itself to enormous proportions. It spread itself out as wide as it had been before, and an arch made of stone piled itself up right in front of X. The space underneath the arch was distorted. X reached out and touched the distortion with his hand and it waved like a stone splashing into water. Even though the rock surface now spread out for miles in all directions, X decided to walk through the stone gateway, hoping that it would help him find Raven before it was too late.

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"Robin, I am worried about our friends," said the Tamaranian princess next to Raven's bed where she and X held completely still.

"I am too, Starfire, but we can't do anything to help right now." He placed his hand on the skin on her forearm to comfort her. She was regaining more of her original brownish orange tint, but she was too concerned to care with Raven and X sitting motionless in front of her. Having to wait was a natural contradiction to her energetic personality.

"Robin, we must do _something_!" She whined. "Beast Boy, Cyborg, you have been in Raven's mind once before, yes?" Perhaps there is some way that you can assist?"

"Are you crazy!" shouted the green-skinned Beast Boy, recalling the disaster that had arose from his snooping in Raven's belongings. "Last time we got sucked through Raven's psycho magic mirror, we almost got sliced in two, eaten to death by evil birds, and blown to bits by her dad!"

"Yeah Star," added Cyborg, "BB's got a point, and besides, Raven is the only one who actually knows how to use her magic mirror. I don't wanna mess anything up by leaping in there after both of them."

Starfire sighed and watched the immobile pair connected to each other. Robin tried to comfort her as best he could, but she had the ominous feeling that something was going wrong inside Raven's mind.

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"What is this place…?" X gasped upon passing through the archway. The rock in space was gone, and a mist sat on the ground so thick that he could barely see his own legs. Withered wrought iron gates were crudely stuck in the ground and they formed a large plot of land in front of him. X inched toward it, ready to fight anything that came his way. He made an attempt to approach it stealthily, but decrepit brown grass crunched with each step that he took into the iron circle. Eerie gusts of air blew into his eyes and made them water profusely. X entered the patch of land inside the gate, and the metal door creaked shut behind him without any provocation.

The echoing slam startled his ears and he backed away from the gate, not watching where he was walking. His leg caught something solid, pulling him backwards over it and sending his eyes toward the sky as he crashed onto something that cluttered nosily beneath him. The reploid felt his way through the haze for what he had landed on. There were small, hard, hollow sounding pieces of something, and a cloth-like material was scattered about them too. He grabbed a larger, rounded part of the cluttered mess that he stood on, and he brought it above the fog to see what it was.

"Oh my God…" he breathed. X held in his hands the bloody human skull of a young girl. The mouth hung open and its teeth shone through brightly with no lips to hide them. It had not been this way for long. Pieces of muscle and pale blue hair were still bound to it in some places. Something had sucked the meat right off of this person's body not more than a day ago. The empty, blood stained eye sockets made bloody slices into X's courage. He threw the skull away and tried to reassure himself that none of this was real. It was all just a mental illusion created by Raven's mind. No one was really dead.

A fierce updraft surrounded the iron circle and lifted the fog away, proving X otherwise. Stone tablets made a second circle within the iron gate, and beneath each one was a disgustingly mutilated corpse. They all had perforated robes of different colors; they were all Raven. It was obvious that there were bones missing on some of the rotting carcasses, and one of them covered in a shredded green Robe still had blood leaking into an expanding pool of blood, telling the horror struck X that it had been dead for an hour at most. There were no legs left on it either. Just blood covered ground where they should have been.

X fell to his knees at the death in front of him. His sanity would not last if he stayed. He had to leave Raven's mind. X ran for the edge of the graveyard, but whatever had devoured these bodies was unwilling to let him exit. The metal gates grew out of the ground like weeds and caged him in. Mega Man used X-Buster cannon and released several shots on the barrier in front of him, but it remained unscathed; without even a dent. He glowed and gathered energy inside himself for a much larger blast, and he unleashed it. A bright explosion told his mind that he must have made a huge hole in it, but when the remnants of his attack had faded, the gate still did not have even a scratch on it.

"_Look thisss wayyy_," said the same voice that had lured him here in the first place.

X, still panicked, spun toward the voice and held his X-buster at it. It was coming from a single direction now; straight ahead. His weapon had pointed at one of the gravestones, but this one was different. It was the only one that did not have an image of a torn apart Raven lying beneath it. There was no body at all, nor was there a blood stain. X shuffled toward slowly, keeping his X-Buster ready while trying to ignore the carrion-infested pieces of Ravens that he kicked past.

The gravestone was cracked and scratched. X knelt down and brushed inches of dust and spider webs off to read the engraving on this tombstone. Most of it was weather worn and illegible, but he could make out the beginning:

**Here lies:**

**RAGE**

"Rage? What does that mean?"

A biting chill ran down X's back.

"_It means that I am still alive_."

X turned about to see a figure wearing a blood red robe.

"Raven?"

The figure turned its head up and two fiery eyes appeared. Then, where the eyebrows should have been, another pair of dark eyes opened, glaring at X. The creature removed its hood to show a likeness of the young girl that X was searching for, but it was missing chunks of skin on the right side of its jaw, showing pure jawbone, and it had white, ruffled hair. It was hunched over, and a bony hand was sticking out of the opening its robe.

"What the Hell are you!" X threatened the monster holding out his fists. "What did you do to Raven!"

"_I am Rage_," gasped the monster coldly. "_Do not worry, I have not hurt Raven_. _Raven is part of me, and I am part of her_. _To harm her would be to destroy myself_."

X lowered his fists. Even if this thing was his enemy, it looked to be in no shape to harm him, despite Raven's mental superiority in her own mind. This thing called Rage was the only life he had found inside here, and although her corpse-like visage was mortifying to X, he somehow knew that she would not lie to him.

"Rage… you're half dead, and all these bodies…… what's happened here?" X questioned her.

"_I am not sure_," Rage said, with a constant look of anger on her face. "_Our body, the physical Raven, was being destroyed_. _The fear that built up inside of us held so much power that it began to tear us apart_." She pointed to the other dead Ravens that must have represented other parts of her personality. "_I am the only form of Raven that has any strength remaining_. _If I am destroyed_, _then this body will not hold_."

"Vile caused all of this?" X said sorrowfully.

"_No_. _The one you call Vile caused us severe harm, but something else invaded the mind as the body was dying_."

"Something else?" he asked while probing his knowledge, "But what?"

The personification of Raven's anger showed the first change in its demeanor since it had presented itself to the man invading its living space. She was still full of fury, but her angry posture was mixed with confusion now.

"_I… do not know_," it mumbled with gritted teeth. "_All I know of it is that it is foreign. It does not belong_, _and if it is not rectified, we will not survive_."

X was weary of Rage's ghastly appearance. Another surge of wind blew back the red cape draped upon her to reveal exposed ribs and open wounds on her hunched body that made the Maverick Hunter cringe. Rage showed no emotional reaction to his. X tried to displace his fear and disgust with the thought that he had at least found someone who could help him navigate his way through Raven's mind.

"Rage," he spoke seriously, "Where is the real Raven? Is she in here somewhere?"

Raven's darker counterpart used what strength it had to stand tall. She approached X with her hand reached out to him. He backed away from her outstretched, death-like arm until his back pressed against the rotting gate that encased the many bodies inside of it. Rage lowered her arm, drew it back into her cloak and tilted her head just slightly as she stared at X.

"_You believe that I will attempt to harm you because I embody hatred and anger_. _You need not fear me for what I represent_," she reassured him with her coarse voice. "_I have little strength left to harm you, and to destroy the one trying to save us would be to destroy myself_."

Her words gave confidence to X, and he decided to put his trust in this piece of Raven.

"Alright, I believe you," he said with a nod. Rage lifted her arm again and placed it on X's face.

"_Close your eyes, and I will take you to her_."

X did as he was told and allowed his eyelids to slide shut. He felt the air around him brush across his armor swiftly, as though someone had blown it away with a large fan. The staleness and smell of the graveyard shifted to something much less pungent. It still felt cold, but there was at least sound this time coming from within the depths of Raven's mind. Rage's hand slid down X's face, telling him to open his eyes again.

Mega Man X admired this new dimension of Raven's consciousness. Green rays of light were fluctuating far below the platform that he stood on so brightly that it nearly put sunlight to shame. Quiet roaring sounds were made by meteors that burned bright green in the distance. X pivoted full circle to see three paths made of stone leading off of the platform he stood on with Rage. They appeared important to X, but when his eyes followed them, they seemed to lead off to nothingness. This new enigma brought many more questions to X's mind, but he didn't have the answer he had asked for.

"Rage, I thought you said that…" X didn't finish his sentence when he saw Rage pointing straight up into the green sky with her bony appendage. He followed her finger upward and his mouth gaped open at the phantasmal shape of Raven suspended in the air above them. She was writhing in agony, curled up in the fetal position with her hands clasped over her ears. Raven moved unnaturally slow, as if her body was stuck behind in a different time. X could see right through her transparent form, though. It was like her mind itself thought she was an illusion; that she wasn't real.

The sky suddenly lost its fluorescent glow and everything grew dark. Bolts of lighting flew horizontally across the sky and Raven's apparition in the above looked like it was screaming in pain with each flash of light in the darkness.

"Rage, what's happening!" shouted X above the crashes of thunder.

"_We are within the anomaly in Raven's mind_!" she belted back. "_I do not know what awaits us_!"

The lightning and thunder doubled in frequency, and X could recognize images flashing in the background. He saw the faces of Robin, Starfire and the other Titans, and numerous images of Vile killing the poor sorceress. He saw other people within Raven that he didn't recognize; a man with one eye wearing a dark mask, a giant black dragon, and a deadly looking demon with four eyes that bore a resemblance to Rage. X thought he saw something else familiar, but his mind must have been playing tricks on him. He could not have seen that old man…

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"Eeep!" shouted Starfire as an overhead light shattered and sprayed glass across the floor.

"Watch out Star!" Robin yelled and yanked her out of the way.

Raven's emotions, although unconscious, still managed to manipulate the objects around her through her dark powers. A massive crack appeared on the window from edge to edge and the bed sheets covering Raven blew off violently, landing over Beast Boy's head.

"Robin, her heart rate, it's increasing!" noticed Cyborg. "Her brain activity is through the roof! I don't know what's goin' on in there, but if we don't do something, she gonna strain herself to death and take us all with her!"

"Tranquilize her!" Robin screamed. Cyborg grabbed a needle and carefully filled it with a transparent fluid amidst the rising chaos of Raven's powers. He jammed it into her shoulder and pushed the liquid into Raven's blood stream. In seconds, Raven's pulse dropped to something more tranquil, and the destruction stopped. Beast Boy ripped a hole in the sheets tangling him and the other Titans gathered back around Raven and X, all of them a bit out of breath from what just happened.

Robin used his leadership skills to make an uncomfortable judgment. "Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, I want you three to clear out of here. If things get like that again, I don't want everyone getting hurt."

"Say _what_!" bellowed the metal giant. "Uh-uh man, we're not going to run and leave you to get your butt whooped by yourself."

"Just _do it_," ordered the young leader of the Titans. "There's nothing you can do here to help that I can't do myself. You three being in here is just giving Raven's powers three extra targets."

"Don't we get a say in this?" objected Beast Boy.

"_NO_."

"Fine, leader boy, don't come crying to us when things start to get weird," Cyborg huffed and burst through the door, with Beast Boy hesitatingly behind him.

"Robin…" Starfire mumbled, "I do not wish to leave you here by yourself."

He sighed and dropped his tough leadership exterior for his close friend. Robin really did want Starfire to stay, but he had to put his job ahead of his feelings for her. He couldn't risk the others getting hurt needlessly when only one person was necessary to watch over Raven and Mega Man X. Robin was sure that his teammates thought him arrogant for the decision, but he felt it was the right one.

"Sorry, Starfire. You should go."

He knew that she was hurt as she hung her head and floated out the door.

Robin brushed off the shattered bits of thin glass that had scattered themselves mostly on X's shoulders and the disturbed sheets below now only loosely covering the dark, crippled girl.

"Hurry up, Mega Man X," he whispered.

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"_Unghhh_," Rage moaned while collapsing to the ground. The mental images showing themselves to X began to blur and melt as the sedative drained Raven's body of her outburst and her strength. X looked frantically around at the dissolving universe around him; the green, meteor filled sky fizzled away along with the light and sound that they had brought. The lighting bolts and thunder ceased entirely, and not even stars or blood red clouds stayed as a result of the numbing fluid circulating through the dark sorceress.

When everything had stopped, X could feel himself floating in the air. He tried to drop the tips of his boots down to touch something, but he felt nothing. He could see himself very clearly, but there was nothing else around him that bore even a touch of light. He could not find Rage, either.

"What… happened? Am I too late?" he asked himself. "Am I lost forever in here?"

X felt like his heart was being squeezed tightly from the tension and fear.

"No… no, it's not possible. I wouldn't be able to think if she was gone. I'd be either dead or shot out of her mind like a cannon. I have to relax and concentrate. I thought my way around here before, so I must be able to do it again. But where do I go?"

Mega Man focused his thoughts on the images he had seen before they had vanished into shadow. There were the Teen Titans, Mavericks, a dragon, Vile, and…… he was sure he had seen faces that were only familiar to him. He wasn't sure about the face of the old man. The glimpse he could was far too short to determine if it had been _him_. Even so, he knew he had seen images of other reploids and humans on his home world whom Raven could not have possibly have known, and there had even been images of some of the other places and people he had encountered.

Like a sharp finger snap, inspiration struck hard.

"Her memory… it's mixed with mine!"

Awestruck, the blue armored reploid then realized the dangers that a confused memory like that could bring. Even though he could slightly sense Raven's thoughts and memories just like she could with his, she'd been almost killed in such a bloody way that it must've driven out any understanding of what was hers and what was his. And since it was Vile, a person now common between their memories, that inflicted the terror… well, he simply knew that it would be difficult to help her clear out the confusion that threatened her sanity and ultimately her life.

X breathed deep and focused his thoughts intently on a place to take himself.

"_I want to go to where my memories and Raven's meet_."

The dark hold on Raven's mind lifted and X found himself back in the place where he had been just before, but this time there was no green light in the sky to speak of. Sound was empty again, but the three paths leading from the platform that X stood on were still there. Rage was lying down, spread out on the ground with her robe covering her body, save her feet. X rushed over to her and turned her body upright. She was still alive, but her four eyes were shut tightly.

"Rage… Rage!" he shouted as he shook her awake. Her lower two eyes fluttered open.

"_We are growing weaker,_" she whispered while looking at him, pain filling the depths of the two red orbs. Even though she represented inner hatred, Raven's dark side almost looked sad at the thought of dying. She leaned on to X's arm and dragged herself to her feet, struggling like she suffered from old age and crippled limbs.

"Rage, we've got to find my memories in here somewhere. Raven's somehow gotten hers confused with mine, and it's destroying her from the inside!"

She slid down X's arm and fell to the ground. Her fingers twitched feebly and she gasped for breath while holding on to the blue reploid's hand. Mega Man watched as her already dying flesh became thinner before his very eyes. She stared off into nothing with glazed eyes.

"_X_… _I cannot go with you_. _There is no strength left in this body_. _To save us, follow the three paths_. _Find the ones waiting there for you_."

Her eyes shut painfully and X let her lie down and rest. She would not last much longer. X had to do what Rage… no, what Raven had asked of him. He surveyed each of the three paths. Not one of them looked different from the other. Mega Man chose one and started to walk along it. His mechanical legs clanked softly against the ground every step he took echoing relentlessly, but he halted abruptly and waived his X-Buster from the direction that he had come from.

"Who's there! ……wha?"

A little girl, barely up to his waist, stood next to him with her head hanging down sadly. She wore a Robe just like Raven and Rage, but it was gray. No, the robe wasn't the only thing that was gray. The child's skin was just as gray! She was entirely black and white, and X could see her crying underneath her hood. X knelt down and put an arm around her.

"Hey there," X tried to say sweetly to the child. He looked back to the edge of the stone pathway that he was on. Something had appeared there. A foggy looking picture that looked like a portal to another world was just at the end. X drew his gaze back to the little girl.

"Is that where you're from?" he asked her. She nodded through the tears and turned away from the portal.

"I know you don't want to go there," explained X, opening his heart to the child, "but we have to. Don't worry, we'll do it together."

He propped little Raven up on his shoulders and held her legs. She squeezed herself close to him and wrapped her tiny arms onto his neck as they walked to the end of the path together. X didn't have time to hesitate any longer and he pushed through the portal.

X shielded the little girl and himself from the huge golden beams that shone through the sky of an ancient city before them. It was beautiful. This miraculous place in Raven's memory was home to some of the most incredible buildings and architecture that X had ever seen. Everything was crafted with the purpose of beauty in mind, and none of the structures seemed even separate from each other. It was like they were all part of one grand design. And, X guessed, this was probably once a home to the dark little girl sitting on his shoulder.

With X's senses finishing their admiration of the golden city, his instincts told him that something was very wrong. Listening hard, he noticed that not a single person walked the streets of this gleaming utopia, but it should have been full with of citizens. This city, like many other places in Raven's memory, was far too quiet for X's comfort. Mega Man walked along the streets cautiously, glancing down the empty alleyways as he passed by them. Only the shadows of the tall buildings dimmed the light of this place, and yet the feeling of shadows seemed around every corner.

The little girl began to tug frantically around X's neck.

"What is it?" he asked, but he didn't need an answer. The air around him became feverishly hot and dry. It smelled of stale smoke. He could hear people screaming everywhere… but where were they?

Bright flashes lit up the sky, and the truth of this once golden city came through for X to see, and for little Raven to relive in anguish. A burning sting swelled across X's face, and he backed away with his arms blocking the cinders that had appeared from nowhere. The city had become a valley of flames within an eye's blink, leaving bloody ruins in the place of its former glory. The heat pushed the two travelers in from all directions in the bright orange blaze. Raven had curled up tightly in fear in X's arms when they saw the cause of this catastrophe. A demon with white hair and four glowing red eyes towered over the magnificent fire, releasing piercing energy bursts from its eyes. It looked so much like Rage that it chilled X's spine.

"Is this… Raven's father?"

With that question, the city vanished entirely, flames, glory, and all. Little Raven from the past loosened herself in X's arms. Salty tears silently dripped from her eyes on to X's chest plate. He wanted to give her words of comfort, but Raven's mind gave him no chance to. The setting shifted once again, this time to something that X knew did not belong in Raven's mind. X stood on a futuristic highway, soaring above the city that he had once called home. It did not shine golden like Raven's former home, but it was filled with an array of cool colors and fine construction nonetheless. Cars sped past far over the speed limit, and X noticed one large red vehicle with the rear end mangled and scorched with holes.

"This highway… my first solo mission as a Maverick Hunter was here. I remember, I touched down just over there, and I saw these same vehicles driving by and…"

X turned to see Raven running down the highway where he should have seen himself instead.

"Raven, you shouldn't be here. These are my memories, not yours!"

The little girl looked at him, confused. The look in here eyes said that she truly thought that they belonged. Raven from the past waived her arm and brought forth another scene only minutes ahead of the one they were just at. The image of the past Raven on the highway stood before the Maverick who had nearly killed her just a few days ago. Vile, in similar tank armor to what he had been operating the day he came to Titan's Tower, attacked Raven even though X knew that the memory should have been of Vile fighting him instead. X's recalled that fateful day. He would have been destroyed if it had not been for a fellow Maverick Hunter who was much stronger than X was at the time. Vile's dark voice interrupted X's thoughts.

"You worthless human, did you really think you could defeat me?" He said to Raven as he gripped her tightly in the mechanical arms of his humanoid tank armor.

"_STOP_!" screamed X. Obeying his commands, the images of Vile, past Raven, and Reploid City froze entirely. X set the little girl down in front of him and looked her straight in the eye like father to daughter

"Listen to me Raven," he said, "This never happened to you. These are my memories; this is my past! Vile hasn't been torturing you all your life. It was just that once time a few days ago." He paused and thought about the place in Raven's past that had been destroyed by her father.

"The golden city; your home… I'm sorry. That's a horrible thing that happened, and I'm sorry that you had to bear it by yourself like you did, but it's in the past. You can't live your life through the past, and you especially can't let it consume you like this! You have to live for today and for the future."

The little girl looked at him with heartbreak in her eyes. She couldn't just throw the pain away that haunted her past for so long. The destruction of her homeland; she felt that it had always been her fault. Her heart spoke all of this through X's body without her even having to say a word to him. X caught a tear that started to roll down her cheek before it had the chance to drip off. He rubbed the salty trail dry and pulled her face gently toward his gaze.

"Raven… I don't really even have a home. What little home I did have has been destroyed before, too. It killed me to think that I was partially responsible for it; that if I had been stronger I might have been able to prevent it, but I realized that I couldn't blame myself after giving every effort and it still happened."

Little Raven stared at him in amazement. X could sense a strange comfort settling over the entire atmosphere, like she had started to feel at home again, just from the words of this stranger that she hardly even knew. She felt like she had someone to relate her pain to, even if she didn't want to share it. X smiled as he stroked her hair.

"That monster with the four eyes… I know that's your father. He alone is responsible for your home being destroyed. Even if your existence played a hand in your home's destruction… there's no way you could change that no matter how hard you tried, and you can't be held responsible for being born."

The black and white little sorceress girl from the past wrapped her arms around the kneeling Mega Man X. She held on to him tightly and pressed her face against his. X hugged her back until she felt content enough to let him go. When X looked at her face again, she was still crying, but they were tears of joy, not tears of sadness.

"_Thank you_," she whispered with a child like voice. The haunting of the past was not forgotten, but it had been satisfied, at least for now. Raven's past turned dark along with the little girl, and the setting vanished in front of Mega Man X, returning him to where Rage and two more paths remained.

The dark Raven in the blood red hood still lay collapsed on the platform. X stopped for just a moment, but decided that he didn't have the time to try to resuscitate her. The danger to Raven's mind as a whole was still far greater than the anger-filled fragment of her. Mega Man X hurried to one of the two remaining paths and leaped through the portal at its end.

The new world that X entered was a different leap from the golden city of Raven's past. It was full of collapsed buildings, and a thick layer of snow was piling up from the dark clouds above. X stared up at buildings on both sides of him. They looked like they had not been used in decades. The glass had been broken out of most of the windows and tattered curtains blew in some of them from the icy wind. Not much could survive in this ice age. Even X found the biting air unpleasant, but he was strong enough to tolerate it for quite some time.

Mega Man X couldn't see far ahead of him in the blizzard, but he thought he saw a familiar outline in the distance. His feet made a soft crunching sound as they compressed the snow up to his knees beneath him. He jumped over a downed street light and came to the end of the street, which opened up into an iceberg-filled river. The heat coming from X's face was just enough to melt the thick flakes from his face so he could see, but the rest of his body was plastered from the icy fragments. Through the snow storm he saw something across the half frozen body of water. It looked like a tall building on an island. X immediately recognized with a chilling trepidation as Titan's Tower, or at least what was left of it. It was just as crumbled and worn down as the rest of the city had become, and it was tilted severely to one side so much that it looked as though it could tip all the way over at any moment. Standing at the highest tip of the broken tower, something swayed in the wind, but X couldn't make it out in the blinding snow storm.

Mega Man stepped to the edge of the river, and chose a large chunk of ice near the edge to use as a stepping stone. X's powerful legs easily took him to the ice several yards away from where he was standing. Choosing other safe looking pieces of floating ice, he made his way to the frozen beach of Titan's Tower. The slanted side of the Titans' former home was just steep enough for X to pull himself slowly up through the white hill.

His eyes came over the top of the wrecked tower to see the figure standing with a cape as white as the snow blowing loosely against it. It was undoubtedly another Raven, but this one was not a child. In fact, it stood even taller than Raven did in the present day. X knew that this could only be the future form of the dark sorceress within her mind. She did not move as X approached, but his clomping through the snow should have easily got her attention. Then again, there were many other things much more bizarre inside Raven's mind than this taller version of her ignoring him.

X reached out to this Raven, but to his surprise, his hand was stopped by one of her dark barriers. She turned around and telekinetically launched him across the top of the tower with ease. She floated above the trail that he had left from skidding through the snow and stood over him with dark energy flowing through her finger tips.

"Raven, what are you doing!" X shouted and picked himself out of the snow.

"_I am doing what I will inevitably do_," she replied with a deep maturity and ferocity in her voice that neither the past or true Raven had.

"That's ridiculous! Are you saying that _you_ destroyed this city and sent it into this ice age?"

"_I was born to destroy_. _It is part of my heritage_;_ it has been predetermined_."

Her voice was cold and heartless. She spoke with no remorse for the impending destruction that she spoke of.

"So you're saying you're not even going to make an effort to stop this? Don't you even care!"

She glared at him harshly and formed her hand into a claw-like shape, which she used to manipulate X's body. She lifted him out of the rooftop snow bank and pulled him right next to her blank white eyes.

"_I have already tried to stop this_. _It merely delayed this sight that you see for a short time_. _There was no choice in this matter_."

"There is _always_ a choice!" he bellowed through her mental grip. White Raven was not impressed with X's faith. She threw him face first into the snow with her a hot surge of anger, then came down upon him and picked him up once more, this time with a single bare hand around his neck. X struggled wildly in her grip, but the more he fought, the tighter she squeezed.

"_Hmph_," she grunted, "_You do not even believe those words_." She waved her cloak around them both and brought them to another one of the pieces of X's mind that had infiltrated Raven's. The future sorceress hovered over the streets of the city where Maverick Hunter headquarters resided with Mega Man in tow, but it looked as though the reploid police force had not been doing their job for some time. The roads below the two in X's futuristic city were strewn with bodies of reploids with severed limbs, pieces blown clear off of them, and with strange blood-like fluids leaking out of them. Among X's fellow kin were even a few humans that were as torn apart as the dead machines.

Raven pulled X across the sky toward Maverick Headquarters, which looked like a scientific and militaristic fortress, but still with the same impressive design of the rest of X's city. The two travelers touched down just as the left half of a reploid body flew between the two of them and then collapsed lifeless on the ground. X frightfully wondered where the other half was and who had sliced it in two. White Raven didn't care as she continued to lead. They passed through the walls using her dark powers to reveal the monster that had left thousands of murdered bodies across the highways. It was none other than Mega Man X himself. This image of X's future made him keel over while his monstrous counterpart annihilated reploid after reploid in seconds. Dark X's face showed a twisted glee as he blew holes in his fellow machines and decapitated others using a black energy saber. The real X's fear turned into anger. He clenched his fists furiously.

"Take me away from here," he said angrily to the adult Raven. "This isn't going to happen."

"_Fool_, _you cannot run from your fate_. _You will become a Maverick just like the rest of your brethren_!"

"NO!" he screamed and a bright blue fist rammed into her face. It was so fast that the only reaction she had time to make was to widen her eyes in surprise before her body made a fierce indent in the wall that she crashed into. Struggling to get up and return the blow, she spat blood out of her mouth just as X pulled her up by the shoulders of her cloak and shoved her against the wall.

"Now you _listen_ to me! I don't care what you say; any future can be prevented or changed if you try hard enough, and even if there was no way to stop this, I'd kill myself before I'd allow all this to be caused by my hands!"

"_You_… _would destroy yourself?_"

X nodded to her and released his grip, letting her feet touch the ground again. "I don't have a lot of friends, but they mean more to me than anything. I could never let myself live if that were my only purpose. But I know that I can fight it, just like you can. You already said yourself that you prevented this future once; that you chose to fought evil and won. There is no reason that you can't do it again!"

White Raven looked at her time worn hands, then at the Maverick Hunter in front of her. She tried to speak, but she had nothing to counter X's courage.

"_I_… _I_…,_" _her face turned down and twisted in confusion. "_You're_ _right_," she said.

She removed her hood and showed a scarred adult face that had seen so much pain that it had almost lost all hope.

"_I was wrong_," she admitted to the man in blue armor standing before her. She let the false image of X's future vanish and they returned to this snow-covered tower. White Raven wiped the blood off her face leaving a clear stain on her pearl white robe. X tried to tend to it.

"Your mouth… I'm sorry, I got carried away."

"_Do not worry about it_. _I believe I may have deserved that_. _Besides_, _it is not real_. _Do not forget that_."

As X nodded, she stared out into the winter wasteland that she knew did not have to come. She almost smiled at the satisfaction, but there was a much more important matter at hand that gripped her. "_You must go_, _the anomaly still lives within Raven's mind and only you can help vanquish what remains of it_!"

She waived her hand and cast him off of the broken Titan's Tower. X started to fall face first toward the frozen river! He braced himself for the shocking impact, but instead he felt himself hit solid rock. He clutched the shoulder that had bashed firmly into the ground and looked at his surroundings. Mega Man X found himself staring at the dark platform again, this time with only one path remaining. X had already been through Raven's past and future, so the last trial could only be the present. He looked at the last path with determination and started to pull himself up, but a withered hand grabbed his and pulled him up the rest of the way.

"Rage, you're alright!" exclaimed X when he saw that the dark sorceress was alive and well. Her exposed rib cage and jaw were still showing bare, blood stained bone, but at least she could now stand.

"_The aberration has been partially repaired, and it has returned some of our former strength_. _Only a single section remains left_." She pointed toward the final stone path jutting out into the darkness of Raven's mind.

"I've already been through the past and future, so it has to be her present," X concluded. "Well, _our_ present anyway. Are you coming Rage?"

She gave a dark glare that was consistent with her fury-based behavior.

"_I am still too weak to help you fight this affliction, but I will go with you if that is what you wish_," she replied with a nod.

X lead the way out to the edge of the platform to the distortion of Raven's and X's present with Rage following behind him, Rage lacking the need to lean on him for support any longer. As they reached the fluctuating wall in front of them, they gave each other a look of determined readiness, and then rushed through together to face the final danger of Raven's illness.

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Robin had been standing impatiently for over an hour, waiting for some difference between his dark friend and this machine linked to her mind. Patience had never been Robin's strong suit, especially in this situation where he felt utterly useless. He let out a breath of irritation and tried to stop himself from pacing back and forth, but as soon as he stopped and stood still, his foot began to rapidly tap against the ground as though it had automatically responded to replace the lack of pacing. Robin noticed his own edginess and scowled. Looking at the medical screen for the thirtieth time across from where X and Raven sat didn't help him either. He watched the two whose minds were bound instead. He wondered what was going on inside and why it was taking so blasted long. Were things really that terrifying inside her mind? A swooshing sound of the doors that Robin had become accustomed to finally gave him a distraction.

"Starfire, I thought I told you to go with everyone else."

"I know Robin," she replied, "I just wanted to check and see if any progress has been made between our two friends."

He sighed. "Sorry Star, there haven't been any changes since that last time when Raven shook things up."

"Oh," said the Tamaranian Princess awkwardly. She began to turn toward the door and leave Robin to guard duty by himself, but she heard a tiny sound in her ear that Robin did not.

"Robin, do you hear that?" she said.

"Uh, I don't hear anything Star."

"Listen, Robin! It sounds like a tiny rattling sound!"

He shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "Starfire, there's nothing… wait…"

Robin's ear twitched just slightly as the minute sound was known to him as well. It was barely audible, but Starfire was right in that it did sound like a scarce and tiny clatter. Robin got the feeling of déjà vu from the vibrating sound that reminded him of an earthquake. Lots of things sounded like that when there was an earthquake, but the sensors at Titan's Tower should have easily picked that up.

Robin flipped open his communicator and signaled Cyborg who was in his room doing some minor tune ups to his half machine body. He wasn't thrilled to be interrupted by Robin.

"Oh, so _now_ you want help, huh?" came his booming voice.

"Knock it off Cyborg, I just need to know if there's been any seismic activity in or around the Tower."

With a thick snort, Cyborg walked across his room and checked the sensor readouts around the tower. He scanned the data for a moment and then turned back to Robin's face on his own communicator looking clueless.

"Nope, not a bit of significant seismic activity in the past few months. Somethin' goin' on?"

Robin and Starfire discovered exactly where the sound had been coming from before they could answer Cyborg. The bed that Raven and X were on was beginning to vibrate, and as tendrils of black power spread out like vines, they could tell that it was no doubt as a result of Raven's powers. It began to slide to one side, taking the two on it along. The screen with the dark girl's vitals began to flicker on and off, then suddenly surged and sparked until there was no life left in it. What was left of the bed sheets from Raven's last episode fluttered up and down along with Raven's short hair blowing about. Something serious was happening to her frail mind and body.

"Starfire, we've got to separate them!"

The two both reached for X to pull him away from his mind meld with Raven, but the force enveloping the bed sensed their presence and telekinetically forced them both back. A bubble of fierce spiritual energy surrounded X and Raven. Robin stood hard against the violent force, pushing against him and he tried to reach through the barrier.

A piercing scream ripped from his lungs as he careened backward with Hurricane force winds coming from Raven that sent them soaring straight out the door. It shut swiftly as they flew backwards. The two rushed back to the sliding door, but something extremely large had struck it from inside, leaving it twisted and broken. A crack in the middle was still releasing the incredible winds.

"Robin, your hand!" Starfire yelped, realizing that she was holding an arm with Robin's glove burnt into his hand.

Robin cradled it with Starfire next to him, and Beast Boy and Cyborg appeared from the corner of his eye, but far too late. He gasped for a lungful of air as the gusts still sandblasted his hair.

"Everyone, evacuate the tower, now! No arguments!" screamed Robin through the pain in his arm.

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Rage and X found themselves standing on Titan's island in the present day, or at least what appeared to be the present day in Raven's mind. They hardly had time to get their bearings when the earth began to shake violently beneath them. Everything started spinning into an abyss of twisted colors and images. The tower, the city, Raven's friends, X's enemies, and other things that looked unrecognizable swirled into a conglomeration not far in front of the two travelers.

Without warning, a massive hand almost the size of X pulled through the pile of conjoined memories. It was composed partially of dark metallic fragments, but much of it was also a red mass of corroded flesh and muscle. Coming out even further to reveal an entire arm, X saw that whatever this thing was, it was part machine, and part organic, but not like Cyborg or anything else he had seen. This creature looked like a science experiment gone horribly wrong. A second arm and two legs erupted from the tangled web of images, revealing an even more disfigured body than before. Bones and steel pipes stuck out in horrible places, sometimes looking like extra limbs, but when this monster's face pierced through the portal of memories on Titan's island, it revolted even Rage. It was Vile, and it was also Raven's father, Trigon, combined into one single being. The dark gap in Vile's face now had four hideous red eyes peering through it, and two jagged horns jutted out of the side of his head. It's half demon mouth spit out globs of blood tainted drool on the ground that sizzled the dirt. The demonic reploid focused its gaze on X and then released an earsplitting, dinosaur's roar.

X had already been charging energy within his arm inside his X-Buster while the creature was appearing. He took aim and braced his buster with his other arm, then released the shining ball of blue energy high up at the monster's eyes. The blast knocked its head back with a sickening crack, but the rest of the creature's body was completely unfazed. Vile's monstrous head snapped and spurted as it twisted back into place, only irritated by the attack. Completely ignoring Rage, the demon turned on X and slapped him down to the ground. X struggled to get free of the creature's grasp, but the giant was too powerful for him to move even a finger off. Drops of its spit touched X's face, searing his skin like acid.

"Raven, help me!" he screamed, trying to pry the rotting fingers of the beast off him. Rage looked at him with her mouth open in confusion.

"_I_… _cannot_… _I do not have the strength_," she mumbled and turned away, not having the confidence to help X. A sharp claw from the demon's free hand began to dig its way through X's shoulder, breaking through inner circuits and releasing his version of blood.

"Raven, _please_! He'll destroy us both! It's your mind; I know you can stop this!"

Rage gave him no response. He felt the claw puncture all the way through to the dirt that he lay in. He was going to die if he stayed. He had no strength in this place, and the only one who did would not help him. More droplets of the demon's spit and blood began to burn other parts of his body. The pain made X's eyes jump between wincing and widening in fear at the disfigured face in front of him. He focused his thoughts hard on exiting Raven's mind, but the monster's roaring combined with the agonizing pain refused to let him leave. He was nearly about to give up when he heard a shout from behind him.

"_BEGONE_, _YOU DAMNED ABOMINATION_!" Raven shouted at the top of her lungs. She ran past X and straight up the monster's arm, jamming something that X could not see directly into the demon's formless face. The monster flung his arms in a wild fit and threw both Rage and the battered Mega Man. Rage pulled X off the ground with a strength that she claimed she did not have to face the demon again, but whatever Rage had done, she had done it well. The creature's organic parts began to melt off and drop in massive clumps that dissolved before they even touched the ground, and the mechanical interior crumbled into rust that blew away into the wind. Rage approached the debris and knelt down to the ground, picking something out of the remains of the vanquished apparition.

"Raven," X said, "I knew you had the strength to save me."

Rage turned her head to him and raised two of her eyes as if she were raising an eyebrow.

"_I did not save you_," she replied, almost sounding impressed, "_You saved yourself_."

Her cape waved in the air as she spun her body toward him, revealing the item that she had used to destroy the monster. In her now fully healed hands, Rage held out X's sword! It shined radiantly even inside Raven's consciousness in. X took it from her and held it tightly in his hands, cherishing the sword for saving him like it had many times before.

Rage's body went transparent and her feet lifted off the ground.

"Rage, what's happening?"

She smiled a dark, but truly happy grin. "_Our mind has been repaired_. _We now need to heal_ _our body_." The other Ravens that had been dead gathered around Rage and X, all of them smiling in gratitude. "_We are all grateful for what you have done_. _Now, you must rest as well_." The rainbow of Ravens gathered around him, all with their hands reaching in to touch him. As they placed their hands on him, he felt a serene feeling overcoming his wounds. He let the Ravens take control of, and he fell asleep.

It only felt like a moment later, but Mega Man X found himself awake in the medical room in Titan's Tower in the real world. His eyes strained from the light coming through the window, which he was surprised to find shattered into pieces. Taking in his surroundings, he saw the dividing curtain and the bed sheets in pieces, and the other medical bed that he had originally been lying on was smashed into the door.

Raven's bed was collapsed, and she was partially covered by rubble that had fallen from the ceiling. Mega Man picked up the young girl and held her in his arms. She was breathing normally again. Her heart beat calmly.

A loud creaking followed by a near explosive sound turned X to the broken door. Cyborg and Beast Boy in the form of a gorilla had pried it apart forcefully. Robin rushed in between the two of them.

"Raven… is she…?"

"Don't worry," smiled X, "She's going to be fine."

The Titans all stared in amazement at X, and then at the annihilated room. X laughed.

"Let's get her someplace more comfortable and let her heal."


	4. Healing and Learning

**Chapter 4 – Healing and Learning**

"Any luck at all?" asked Robin to a tall, slim figure with slicked back black hair on the main view screen in the Titans' living room. Beast Boy came into view on the monitor to this person's left in the form of a giant green squid that he immediately discarded to speak normally with his comrade.

"Sorry dude, Aqualad and I have been out searching the seas for the past two days, and not even the fish have a clue where that submarine went."

"Actually," spoke Beast Boy's more eloquent swimming companion, "The animals in the sea told me that they haven't spotted it at all since its arrival at your place, and I don't know how they could miss something that huge."

X was using a computer across the room from Robin to search for some records of the surrounding area in hopes that he would find out something that the Mavericks would be interested in, but he was listening to the conversation as well. He slid his chair so that the two could see him.

"Aqualad, unless you talk to the mammals, you're not likely to get anywhere. Most aquatic life forms have very short memory spans." X skimmed his chair back to his research, but then turned back to the view screen for another moment. "No offense."

"None taken," said the sea dwelling Titan, bearing the insult with a raised eyebrow.

Robin snorted at being unable to find the Mavericks that had attacked the city, and more importantly to him, the Titans.

"Alright Beast Boy," said Robin, "You might as well come back to the tower, and Aqualad can get going back to Titans East. Robin out." The view screen shut off and Robin turned toward X, doubtful that any progress had been made on his end either.

"Sorry Robin, I've got nothing. I've searched half the Titan mainframe and swept the city with my own sensors, but I can't find anything sophisticated or special enough that the Mavericks would potentially be interested in." Once again, he found himself doing a double take. "No offense."

"None taken," he smiled, taking the stab much more happily than Aqualad did.

He went back to his search through dusty boxes of old enemies artifacts from past Teen Titan battles. Cyborg was sorting through several of them as well. The more powerful items had already been searched, and they were now ruffling through the more obscure criminal toys. Cyborg took a nostalgic pleasure out of it all.

"Hey, look what I found!" exclaimed the metal man, interrupting the search and holding up a small, black and red remote control. "Man, we probably have half a dozen of these magic remote things from beating up Control Freak all those times. Hey Rob, you ever tempted to use one of these things to bring a Lara Croft doll to life?"

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear you say that," Robin said to Cyborg's sheepish grin.

X smiled at them both and shook his head as they picked out a few other things and reminisced about them between themselves. Mega Man wished he could experience that youth the way Cyborg and Robin did. He didn't get a whole lot of chance to have fun like that. Of course, traveling through space didn't normally give him anybody to have fun with in the first place.

X turned back to the screen with records of the surrounding towns as well as the criminal masterminds that had been present. He leaned his head against his hand in thought while looking at a recurring picture. This 'Slade' person was a common entry in the Titans' database. This dark, masked person was undoubtedly one of the primary enemies of the Titans, but he was listed as being deceased. On X's world, this would not have been unusual in his line of work. He was used to having to exterminate Mavericks. There were not many occasions when he was actually able to apprehend or imprison the rogue machines. In fact, his orders were often to eliminate the Mavericks without even attempting the more peaceable solution of capturing them. Still, the massive computer file and list of attacks made by Slade invoked some curiosity as to why he was the only one listed as dead. All the other criminals that the Titans had put a stop to were either imprisoned or there whereabouts unknown.

A strange twitch in X's mind made his head shake. Only a moment afterward, Starfire burst through the doors with an enormous smile.

"Friends, I have wonderful news!" she beamed with her arms wide in the air, "Raven has finally awakened, and she says that she is in great need of the breakfast!"

Everyone immediately jumped up from what they were doing to tend to their friend. Cyborg put on a chef's hat and a 'kiss the robot' apron, while Robin started to heat up hot water for some of Raven's herbal tea.

"Alright everyone," said Cyborg excitedly, "Time for the waffle master to work his magic!"

"Yes, Cyborg," agreed Starfire, "and I shall make the eggs of scrambledness!"

Robin and Cyborg looked horrified at the thought of the young redheaded girl preparing food. X noticed and stopped her from opening the fridge with a better idea in mind.

"Actually Starfire, why don't you let me make the eggs? I've got something special that I think she'll like."

Starfire had no objection, so X dematerialized himself as he had done before in the medical bay and landed on one knee on a transport pad on his ship. He hurried to a storage room and opened a large refrigeration device that he normally stored chemicals and other important objects that needed to be kept at a low temperature. The fridge towered over his head, so he used the boosters at the bottom of his feet to reach the top shelves where some of the less used items lay. He knew he could not hover forever, so he quickly fingered through various jars and tubes to reveal two enormous golden eggs toward the back that were nearly the size of his head. He tucked one under each while gently releasing the pressure on his foot jets, and the landing was smoothly done so as not to break the eggs. With both of them securely held, Mega Man rushed back through the halls of his ship back to Titan's Tower. A few quick pants escaped his reploid lungs from the incredible speed that he used to get Raven's breakfast, but Starfire's squealing reaction alone was well worth the smile that it brought to his face.

"Friend Mega Man, those eggs look more glorious than the Gorlockan devil bird eggs on Tamaran! However, I think we shall need a larger pan!" She jumped up and down like an excited five-year-old getting her first candy bar as X cracked the massive golden ovals at the edge of the stove in the Titans' kitchen, then dumped the contents into a much bigger frying pan that he had found in the cupboards below. The yolk and white of the eggs were glittered golden as well. It was only food, but to the Titans, it was quite a sight.

Once all was done, the three Titans and X entered Raven's room with several mugs of herbal tea for everyone, a six inch high stack of waffles, and the golden eggs that sparkled in the dim light of her room. Raven was lying in her bed, still in the patient's smock, with bags under her eyes from having been asleep so long. She had to struggle to sit up properly from the remaining injuries, but some of her broken bones and gashes had swiftly and completely mended themselves. Scars were still obvious on her uncovered arms and another across her cheek that had not finished healing yet. She was happy to see all of her friends, but her appetite took a monstrous precedence.

"Oh, I'm _so_ hungry," she moaned, grabbing the entire stack of waffles and devouring huge bites that almost didn't fit into her mouth. The other Titans and X watched for a moment as she wolfed in food in a very chaotic manner that the Titans were not used to seeing from her. A piece of waffle didn't quite get into her mouth as she bit down on an oversized bite, and it dropped into her lap. Without even thinking, she picked it up and stuffed it right back with the rest of the half chewed waffles in her mouth. She looked up at her friends and paused with her mouth puffed out from too much food being inside. and her cheeks turned red once she realized that she was eating like an absolute pig.

"I, uh…" her normally pale face lit up the dim room with embarrassment. The Titans all burst out laughing at Raven's jaws being comically stretched to the limit.

"It's ok Rae, you haven't eaten in almost a week," reassured Robin.

"Yeah," added Cyborg with a grin, "If it were me, I'd probably even be hungry enough to eat some of Starfire's cookin'!"

They all laughed, except for a blushing Starfire, knowing full well that many of the recipes from her home planet had caused those who dared to try them severe lower intestinal issues for sometimes weeks.

Raven swallowed her food and took a deep breath, while clutching her chest. She gathered herself and started to eat a little slower. She looked at the scrambled eggs on her fork and raised an eyebrow.

"Tell me Beast Boy didn't make these," she said, worried that she was about to consume one of his repulsive Tofu creations.

"Nope, X made those," said Beast Boy.

X had been standing in the background out of Raven's sight for good reason. Upon being mentioned, he had no choice but to present himself to the crowd. Raven placed her food down and stared at X with a mixed expression on her face. Cyborg and Robin could almost smell the emotions running between the two pairs of eyes, and figured that it would be best to leave them be.

"I, uh… have to get back to research," Robin used to excuse himself. Cyborg followed suit.

"Oh yeah, and it's my turn to wash dishes," said Cyborg; a task that he would never normally claim.

Starfire still sat in the room, smiling in a clueless fashion and unable to perceive that X and Raven needed to be alone to sort out their experiences. Raven rolled her eyes at the redheaded girl's incompetence.

"Eh-hem," she coughed in an exaggerated manner toward her ignorant friend.

"Oh, friend Raven, do you need the syrup of no coughing?"

X sighed and rubbed his hand down the human-like skin of his face, trying to hold in his amusement at how socially inept the Tamaranian princess was. He knew he had made a wise choice in passing by Tamaran on his travels to this planet. If Starfire was royalty on her world, then her lack of conversational skills probably paled in comparison to many of the subjects that she ruled over. X decided to make it as clear as day for her.

"Starfire, do you think that Raven and I could have some time to talk... _alone_?"

She still didn't comprehend that it had been implied already, but she obliged and left the room anyway. X and Raven both shook their heads at the alien girl, then returned to gazing at each other.

The dark sorceress girl couldn't fight a captivating pull from his bright green eyes. She couldn't quite focus on anything else as she just stared into those tranquil, yet courageous eyes that had helped save her from her own mind. An amorous exhale flew out from her lungs, and the sound brought her out of her own trance. She blushed again, even heavier this time than she had with her food.

"Hi," she said, hiding her cheeks and her eyes from his with a subtle smile and a bowed head.

"Hi," he said right back. "How are you feeling?"

She smiled to herself. What a question.

"I'm… alright, I guess," she blushed. "Considering I nearly died and then had my mind half torn apart with you running around inside to fix it," Raven added, trying to make it sound as though it wasn't a big deal.

"I'm sorry, if I had only been there sooner, I could have stopped Vile from hurting you."

Raven cringed at the Maverick's name. Her face filled with a mix of unbridled hate and an overwhelming fear for the dark machine that brutally attempted to murder her. Her jaw twitched and tightened, trying to fight the conflicting thoughts of cowering in front of Vile and wanting slaughtering him. She opened her eyes wide as she felt X's hand squeeze gently around her shoulder.

"It's alright Raven," he said, trying to calm her beating heart, "I'm not going to let that bastard hurt anyone."

Raven's mouth opened, but she could not find the words to express what she felt inside her.

"X, I… I don't even know what to say. I've never even had a conversation with you before this, and you've already saved my life twice at so much risk to your own. I can't even begin to thank you."

"Don't worry about it. I just did what I had to do," the Maverick Hunter said to her with a gentle nod.

The two shared a short, but much needed silence for a few minutes to gather their thoughts and composure. It was Raven who spoke next.

"I'm curious, how were you _created_ with telepathic abilities?" Raven asked, interested in the man in blue armor.

"Actually, I learned."

"You _learned_!" she said with eyes wide opened in astonishment, and she felt a rippling, anxious chill slide up from her finger tips while she sat up for the coming story.

X rubbed the back of his helmet recalling what he felt was an embarrassing memory. "I crash landed high in a snow covered mountain range on another world when the engine systems in my ship failed. This was almost six years ago. I couldn't repair the damage with the supplies on my ship, so I had to head out into the blizzard on the mountaintop."

"What happened then?" questioned the intrigued sorceress.

"Well, I'm pretty resistant to the cold, but after almost a day being lost in a complete white wash, I collapsed. When I woke up, I was sitting in a grass meadow face to face with this… thing… that apparently saved me."

Raven was fascinated. Her culture all innately owned psychic abilities that they merely developed, and she was amazed that a machine had the ability to learn such a thing.

"Go on," she requested.

"The creature told me… or rather telepathically spoke to me a message telling me it would teach me how to open my mind to new things. I told him I had to fix my ship, but he said that when I returned it would already be repaired. So, I stayed with him for what seemed like weeks, and slowly, I learned to speak with my mind rather than my mouth." X laughed. "After he was satisfied with my progress, he flew off into the distance and I never saw him again. I never even learned anything about him; not even his name."

"Nothing at all?"

X thought hard and remembered what few words the creature spoke to him aside from training. It brought a sly grin to his features.

"I actually tried to pry into his mind one time once I started to get better. Needless to say, I failed pretty miserably. I was just glad that he didn't get angry."

"Bold move," said Raven warmly, fidgeting her sheets and fingers together while she listened.

"He did tell me one thing," X said, and the seriousness on his face brought Raven's hands to a frozen halt. "He said… that I was special, and that the powers he gave me would help me to protect someone else special, as well."

His glance met strongly met hers.

Raven blushed crimson at this, feeling very special indeed. "That's an amazing story, that you could learn telepathy like that," she said, but she felt an underlying delight that she had a place in his tale, whether it was true or not.

"I'm still not very good at it, but I'm glad it happened, or else I wouldn't have been able to jump into that scary mind of yours to save it."

X suddenly felt a wave of discomfort coming from the dark sorceress even though her facial expression didn't change at all. It was like radar had been activated in the reploid's thoughts without giving his consent, and all signs pointed to the pale girl in front of her. Mega Man X could feel the deep pain residing within Raven's wounded heart from her own past, and he could sense the words she struggle to speak before they even left the pallid lips that hid behind a down-turned face.

"Raven, it's alright, I won't tell any of the others what I saw inside of you."

She wrapped her bed sheets tightly around her and hunched down sorely.

"I'm so sorry… you had to go through all of that horror because of me," she spoke with a shaking whisper and an ashen look on her face.

"Hey, I'm partially responsible for getting our wires crossed, so don't worry about it," he reassured her. She didn't feel very relieved about it, so X changed the subject. "Come on now, your eggs are getting cold."

"Oh, right," she brought the plate back in front of her with carnivorous intentions and less of the murky mood. "I am still really hungry. So what did you say these were?" she asked as she slowly forked an enormous piece.

"They're from a large breed of birds called chocobos from a planet not too far from my own solar system. The birds themselves are normally used as a means of transportation, but the eggs are quite a delicacy, too."

"People _ride_ on them?" she asked with a muffled mouthful of the bird's scrambled offspring.

"Absolutely. More fun than horseback riding, and they're very tame," he educated her. Raven set down her fork and thought about how much time she normally used during the day reading books and meditating. It occurred to her that she had never once been horseback riding, let alone giant bird riding.

"Maybe I'll take you there sometime and you can try it yourself?" he proposed.

Raven nearly gagged on her eggs at the offer. "Seriously? You'd take me to another world?"

"Sure, once things cool down around here. I still have to confirm the reason for the Maverick uprising in this star sector before I go anywhere."

Raven nodded, knowing that those responsibilities came first. "Have you had any luck finding them?"

"No, not a thing," he sulked, not at all thrilled about it. "Robin and Cyborg have been digging through old junk from past criminals and I've been doing a database search of the surrounding cities for anything in the past few decades that might be of use to Mavericks, but I can't find anything either."

"And has Beast Boy been an endless nuisance?" mused Raven with a glare that was reserved especially for the green changeling. If X had to guess, he's say that the look was a mixture of vein-bursting annoyance and frequent disapproval.

X chuckled at the friendly jab she made toward Beast Boy nonetheless. "He hasn't been all that bad. It took us a while to pry his face away from playing Super Mega Monkeys 4, but we eventually managed to get him to cooperate and patrol the seas with Aqualad."

"Typical," she replied.

X picked up two cups of herbal tea from the tray sitting on a desk near her bed. The desk also had an ancient looking book that appeared to contain information on a very old wizard. Also sitting on the dark oak desk was a black sculpture of the opposing faces of the drama symbol; one mask smiling, the other crying. The Maverick Hunter was not put off by the unusual dark temperament in the room when he scanned it, but he was willing to admit to himself that it was different from what he or any of his kind was normally accustomed to. X brought his mind off his surroundings and back to Raven, handing her a cup of hot green tea while taking the other for himself.

X took a sip of the tea and screwed up his face in distaste. "It's a bit bland… uh, is something wrong, Raven?"

The dark sorceress girl was staring wide-eyed at him with her cup halfway to her mouth as if she had been frozen in place. She was amazed that X had just… consumed food. "How did you… but you're a ro-…" Raven bit her lip and slapped her hand over her mouth. X's uncomfortable expression wasn't necessary for Raven to know that she had just seriously insulted him.

"X, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I mean I just thought that…"

"Calm down Raven," X raised his voice over hers, "It's ok; I get it a lot."

She apologized again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed what you can and can't do."

"Will you stop apologizing? I told you it's alright. Besides, if Cyborg can devour stack after stack of pancakes, then there's no reason that I can't."

Raven giggled, which she admitted while doing it that it was an unusual occurrence for her.

"And you're funny, too. What _else_ can you do?"

A twinkle lit up in Mega Man's eyes as he leaned a little closer to Raven. "Well…" he said, beginning another story that had the softer tones of leading into something bigger, "My X-Buster has the ability to absorb the DNA codes of the Mavericks that I defeat, creating separate lines of energy from my brain to my body."

"Which means?"

"It means that I can use the weapon systems and special skills of those Mavericks."

Raven wondered why he was telling her this, but it quickly became evident. It was strange, but he was admitting that those who he had to destroy in battle could become a part of him.

"Unfortunately," he interrupted the dark girl's thought, "most of those separate energy lines eventually degrade and become useless over time, so to keep that versatility, I learned some… _other_ skills in my travels."

Mega Man X cupped his hands together up close to Raven's face with her watching intently. A cold steam starting flowing out of the gaps between his fingers as X made delicate changes in the positioning in his hands, as if he were shaping a ball of clay.

"Hold out your hands, and close your eyes," he told the intrigued sorceress.

She placed her hands in front of him and shut her eyes, awaiting X's surprise. Raven suddenly felt an icy shock flow up through her elbow as a small object touched her palms. She opened her eyes, and she gasped at an ice sculpture sitting in her hands. It was of a beautiful water lily that reflected with prismatic light from the illumination in her room. It was freezing to the touch, but she didn't care even as droplets of water began to slither their way down the side of her hands and onto her lap.

"It's not all for show of course," interrupted the Maverick Hunter, as he stood up from the bed in a much grander stance. He focused his thoughts on the door leading to Raven's room, figuring that it would be sturdy enough to withstand his attack. Mega Man X gathered energy for his blizzard spell, not from his X-Buster, but from within the depths of his body. A circular set of symbols appeared from beneath his feet, and then a blue light shot up around accompanied by a powerful surge of humming. X's eyes shone even brighter green than before as he waved his hand forcefully in the direction of the steel sliding door of Raven's room. From the bottom up, the door and wall became enveloped in a thick layer of jagged ice. The powerful spell even managed to crawl across the ceiling, releasing tiny crystallized flakes of snow on top of X that melted upon contact with him. Raven's mouth hung open at the spiritually formed barrier of frozen water covering an entire wall of her bedroom.

Feeling the room temperature drop across his face, X went to Raven, lifted up on her chin and closed it for her.

"Wow…" was the only thing that the dark sorceress could say. "But… now I can't get out of my room," said Raven.

X had already contemplated that with an ear-to-ear, impressive smile. Performing a similar ritual as before, red energy began to swirl out of the runic symbol that appeared beneath X's feet, which then encircled his arms in flame. Two blazing tornadoes swirled out from the reploid's arms and engulfed the crystalline wall, evaporating most of it instantly. Only a small amount of water and vapors remained after X's show of fire and magic.

Raven had been unintentionally withholding her breath during X's impressive spectacle of lights, and upon taking in a large gasp of air through her nostrils, she was revolted by a terrible stench that was so strong that it completely broke her fascination with Mega Man.

"Ugh… what's that smell!" she almost choked.

X took a sniff around where he stood. He didn't smell anything. X sidled up close to Raven's bed, bent over, and sniffed her lightly.

"Gwwaaaa!" he shouted, plugging his nose. "Raven, I think that's _you_," he told her with a pointed finger.

"Oh wonderful," came her sarcasm. "I just love going for a week without showering. Now I smell about as wonderful as Beast Boy."

Raven slid herself to the side of her bed and pinched the back of her medical slip so that her butt wouldn't hang out, but she stumbled and nearly fell, just narrowly catching her balance on X's arm.

"Easy, Raven," he comforted her. "You're still not very strong."

"I'll feel better once my own smell stops nauseating me," she insisted.

X admired her determination and even her stubbornness. "Alright then, go get cleaned up, and when you're done, why don't you drop by my ship? The other Titans are curious about where I'm from, so I'm going to show them all, as well as give them the tour of the ship."

"Alright," she nodded with a slight smile, "I'll be there." Raven watched the valiant machine pivot and pass through the slightly damp sliding door. She felt an awkward rumbling in the pit of her belly after seeing him leave.

"_Why do I feel like I have butterflies in my stomach_?" she pondered. The strange sensation only lasted a moment longer. "_Must just be because I haven't eaten anything in so long_," she disregarded it.

Raven peeled off the loose garb covering her and it dropped in a thin heap at her feet. She gasped at the appearance of her naked body. Scars were abundant from her thighs up to her chest. The dark sorceress grumbled as she rubbed her fingers across some of the vicious remnants of her near murder.

"..._Oww_!" her body jerked as she touched a particularly thick gash just beneath her right breast. It obviously still need more time to finish healing. Raven, now extremely frustrated at her diced appearance, took slow, straining steps to her shower in the adjacent room after she finished counting the numerous imperfections in her skin. Twisting the knob to turn on hot water took much more effort than it normally did, but the steaming spray that covered her body when she stepped in gave instant satisfaction to her sore muscles.

Raven shut the shower curtain and leaned forward, pressing her hands against the shower wall with the water flowing along her back and over her shoulders down the front of her body. She didn't even know how long she stood there, enjoying the therapeutic warmth and pressure on every aching joint, but she knew that the shower had never felt quite so relaxing as it did right at that moment.

Raven washed the many days of grime out of her silky blue hair with a Lavender shampoo. She leaned back and let the refreshing current splash across her face and down the curves in her chest and torso. She slowly scrubbed down the rest of her body, savoring every moment of it and careful not to agitate the few wounds that were still fragile.

After much reluctance, Raven finally turned the shower off and continued to lean against the shower walls, letting the water drip down her legs and into the drain, taking her stress with it.


	5. The Dreamweaver

**Chapter 5 – The Dreamweaver**

Raven stepped out slowly and slipped a black towel under her arms and fastened it firmly against her slim frame, and she winced at the pain that a simple tug of the towel had caused. She took out a second, smaller towel to ruffle through her hair until it was as dry as the cloth could make it, then she leaned her back against the sink taking deep breaths that turned into heavy yawns.

It was a while that she waited, resting her body with shut eyes. She wasn't sure how long, but her hair had become almost completely dry. As she brushed it in her usual, straight down, fairly plain manner, she noticed that it was starting to feather against her shoulders. That meant it would need to be cut soon. The sorceress finished what little ritual grooming she had and sorely pulled on another replica of her dark hero outfit.

"Damn it," she whispered, seeing that the scars on her thighs were extremely obvious and not covered by her attire. The last thing Raven wanted was Starfire or Beast Boy bringing up Vile and the Mavericks by pointing out the battle wounds on her legs.

The dark sorceress thought about phasing through the walls as she had done before, but she was sore and tired, and so she slowly trekked downward from her quarters to the main living room where she found Robin packing up boxes of old, but familiar junk.

"Hey Raven," he said in a cheerful manner as she entered the common room, "Feeling better?"

She noticed that a bandage was wrapped around his arm with a few dots of blood that had leaked through. "I'm doing a lot better, thanks. What happened to your hand?"

"Oh, that," he said, nonchalantly. "I burnt it pretty badly trying to reach through that force field you made while X was in your mind," he said, unwrapping the bandage and shower her a severe burn. Raven placed her hand on it, and although weak, she was able to repair much of his scorched skin with her healing powers.

"Thanks. How was your talk with Mega Man X?" he asked.

"It was… impressive," were the only words she could think of to answer her leader.

"He's really something else, isn't he?" Robin agreed as he resealed the box he had been going through.

"Yeah… he really is," replied Raven, sounding genuinely interested, which earned her a stare from Robin that she didn't notice.

"Well, shall we head to his ship?" Robin said with subdued excitement. "We all could use a break from searching for clues about the Mavericks, and I'm sure it would do you good, too."

Raven was completely in favor of seeing X again, so the two marched outside (at Raven's slower pace) to the metal staircase leading up to one of the entrances of Mega Man's sizeable ship. Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire were already waiting there with X, who was standing at the top of the staircase chatting pleasantly with the Titans.

"Alright everyone," announced X over the five Titans while glancing mostly at Raven, "Welcome to my starship, the Azure Dreamweaver. She's carried me from solar system to solar system for years now. First stop, the bridge."

As they stepped inside, Starfire and Beast Boy stared with wide eyes at every thing they walked by, no matter how insignificant it was. To them, it was a smorgasbord of 'ooh, shiny!' Cyborg and Robin had numerous questions about the technology that they had to hold in until the right time to ask. Raven followed closely behind X in spite of the labor it took to keep pace.

A brief stroll through the corridors of the ship brought them to its center of operations; the bridge. The room was somewhat dimly tinted blue and slanted, with the front of the room being lower than the back.

"This is where most of the ship operations take place, of course. If I had a full crew, then the second in command would sit to my right," he pointed toward the front where three large, comfortable looking seats sat, the center one obviously being the Captain's chair. "The tactical and secondary engine control systems are back here," he waived to the back of the room where several computerized panels lined the walls accompanied by more pleasantly relaxing swiveling chairs fastened to the floors.

"Hey," interrupted Cyborg, "How do you manage to fly this thing by yourself?"

"I can actually do all of it from the Captain's seat," he explained, "and the voice activated computer systems certainly help as well."

Beast Boy butted in too. "Voice activated? You mean, like, you can talk to the ship?"

"Exactly," responded X. "Watch this… Computer!" he commanded. An electronic but not unpleasant sound emanated from all around, signaling that the computer was acknowledging X's presence. "Activate upward thrusters, then take us into standard orbit at one half impulse power."

The Titans all felt a light jerk as the Dreamweaver lifted off the ground. X was unfazed by the memorable movement as the Titans all lost their balance and reached for something to lean on. After the initial tug, the rest of the ride was remarkably smooth, even through the Earth's fiery stratosphere.

"Computer, activate the main screen," X ordered. With a blip of approval, the large screen facing the bridge turned on with a glorious view of land, sea and clouds of the Titans' Earth.

"X, your ship is most glorious!" exclaimed the Tamaranian princess with tiny claps of approval.

Robin was curious. "How did it get us through the atmosphere so easily?" he asked. X quickly addressed Robin's question with experience and intelligence.

"The Azure Dreamweaver is one of the most sophisticated ships of my planet. It has energy shields that act like a powerful bubble, absorbing pressure, heat, impact, and other forms of energy weapons, both protecting the ship and giving it a much smoother ride at high speeds and through hostile environments."

"What kind of engines does this ship carry?" asked Cyborg with his arms crossed.

"That's our next stop," explained Mega Man the tour guide. He led them to a circular elevator that he called a 'turbo lift' which led the group up a few floors to massive space that could only have been the engine room. A towering column of twisting red and green light was sealed inside a wide transparent tube that stretched from the ceiling to the floor of the room. Smaller pipes lined the top and bottom of it, apparently feeding whatever it was inside the column to the rest of the ship. Starfire and Beast Boy looked at it like it was a popsicle.

"You wanted to know about the engines, Cyborg, but I think that it might even be over your head…"

Cyborg snorted. "Try me."

X shrugged. "Alright then. This large column here is an antiproton generator engine. The antiprotons are generated with a micron matrix splitter that uses phazon crystals as a catalyst. These other tubes send the antiproton clusters to other parts of the ship that generate a similar effect to the energy shields when desired, but the difference from shields is that the antiprotons interact with normal matter in space and create an inter-dimensional subspace rift around the ship known as a slipstream or wormhole. Then, using this wormhole, vast distances can be traveled through subspace at many times the speed of light."

The Titans all looked utterly confused, including Cyborg.

"So…" said a confused Robin with only a slight understanding of X's longwinded speech, "You can travel anywhere you want in the galaxy at any time?"

"Not exactly," the Dreamweaver's captain explained, "wormholes are erratic and therefore nearly impossible to control. It's too dangerous to create a wormhole just anywhere. However, at certain points, where gravitational pulls are especially strong, wormholes can be manipulated to give specific direction, but only a few of the largest stars have enough strength to do so. For shorter distances," he pointed toward two smaller red coils at the edges of the expansive room, "the warp engines can take this ship at speeds of about ten times the speed of light."

"Oh, _only_ ten times the speed of light?" snapped Cyborg in an unusually sour tone. X was about to make a retort to Cyborg's attitude, but he was cut short.

"Yipe!" jumped Starfire when a humanoid machine brushed past her shoulder from behind. It took no notice of the Titans or Mega Man. It instead moved over to an open area beneath a control panel that had several wires laden across the floor. The machine did not have a human-like skin on its face like X, nor did it act like him at all. It had green armor, much less fancy and protective than that of Mega Man X's.

"I thought you were the only one on this ship?" said Raven to X while the machine performed maintenance near the giant blue column of light.

"Technically, I am," he explained, "But there are a few mechaniloids on the ship that do routine repairs."

"Please, friend Mega Man X, what are these mechaniloids you speak of?" asked a bewildered Starfire.

The Maverick Hunter walked over to the droid and waived his hands in front of its very inhuman looking eyes. The machine made no response at all.

"There are four classifications of robots on my world. The first," he said, indicating the repair robot, "Are mechaniloids. They aren't considered to be sentient life forms, and they're designed for a specific set of tasks. They mostly just follow orders, if they're even advanced enough for that."

"The second type of robot is simply called a 'junk robot.' Junk robots are loosely put together reanimated machines that are mostly composed of old, destroyed ones. They're normally controlled by a server, which is usually another mechaniloid."

"So…" Beast Boy concluded, "They're just like the killer machines from 'Metallic Junkyard Slime Monsters 2'?"

Raven glared at him with the frequent, heated glare that told him that he was an idiot. Robin tried to move things along so that his teammates wouldn't get into a pointless argument. "What are they used for?" he asked, trying to fight the picture in his head of common household appliances turning into monsters.

"Most of the time," he taught them, "they're useful in recycling plants or for waste disposal. The server can animate many of the destroyed machines and parts and have them dispose of themselves rather than physically moving them. It's simply more energy efficient and environment friendly. Anyway," he continued, "the third type is cyborgs. I obviously don't need to explain those to you," he grinned as he patted Cyborg on the shoulder. Cyborg didn't seem quite as amused, so Mega Man withdrew his hand.

"So the last kind is reploids, right?" deduced Raven.

"Exactly," he smiled, "Reploids are the most advanced mechanical life forms known to us. Not to say that we're the most technologically advanced civilization that there is. We just focused very heavily on robotics."

Robin raised his hand to draw X's attention. "And what category do the Mavericks fall under?" he asked.

Mega Man X shifted uneasily with the stares of the five Teen Titans awaiting the answer to this question. He knew they would not like it. X took a deep breath.

"……All of them," was his regretful reply. The Titans all wore looks of intense shock and worry, even Beast Boy despite his lack of scientific understanding. The Titans glanced at one another, and without having to share words, they realized that the Maverick threat was much larger than they even knew. Raven looked especially distraught. X tried to take their attention off of the unpleasant subject.

"Come on, let's not worry about that now," he shuffled them along quickly, "Stellar cartography is next."

After a much more silent ride on the turbo lift and a brief jaunt down the identical corridors, the Titans led by X stopped at a particularly large gateway.

"Hope you like space," said X as he tapped away at a keypad just to the side of the entrance, "because we're about to walk into the galaxy."

Mega Man waved his hand to showcase the marvels that lay within as the door slid open. Each of the Titans walked with their mouths gaping open at the display of the Milky Way before their eyes. Hundreds of thousands of tiny stars and planets shined bright from every corner, like specs of pure light dusting a night sky. The stars eclipsed around the room and many of the small stars passed over, or rather passed through the Titans. Stellar cartography itself was spherical with a single metal walkway leading to a computer uplink at the very center of the room. There was a long drop beneath them all and the ceiling looked eternally high. X walked past the awe inspired Titans and took a seat at the computer system.

"Hee hee!" squealed Starfire with delight, trying to catch the stars in her hands. "They are warm!" Beast Boy was also playing around with the stars and nebulas flying past him.

"This," said X at the computer with his back turned to them, "is the Alpha quadrant, where both of our worlds are situated."

With X's input on the computer system, one quarter of the miniature galaxy expanded to encompass the entire space that the Titans stood in. They were disoriented by the other stars rushing past them, each one with a rainbow trail as they flew out of sight. The remaining heavenly bodies still comprised of many thousands of planets and suns, but it was only a fraction of those that had been there before. To help give them a clue as to what they were looking at, Mega Man color coded several of the stars and zoomed in, eliminating many of the ones on the outskirts of the room.

"This planet," he pointed to one that was highlighted red, "Is yours." A line formed between the Titans' Earth and another planet quite some ways across the room to another planet that was tinted green.

"This is my world about fifty light years away from yours," he explained, "And these…" connecting lines shot out of X's world to over a hundred different planets that all turned blue once the two places were linked, "these are all of the places that I've traveled to."

"Wow, X," said an impressed Robin, "you must've seen some incredible things. How long have you been out there?"

"About a dozen years, give or take."

Raven glanced sideways at him with a soft concern in her voice. "You don't… stay anywhere that long, do you?"

"No, I don't," X answered quickly and moved on with his tour. He pointed out Tamaran for Starfire and gave brief explanations of a few of the places he had been, but he had suddenly lost his flair for the stars. He turned off the three dimensional star chart and they exited swiftly from whence they came. Starfire and Beast Boy were disappointed, but it could not be helped.

Despite X's loss of enthusiasm, he did show them one last aspect of the Dreamweaver that blew even stellar cartography out of the solar system. "This is the holodeck," he explained, "It's an advanced holographic projection system that can create places that actually look and feel completely real."

The Titans looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language.

"Beast Boy, where would you like to be right now?" X asked.

Beast Boy probed his brain (which was often painful for him) and randomly chose the first destination that popped into his head. "Um… the doughnut shop?"

X rolled his eyes and the Titans all followed suit, but Mega Man complied with his absurd request anyway.

"Computer, create…… a doughnut shop," he said, realizing how silly it sounded, "with six chairs, and a mechaniloid server."

X watched the Titans waiting for this next attraction like it was a roller coaster ride. He let his own creativity make the rest of the setting. "Computer, make the shop on a rooftop… no, on the highest rooftop in Reploid City. Make it nighttime with a clear, starry sky and a full moon. And…" he needed something to really make a bang. _A bang, _he thought… _that's it_! "Computer, add… fireworks."

The mechanical brain that flowed throughout the entire ship responded with the same chime that it had made before, and then a few moments later replied with a dry feminine voice, "_Program complete_, _you may enter when ready_."

"After you," he told the Titans. As they approached the door, it automatically opened for them, revealing a spectacular sight. Sure enough, as Mega Man had instructed to the computer, through the doors was a fantastic outdoor doughnut shop on the smooth rooftop of a building. The Titans spun around to the Maverick Hunter's vast city for miles and miles. Raven and X already recognized it. It was good to see the city again, this time without the bodies, but the other Titans could not believe their eyes. They could not comprehend how a magnificent city could be within X's ship. The door closed behind them once they had entered, and it suddenly vanished, showing no trace that they had ever gone through it in the first place.

"_Can I get you a doughnut_?" said a metallic voice from behind the counter. The mechaniloid manning the doughnut shop looked just as generic and bland as the one on X's ship. Beast Boy could not deny free food, and he dove over the counter and began to devour various sweets. He poked his head up, interrupted by a loud, explosive sound above everyone's heads. Sure enough, rainbows of fireworks were bursting in the artificial moonlit night sky.

"X, how is this possible?" asked Raven.

"It's all hard light holograms. Mostly illusions, though." He walked over to the edge of the tower that they stood on overlooking the streets below, but he stopped short. Holding out a hand, he flicked his finger at thin air, but it made a clanking sound and the air that he hit clearly vibrated in an unusual manner as though the sky was a giant puddle.

"The wall," he explained. "Even though you can interact with anything in the holodeck, or in Beast Boy's case, eat anything within it, it's still got limits."

The fireworks reached a sparkling climax of red, green and blue, mixing the stars in the sky with fiery cinders. Starfire, Robin and Raven watched in awe. Beast Boy kept eating doughnuts. Cyborg didn't seem to care that much. He stood off to the side. _What's his problem?_ X wondered. When he looked back to the other Titans, he nearly jumped at Starfire's face only inches away from his.

"Friend X, may we go to other places as well?" She asked with jubilant glowing eyes.

"Tell you what," he said, "I'll let you use the holodeck any time you want, as long as you all don't start fighting over it. Computer! Allow the Teen Titans free access to the holodeck programs any time they wish, password X Beta Sigma."

"_Password accepted,_" the computer chirped, "_Access granted to Teen Titans_."

Starfire jumped for joy. "Come, fellow Titans, we shall have joyous fun for many hours inside the hole-o-deck!"

Beast Boy was very willing, but two of the other three Titans were not interested.

"Actually," yawned Robin, "I could use a little bit of shut-eye. Maybe some other time."

Cyborg just said tonelessly, "I have to go charge my batteries."

"Hey Cyborg," X tried to say in a friendly manner, "maybe I could help improve your energy consumption syst…"

"_No_," interrupted the steel man flatly.

Taken aback, X commanded his ship to return from the spot that it came from next to Titan's Tower so Robin and Cyborg could attend to their individual tasks while Starfire and Beast Boy played on the holodeck. X stared at the half human backside of Cyborg's head as he huffed off haughtily to the Tower. Raven and he stood at the top of the staircase leading to the ground.

"What's up his tin can?" growled X angrily.

"Don't worry about Cyborg," Raven dismissed it, "he just feels uncomfortable having another machine around."

"I was only trying to help."

She put a caring arm on his shoulder and looked into his lime colored eyes. "I said don't worry about it. The rest of us are more than thankful to have you around."

X smiled warmly at Raven. She returned the smile back to him. "Thanks Raven." He drew his face to the sky in recollection of past pains. "I don't usually get a very warm welcome in the places that I travel to. I just don't want this to end up like most everywhere else I've been."

"X, that won't happen… I won't let that happen. You're welcome here; we all like you and trust you. Cyborg… well, Cyborg's just being a jerk. He'll come around." Raven had an urge to move her hand and stroke X's cheek, but she fought the emotion and turned away, feeling her face flush with heat underneath her dark blue hood. Raven floated down to the ground, but she felt X's hand gently snag her arm back toward him.

"Raven…" he stumbled to find words to express his feelings for her care, but then he grinned with eyes of wildfire. "Come on, I want to show you something."

X pulled Raven along with excitement, forgetting that she was not quite strong enough to run yet. She had to use what little spiritual energy that resided within her frail body to float along and keep pace with Mega Man, lest she be dragged across the Dreamweaver's floors. After a short trip through various turns and twists within his ship, X came to a sharp halt in front of a solid wall where there was an intersection to the left and the right. Raven was breathing hard. X was not remotely winded.

"So…" she said, huffing and puffing like she had just finished a triathlon, "you wanted to show me a wall?"

X let go of her hand and showed her a mischievous grin. He took a step straight for the wall as though he was going to break it down, but he passed right through it, leaving a momentary streak in the wall where the edges of his body had touched it. Raven looked at the outline of X's body with skepticism. She went to poke at the wall. She withdrew her hand at a strange tingling feeling that surrounded her hand.

"Ok… this is weird." She prodded her hand through a little bit further. "WHOA!" she screamed as X's hand ripped her through the false wall onto her knees. He hauled her up onto her feet and let her lean against him to regain her breath and balance. She was about to yell at her reploid friend for the rush, but before she could make eye contact with him, she instead saw the room that X wanted her to see. Standing three stories high, Raven and X seemed to be in what looked like… a museum. Artifacts, colorful tapestries, ancient looking books and even some things that Raven couldn't describe without a closer look, were all uniformly dispersed on the bottom floor and on the balconies overlooking its two inhabitants.

"I keep this place hidden from most outsiders," said X, breaking the silence between he and the dark girl. "Some of the things here are very special to me. Others are priceless remains of civilizations past, and others," he pointed to the top deck, "are even quite dangerous."

But Raven was too busy admiring the collection to listen to everything that he was saying. She ran her fingers across the glass cases of the things that especially caught her eye. "Is this the Book of Myths!" she gasped, crouching down and staring at the book with childlike desire.

"You've heard of it then. That's not the original, of course, since the first is rumored to have been written over ten millennia ago. That copy is about nine-hundred years old…" Raven had already moved over to something else before X had even finished describing the relic.

"What's this?" she asked, staring at a gleaming suit of armor that looked almost reptilian in nature, bearing metal scales and a very slight bluish tint. The armor's hands clasped a long, serrated saber with ornate designs and the mouth of a vicious lizard at the tip of the handle.

"Dragon armor," he replied. "It's said that if a person with the blood of dragons wears this, then they will bring out their true power and be able to turn into a mighty dragon themselves."

Raven continued to inspect every pedestal and wall display for more things to highlight her interests. Any time that she came across a rare book, she inquired about it to X whether she recognized it or not.

"Want to look at the things on the third floor?" he asked, trying to pique her fascination yet again.

"But I thought you said…"

"I know what I said, but I trust you."

Raven's smile wasn't jubilant and excitable like Beast Boy's or Starfire's. It was much closer to Robin's; calm and wise, but in hers there was warmth and acceptance that showed widely and openly at him.

"How are we getting up there?" she asked. "There aren't any stairs, and I don't know if I'm strong enough yet," she said, not in her usual dry or sarcastic tones.

"Hang on to me," X said, returning the friendly tenor. Raven latched onto his arm and X slipped his around her waist and held tightly to her as he activated his boosters, making the two gradually soar above the silvery rails of the second floor and up to the very top of Mega Man's memoriam. X and Raven landed on an open platform and he set the dark sorceress down to see the most powerful and dangerous of X's collection. Raven did not recognize any of them, but she was immediately drawn to a wide glass case holding about thirty small orbs. Most of them were green, but a few were either yellow, purple or blue. Upon taking a closer look, it appeared as if there was a shiny liquid swirling like clouds inside them. There were also several empty places that looked like they were reserved to complete the assortment. One solitary orb that seemed to be revered amongst the rest was placed in the very center of the case. It was deep red. Raven peered into the bloody glazed swirl, sensing something different about it from the others. A pair of blazing orange eyes and fierce looking red wings flashed through her eyes. She fell back into X's arms, extremely startled.

"X, something… something's in there!" she said, exasperated at the vision that had intruded her thoughts.

"There most certainly is," he said very calmly, "These orbs are called materia. They're from the same place as those eggs you devoured earlier."

"Why could I sense life in the red one!" she distressed.

"Calm down, Raven, it's perfectly normal. These materia orbs are crystallized knowledge from a race called 'the ancients'."

"Crystallized knowledge?" she asked.

"Well, I guess a more accurate description would be crystallized life energy of the planet. Unfortunately, when the energy is put into this form, it can never be reverted to the free energy that it once was. Occasionally, materia is formed as a natural phenomenon, but for a long time, the life of the planet was being drained as 'mako energy' by those who were greedy and money hungry."

"That still doesn't explain what's inside the red materia, _or_ why _you_ have so many!" she said with a mixture of confusion and anger.

"Raven, don't think that I didn't care about the planet. I used the materia that had already been formed so I could have the power to _save_ that world, not destroy it."

She gave him a glaring look that demanded more information. X sighed.

"You remember how I showed you those fire and ice powers in your room?" Raven nodded to him. "Well," X continued, "these orbs are what gave me those powers. The green ones contain attack magic like what I showed you. The yellow ones allow the user to take advantage of special or improved skills that they didn't have before. Purple materia has the ability to boost the strength or magical powers of the person using it, and blue materia causes special effects when linked to other types of materia."

"So," Raven tried to comprehend, "once you used the green materia enough, you didn't need it to cast the spell anymore?"

"Exactly. The other ones don't work the same way… you still need them in order to use their abilities…" X trailed off and lost his train of thought looking at the little, magic spheres that he had used so many years ago. It was kind of funny, but he didn't feel very much like laughing as he delved through more of his memories.

"X, is everything ok?" the dark sorceress pressed.

"Yeah…" X stammered. He didn't know why he was confiding so much in Raven, but it somehow felt right, like he had known the pale faced girl for his whole life. "I used these about seven years ago on that world… there were mighty creatures created by the planet itself to protect it, but those creatures unfortunately found the human race there a threat. They devastated cities, factories, and even remote villages to try and wipe out every man, woman and child."

"But you beat them, right?" suggested Raven optimistically. X just turned away from her sadly.

"No," he said, disheartened, "I faced up to one of them. They were known simply as 'The Weapons'. I fought against the one that was called Ultima." X gritted his teeth in disgust at himself. "I was cocky; I thought that because I had beaten every Maverick that came my way in over a decade of fighting, I could win any battle. The Ultima Weapon showed me otherwise. It nearly tore me apart despite all the power that I had from my materia, and I barely even managed to hurt the thing."

Raven was listening intently to him, so he continued the story. "I don't know why, but for some reason it chose to spare me. It left me there, unconscious and almost dead from the fight. I woke up in a stranger's home ten days later. He had brought me there and I managed to heal, but I found out that three of the weapons had been destroyed by a group of freedom fighters who had also dived into the depths of the planet to destroy an incredible evil inside it."

"Why does it make you feel so uncomfortable that someone else destroyed it?" she asked of the Maverick Hunter.

He shook his head and remembered hearing the news that the planet he was on several years ago would be safe because of the young heroes. He had been extremely happy knowing that they stopped a deadly meteor from crashing in to the core of the planet, and that the Weapons were no longer on the rampage. It was only after he left that world that he began to feel unhappy.

"There was a huge celebration in honor of them, and they all seemed to be such close friends, the heroes, and, well… seeing them all together… I just felt kind of inadequate and…"

"And……?"

A blaring voice thundered through the internal speakers in the Dreamweaver, but it was not the computerized female one that the ship used.

"Titans, Cinderblock is rampaging through downtown!" shouted Robin. "We'll meet in front of the tower and then head straight for Cinderblock. X, we could use your help, too!"

"We'll talk about this later, Raven. You're welcome to stay and look at things some more if you'd like."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, "I'm coming, too."

"I don't think so. You're not strong enough to fight yet, so you're staying either in here or at the tower," he ordered. He lifted up a hand as Raven opened her mouth to argue. "No buts."

Raven jaw twisted to the side, but she bit her lip and her sense of logic knew just as well as X that she wasn't ready to fight. She left the memoriam with X, and followed him to at least give the Maverick Hunter and the others a send off. They reunited with Beast Boy and Starfire, who were now much less playful and instead serious and determined as they rushed out of the Dreamweaver.

Robin gathered his team together and issued orders. "Raven, you and Beast Boy will stay here and guard the tower." His leadership skills anticipated Raven's dislike to the pairing and he gave her a sharp look through his eye mask. "Raven, we need to be warned in case the Mavericks come back to the tower while we're gone, and I don't want you to be alone if that should happen. Starfire, Cyborg, X and I will take down Cinderblock…" Robin searched around, looking for the absent reploid. "Where is X?"

A large bay door slid open at the back of the Dreamweaver and X burst out of it riding a vehicle that resembled a motorcycle, but without any wheels! The chrome blue craft hovered across the ground, kicking up small amounts of dirt from underneath it. He skidded to a stop next to the grouped together Titans.

Mega Man clenched his fist and grinned with his green eyes glowing bright. "Let's go."


	6. New Enemies

Chapter 6 – New Enemies

Mega Man X led the way across the river to Jump City in his hover cycle, leaving bladed wakes of water on either side of him. Robin was barely able to keep pace with him on his amphibious red motorcycle, while Starfire flew high above them with Cyborg in tow. In the distance, a cloud of dense smoke was rising above the steel buildings into a darkening sky, giving the Titans and X a pinpoint location of their target. The destruction only fueled their fighting instincts.

"So who or what exactly are we up against?" X bellowed so that he could penetrate Robin's helmet. The leader's black and yellow cape fluttered erratically in the speed induced wind. He flipped up his green face guard and returned the screaming question.

"All brawn, no brains, and butt ugly!" Robin yelled, sliding his face guard back into place.

"Sounds like fun!" X voiced so that no one else could hear him. It was refreshing to be facing something other than Mavericks. The two fighters dashing through the waves lifted the fronts of their respective rides up at the angled rock face in front of them, launching both of them off the water's edge and onto the pavement. Robin retracted the amphibious attachments of his motorcycle, revealing squealing tires, while X's vehicle was just as proficient on either surface.

Starfire flew down in between the two bikers with her eyes flaming like emeralds, having left Cyborg on the rooftops to create an attack on the enemy from multiple angles. The three down bottom turned sharply at a crumpled telephone pole on to the road and followed the granite monster's path of disaster until they came face to face with it. Rob was right. It _was_ ugly. When X caught sight of it, his only thought was that someone had poured cement into several different sized and massive rectangular molds, and then put them together to form something that could barely be classified as humanoid.

Cinderblock held two cars with screaming passengers inside of them above his head, ready to smash them into a single mess of metal and mutilated bodies, but he caught sight of the Titans out of the corner of his eye and held his position. With a stone solid grin, he tossed the two vehicles aside into the crunched tar behind him.

Cinderblock laughed heartily with a gruff, inhuman voice, but beyond destruction, that was all he was capable of. He raised one of his massive arms and turned full frontal to the Titans, brandishing strange wires and patchy mechanical devices attached to his stony face and arm. He lifted the unusually altered limb and a machine began rotating and creating a similar sound to that of when X gathered energy around his wrist. The three Titans at ground level suddenly found themselves dodging tiny lasers that were pelting the streets and buildings in groups by the hundred from Cinderblock's altered arm. Starfire flew out of distance and Robin and X ducked behind a truck that had its hood ripped off.

"I take it that's new?!" X shouted over the commotion of Cinderblock's weapons.

"Completely!" he returned, "Let's try to take him out from a distance!"

"Robin, be careful!" he warned, "That's Maverick technology that he's using!"

_Great,_ thought Robin from behind the steadily weakening truck, _not only are the Mavericks powerful, but they're making our old enemies even stronger_.

Starfire struck the relentless Cinderblock with her star bolts from high in the sky while making sharp swerves and dives to inch her way closer. She drew the monster away from his laser assault on Robin and X for a moment, but the red-eyed beast had other reploid advancements on his body. Cinderblock clenched his fist together and faced the backside of his hand toward the Tamaranian warrior attacking him. The next time she attacked with her mighty star bolts, an oval wall of red light shielded him against the attack and reflected the energy back, striking Starfire square in the chest and sending her flying through the sky and into a building side that clouded with dust and debris after she broke through it. X took the opportunity to try to strike Cinderblock at the side where his shield was not active, but Cinderblock's reflexes were abnormally sharp and refined. Mega Man only narrowly evaded his own blast.

Breathing heavier, and with the sides of his helmet pulsing from the ear piercing explosion that he had been right next to, X tried to recoup his focus back beneath the truck, but metal twisted like silly putty loudly next to him as Cinderblock scrunched his fingers into it and lifted the whole vehicle off the ground. Using it as a makeshift baseball bat, he beat X across the street and straight into the lobby of a burning building.

Robin turned from X's flying form to the menacing Cinderblock, who was grinning only a few feet away. There was something new in the monster's eyes, and it even made the depths of Robin's courage quake. It was intelligence; malice for more than just malice's sake. The Titans' leader pulled out his staff, but sweat beaded down his forehead as his confidence wavered against the new and improved Cinderblock.

"Hiyaa!!" Robin shouted as he took a calculated swing at the massive hunk of gravel. Cinderblock let it crash against his arm, barely causing any noticeable harm to him, and he grabbed Robin around the waist with a mammoth sized hand. Cinderblock plucked the metal staff from Robin's hand and snapped it into pieces right in front of his eyes that clinked on the equally shattered road.

"Drop him, block head!" belted Cyborg's voice from above as he dropped like a rock to smash Cinderblock into pebbles, but Cyborg's taunt gave Cinderblock the reaction time he needed to swing his free arm around, giving the metal man nothing to land on but a stone solid fist. Cyborg's body crumpled around Cinderblock's hand, and the living hunk of rock flicked him aside. The monster turned back to his prey, but the slick Titan had used the distraction wisely. A number of circular flash bangs blinded Cinderblock, making him drop Robin and cover his beady red eyes from the shock.

Starfire ripped back through the wall she had been thrown through with a plaster-covered body and sent bright green fire bursting from her eyes into Cinderblock's back. X emerged from the fire without more than a few burn mark, and he followed by blasting him with a heavily charged burst of energy in the face that flipped him backward.

Like a demented child, he got up and smashed his mountainous fists on the tar, and he showed no signs of backing off. He had many other Maverick enhancements that he couldn't wait to use on the Titans. A tiny compartment opened on Cinderblock's half machine arm and a small metal orb dropped out in front of Mega Man and Robin. Robin stared for a moment at the insignificant little ball, but X's eyes widened and he tackled the Titan to the ground, protecting him from the massive blast that the small sphere unleashed.

Clouds of dust and smoke blurred the eyes of each combatant. For a moment, there was silence, but the smoke began to swirl and draw itself tight into a single area, where Mega Man X stood firm. Blades of wind surrounded the Maverick Hunter and the dust cloud seemed to expand up into the sky, bringing thunderbolts and rain. The smog thinned and Mega Man's bright eyes shone through along with the dark outline of his body. A piece of shrapnel stuck deep into his cheek. Looking at it from the corner of his eye, he plucked out the piece of metal and a trail of maroon colored liquid that could only be described as the reploid's blood began to slide down his face.

"We need a plan," suggested Robin. He wiped his now wet hair out of his face and stood beside X with Starfire and Cyborg joining next to them.

"Agreed," said X quietly as Cinderblock waited patiently for their next attack, but Cyborg was not as patient.

"I've got a plan right here!" shouted the metal man as he rushed Cinderblock with his arms ready to strike.

"CYBORG, STOP!" screamed X and Robin in unison, but it was too late. Cyborg swung a powerful punch at Cinderblock that would have normally struck him hard, but the Maverick enhancements allowed the hulking monster to skid to the side with unnatural speed, and he crunched Cyborg between a fist and an open palm. Cyborg was thrown into the air and pelted with numerous bursts of Cinderblock's Gatling laser.

"Starfire, get him out of here!" shouted X, taking control over what was left of the team. He turned to Robin's soaked figure as Starfire flew out of Cinderblock's range to pick up Cyborg's punctured pieces. "Robin, do you think you can give me about ten seconds? I just need you to try and keep him in place."

Robin seated himself back on his motorcycle and revved the engine. "I'm on it," he said confidently. He dropped his foot on the gas like there was a block of lead in his boots, and he began to drive circles around the enhanced monster while trying to dodge the beams of searing hot light that relentlessly followed him. Robin used his grappling hook and shot it out at the enemy, just managing to clamp him around his massive, stone arm with the laser gun mounted on it. After a few circles the wires wrapped tightly around Cinderblock, holding his arms to his side so that he would not be able to attack.

_That's perfect_, thought X, and he took a stance not far from the paralyzed Cinderblock. He spread his legs wide and held his hands out toward the stone menace, feeling them tighten with power. Mega Man's entire body began to glow with yellow fire and his blazing green eyes. Cinderblock had managed to rip free of the wires binding him and started to turn for X, but the Maverick Hunter had already gained the time he needed.

"You think you're as tough as stone?!" ripped X's voice across the broken streets, "Then let's see how you handle _this_!"

Yellow rays of light surrounded Cinderblock and cracks began to spider out from beneath him in the tar. A massive mound of earth pulled up from beneath the streets and lifted the creature high in the air. Then, in one furious gesture, X clenched his hands together and the rocks crushed violently around Cinderblock. With one final movement, Mega Man threw his hands apart and the floating ball of stone shattered into the ground and the nearby buildings, breaking the windows that had not yet been shattered by the onslaught. Cinderblock's gargantuan stone body fell to the ground and sent a shockwave of sound rippling across the damp city streets. The monster himself lay battered and beaten in the increasingly deep puddle of mud water that had formed from the earth that X had removed. His Maverick enhancements were torn to pieces, and X, now satisfied that he was no longer as much of a threat, let the fire in his eyes subside.

Robin stared at the smoldering and defeated Cinderblock. He then looked at the earthy debris that had been sent everywhere from X's powers. A bright, blue eyed face with flowing blonde hair entered his mind.

_Terra_… _Just like Terra_… _maybe he could bring her back?_

A peculiar looking armored vehicle drove to the edge of the road that still remained in tact. Leaping out of the small tank, soldiers from the Jump City Asylum special forces dressed in masked, combat body suits that didn't normally serve much purpose against the likes of Cinderblock, but in his broken state, the hunk of rock wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The authorities tightly contained Cinderblock in a clamping crane designed specifically for him and transported him back to where he belonged; a very secure prison.

Mega Man X looked at the destruction that the battle had wrought on the streets. Smashed cars, bent telephone poles and streets signs; not to mention the many thousands of dollars in property damage elsewhere. Robin was surveying the demolition along side him.

"So… high taxes?" X asked with a smirk.

Robin just laughed as he slicked his damp hair back and stared at the ripped up terrain. "Yeah."

X took a look at Robin. His hair kept trying to plaster to his face and his cape hung heavily at his back, saturated from the storm. X could see that his jaw was twisting in an attempt to resist the urge to chatter his teeth.

"You're freezing, we should head back," whispered X. Robin had no argument. The two jumped back onto their vehicles and sped away from the crater where Cinderblock had been removed. Robin's helmet kept his head warm, but the rain bit at his arms and legs through the thin hero outfit that he wore. Mega Man's display of power earlier gave Robin a mix of feelings as he followed the reploid back across the now wild water. Without X, he might not have been able to stop the new threat of Mavericks from killing Raven or now from destroying the city in the reinvented form of Cinderblock, but X had only been with the Titans for a week, which made the Maverick Hunter's incredible power unsettling to the Boy Wonder.

The two riders traversed the rugged waves and rode up on to the sandy shore of Titans, driving through the grand garage doors in the back. Starfire and Raven were waiting for them with towels in hand. Robin was hunched over and shivering frantically with blue lips and teeth chattering like a typewriter.

"Robin! I am so glad to see that you and friend X were victorious!"

"Th-Thanks, S-Star," he stammered, "Is C-Cyborg ok?"

Her face turned sullen with dismay as she replied. "He will be able to repair himself, but I fear that his spirit is damaged far worse than his body."

"What do you m-mean?" he shook from the cold as he wrapped the towel around his shoulders.

"He will not talk to any of us, and he even yelled at Raven when she tried to help with his repairs."

Raven tried to avoid everyone's probing glances at this mention as she helped dry off X's damp armor and face.

"I'll go talk to him once I… once I… WAAAACHOOOO!!!"

Robin sniffed gruesomely and used the towel as a handkerchief. "I'll go talk to hib once I get sub sleep," he said, angered that the letter 'm' refused to come out. He opened his mouth, commanding the Titans' attention, but he waved his hand in disgust and grunted.

Starfire led Robin off to bed and left Raven and X together in the Titans' garage. She touched around the spot where X's face had been cut. The pounding rain from outside had prevented it from clotting up, so it still streamed down and streaked to his chin. Raven took the towel and wiped it up his face to the spot where it was coming from. She also took notice of an open tear in his arm and various banged up spots across his body.

"Are you alright?" she asked the reploid tenderly.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Thanks," he returned, taking the towel from her hand and placing it on the cut in his face.

"Can I help you make repairs?" Raven offered.

"No, I don't need any help," X said flatly.

The dark sorceress looked hurt, but her face suddenly shifted to anger. "Is the denial for help common among all machines, or is this just some sort of rude, male machoism between you and Cyborg?!"

Mega Man was sharply taken aback by her outburst of fury. Raven turned away and inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself. She felt gentle, massaging grips on her shoulders that eased the tension along with a shiver.

"X… I'm sorry. I just feel useless right now. You're out their risking your life fighting Mavericks while I'm stuck in here with Beast Boy trying to entertain me to death. And then you and Cyborg…" An affectionate tingle rippled through her arms from X's caring hold on her.

"Raven, it's not that I don't want your help. I'd be happy even to have your company, but I seriously don't _need _any repairs at all. Take a look."

Raven turned to X, who was showing his sliced cheek. The fluid had stopped flowing out and had congealed to form a small, thin scab on the reploid's face.

"Your face… it's healing?" Raven asked, baffled. "But what about…"

"My arm? That'll eventually heal, too."

Raven shook her head, "I don't understand… but I guess that isn't a big surprise."

"I have… what you might call blood," he clarified it for her. "My 'bloodstream' is filled with tiny machines called nanites that carry the same responsibilities as blood cells. They can heal most minor injuries over a short period of time, so… I don't need any help."

Raven was astounded again as she looked up at his kind, human looking face amongst the metal. "Sorry I blew up at you."

"Don't worry about it," he smiled, "besides, if I were in your position, I probably would have reduced Beast Boy into a pile of ashes by now."

Mega Man grinned at the smirk that he was able to pull out of the sorceress girl. "If you're that eager to help out," he said, "I wouldn't mind your companionship while I work on some things aboard the Dreamweaver."

"I'd love to," she replied, and the two walked out to his ship arm in arm.

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"ACHOO, ACHOO, AAAAAACHOOOOOO!"

Robin slouched weakly at the Titan mainframe computer in his personal study room, working even harder to find a connection between the Titans, the city, and the Mavericks' desires in spite of the illness he had contracted in the inclement weather. A small spray of mucus had just struck the flat screen monitor that he was using. His eyes stung and his nose felt like it was filled with concrete. He didn't care much about being sanitary while he searched for the solution even further, so he wiped it off using the side of his elbow length gloves. His search was much slower and concentrated this time, not simply involving exploration of records and schematics, but instead he sought for correlations between some of the most dangerous and powerful criminals he knew of. Still, no matter where he looked, his mind always jumped to one.

Slade, the first great nemesis to the Titans had long since been wiped out, but the masked criminal mastermind had the dark habit of keeping himself alive under impossible odds. Slade had once managed to bring himself back from beyond after being dropped into a deep, lava filled chasm. It was Terra, the girl of earth, who had brought Slade to justice that final time.

_Terra_… _I have to mention that to Mega Man X_.

An elephant's trumpeting sound followed by Cyborg's angry screams penetrated through the floor below and interrupted the leader's thoughts. Robin couldn't make out everything, but it was obvious that Cyborg was furious. He slid out of his chair and lowered his ear to the floor.

"I don't _care_ how good a fighter he is, I don't _care_ how cool you think his ship is, and I really, _really_ don't care how much less Raven picks on you because he's around!" Cyborg roared to Beast Boy below. "Now if you don't get out of here, I'll smash your aggravating, animal ass into the floor!"

Robin heard a loud slam, and then the faint sound of one of the many swooshing doors in the tower sliding open and then shut. He gritted his teeth angrily as he pulled himself up from the floor with a sneeze and a pulsating headache.

_I don't need this right now_, he scowled inwardly, sniffling and kicking against his desk. He couldn't have his team at each other's throats with the Mavericks sharing the same goal. Robin snorted and blew his nose into a thick wad of tissues which he then discarded into a pile that had grown rapidly.

_Mavericks, Cinderblock, Terra, X, Cyborg_… "AAAACHOOO!!!" the disgusting upheaval of his sinuses interrupted his thoughts. "And a cold," he said aloud, just as bright light from the hallway shimmered into the dim space that he worked in. Standing in the doorway was the red haired Tamaranian, whose jovial personality lit up the room even more so than the light did. She pushed forward a bowl of steaming liquid that smelled pleasant enough to convince him that it wasn't one of her original Tamaranian recipes.

"Robin, I have brought you the soup of chicken and noodles, in hopes that it will alleviate your illness," she beamed.

Robin, normally not one to be taken from his work, welcomed the food and the distraction with open arms. "Thanks, Starfire. You have no idea how much I needed this."

"I am glad that I could help, friend Robin," she beamed giddily.

He began to suck down the broth rapidly, but slowed down when he realized how much better every mouthful relieved his congested head. Starfire pulled up a seat and sat next to him.

"Robin, may I ask you a question?" the pretty red haired girl requested.

Robin finished a spoonful of his soup and nodded. "Of course you can, Star. You can ask me anything."

She shifted uneasily. "Do you trust Mega Man X?"

Robin almost gagged on the next bite that he took. "Star, he saved Raven twice, not to mention the rest of us, he's been working day and night to try and find out why the Mavericks are here, and he just now helped saved the city from a new, more dangerous Cinderblock. And what's more," Robin continued, almost lecturing Starfire, "he showed us all around his ship, which would seriously compromise his ability to betray us if that was his intention. What could possibly make you distrust him?"

"It is not that I distrust him. It is Cyborg who does not believe in him, and he will listen to neither Beast Boy nor I."

_Cyborg_...thought Robin, _guess that's where I'll have to start on the to-do list, then_.

"I'll go talk to him, Starfire." He walked for the door, but then turned back to the ever smiling Tamaranian. "Thanks for the soup."

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The rain had lifted and sun occasionally managed to push itself through the scattered clouds above. The wet grass mixed with the salty air of the bay past Titan's Tower came together for a fresh aroma for the two new friends walking outside to enjoy.

"Stank Ball? You're kidding!" laughed X in hysteria as he and Raven strode at a slow pace back from the Dreamweaver, "He actually wanted you to play a game involving _his_ filthy socks and underwear?!"

"Well," she smiled, half amused and half revolted at the remembrance, "Cyborg suggested that I be the referee, but when they realized that I could just throw it at them with my mind, they ran off pretty quick."

"Wow…" said X, "You _do _know that you have really weird friends, right?"

"Yeah," she returned, "they've all got their peculiarities. They all think I'm pretty strange, too." Raven stared at the wet blades of grass that dampened her shoes.

X felt a pang of discomfort inside himself for just a moment. Somehow, he knew that it had come from Raven.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Raven pursed her lips and pulled her Robe more firmly around her. "The terms I usually get are creepy, scary, gloomy, and depressing. They're all my friends, but… sometimes I wonder if they know how much it hurts when they say those things about me."

"They can't possibly think," he tried to reassure her. "Do they really all those things about you? Even Robin?"

"No, not Robin. Robin has always been a good friend. Starfire… well, I guess I must seem gloomy compared to her. Anyone would look depressing next to her constant cheerfulness. I've gotten it from Cyborg and Beast Boy occasionally, and some of the looks I get when the team tries to drag me out in public…"

"People just don't understand you, Raven," he said in a friendly manner, "I think you're a wonderful person." She tried to hide her blush and gentle smile under her hood. "And although it may not be much consolation," he continued, "trust me when I say that I know the feeling. Walking, talking, breathing machines aren't even widely accepted on my own world."

"We're both outcasts in our own homes, I guess," she concluded downheartedly.

"Doesn't mean we can't be happy," Mega Man X reassured her with a kind smile.

They reentered Titan's Tower through the garage where the various vehicles sat, Mega Man's hover cycle looking the brightest and fanciest out of them all. X sat down on his jet, ready to take it back on to the Dreamweaver for a general tune up, but he and Raven both heard noise coming from down the corridor. Raven's eye caught the open door of the T-car, which was technically under Cyborg's ownership. In the back seat lay several suitcases and some of Cyborg's equipment that indicated a long term trip. Both of them knew that the increasingly heated discussion nearby involved Cyborg's recent foul attitude.

"Cyborg, you're acting ridiculous. This is no reason to up and leave!" shouted Robin from behind Cyborg as they burst through the doors.

"I don't care what you have to say, I'm staying at Titan's East with the others!" shot Cyborg with arm loads of luggage dragging behind him. He stuffed his things in the back seat before stopping to stare at Mega Man X with a deep fury.

X wasn't intimidated by the half-machine Titan even though he stood taller and bore malice in his eyes, both man and machine. Cyborg's hateful breath steamed across X's forehead as down the back of his armor. The calmness in the reploid's eyes only helped to fuel the fiery anger that still remained a mystery to the Titans.

"Cyborg, if you have something to say to me, then just say it," X said firmly.

"Alright, I will!" he belted. "I don't like you, and I don't trust you! You come here in your big, stupid ship and try to take over the team so you can use us to help fight your battles!!"

X merely listened. Raven stepped forward to intervene, but X raised a hand to her and she respectfully backed down.

"You know what?!" Cyborg bellowed loud enough to hurt everyone's hearing, "I think that _you're_ responsible for the Mavericks coming here in the first place, and I think that you're one of 'em! You're the same construct, and you know all their weaknesses, and you recognize their technology on the spot! I think that you're just trying to lure all of us into a false sense of security, which you've already done pretty well on everyone else!" He glared especially at Raven after that comment. "And once you've got the chance, you'll kill every one of us and take over the city, because you're just another foreign criminal out to gain all that he can!"

For a moment, Cyborg's furious huffing was all that was heard throughout the room, and all eyes and ears waited for Mega Man X to return the rage. The Maverick Hunter did not scream back at Cyborg, but instead crossed his arms and spoke softly and calmly.

"I can't deny that I know a great deal about the Mavericks. I've been fighting them for nearly all my life, so of course I would recognize their technology, and who better to fight a reploid than another reploid? As for luring everyone to their deaths, I'm sorry you feel that way. I thought that my actions up until now would prove that I want to protect life, not destroy it."

Cyborg's whole body was squeezed taut with anger at the reploid's demeanor that felt like it was mocking him. It only caused his temper to swell to even greater proportions. The dark skin of his human parts seemed to glow red with abhorrence as he barely resisted the urge to kill Mega Man on the spot. X resumed speaking before Cyborg had a chance to react.

"What bothers me," he said with the first inflections in his wisdom, "is that I don't think it's the Mavericks that bother you the most about me. I think the reason you hate me the most is because I am a better machine than you are."

Cyborg swung his fist at X with as much hate and jealousy as he could gather. Mega Man made no attempt to dodge it as it struck him across the face so hard the he went careening through the walls and almost to the island's cliff edge hanging over the river. Raven out the freshly formed openings in the walls and saw X's body lying limp on the grass.

"X!!!" she screamed and rushed over to tend to him.

Robin had pulled out his staff and was ready to use it on his own teammate. Cyborg stared at him with surprise and rage.

"GET OUT!" the leader screamed, ready to attack.

"FINE, I WILL! YOU'LL ALL BE SORRY WHEN THAT MAVERICK TURNS ON YOU!!"

Cyborg got in his car and slammed the door so that it nearly snapped off its hinges and resounded through everyone's ears. A furious squeal of tires and dust, and Cyborg was gone. Robin pushed his way through the upheaval of dust to aid Raven with Mega Man.

"Robin, X is hurt!" Raven cried out. The dark sorceress held the reploid gently with his head in her lap. Gruesome was the best way to describe the Maverick Hunter's face. It was mangled horribly on its left side. The wound he had received earlier had been ripped open much wider and it gushed with spreading trails of blood. The side of his helmet was cracked badly and pieces of his mechanical insides were showing in another slash on his jaw. To both Raven's and Robin's astonishment, X opened his eyes and lifted his head from Raven's lap. His left eye twitched, and he held his hand over it as he tried to focus on Raven's concerned expression, but he could barely see properly even out of his undamaged one. X took a step forward and stumbled into Robin's and Raven's arms.

"I'm… I'm ok…" he murmured through the pain and the liquid that was leaking into his mouth. Raven took her cloak off and balled it up into a cloth which she firmly placed on X's cheek to help stem his bleeding. With that half of his face covered, he looked recognizable again.

"What are we going to do about Cyborg?" Raven asked Robin, holding X.

"Let him go. As for letting him come back… we'll see."

Mega Man picked himself up and shook off his dizziness, his mouth and face still throbbing from the monstrous strength that Cyborg had hit him with. Without saying a word, he staggered over to his ship.

"X, wait!" pleaded Raven as she seized his arm, but the wounded Maverick Hunter shrugged her away.

"Just leave me alone."


	7. In the Shadows

**Chapter 7 – In the Shadows**

_Dear Diary,_

_Four days since Cyborg's disappearance. Four days since I haven't seen or heard from Mega Man X. Four miserable days for all of us. _

Raven dabbed her quill pen into a black, marble ink well shaped like a crow's head. With painstaking care, she rubbed the tip of her quill over the edge of the fountain to remove the excess ink. Raven's hand then returned to the plain white sheets where it skated gracefully across them in a style of her own as she continued to transfer her thoughts into writing.

_On the first day after Cyborg left, we lost contact with the T-car. Cyborg made the tracking system himself, so we all thought that he ripped it out, but he never arrived at Titans East. Both our Titans and Aqualad's Titans searched for him, but we found nothing. I haven't forgiven him for what he did to X, but I still don't want anything to happen to him. We all had a meeting about it, save for the missing X, and we all concluded that Cyborg's behavior was out of the ordinary. He's always been vulnerable concerning his humanity, but his animosity against X was beyond anything that he's ever done before._

Raven ran her fingers through the smooth blue locks of hair that touched her pale cheeks when she slanted down to look at her diary. She thought for a moment, had to straighten herself up from the depression induced slump, and then dipped her quill and picked up where she left off.

_On the second day since the incident, I went searching for X on the Dreamweaver. I checked the bridge first, then the holodeck, and then stellar cartography. After stumbling around for far too long to find the right wall, I looked for X inside his memoriam, but he was not there either. I finally was smart enough to realize that I could just ask the computer if he was on the ship. All it told me was that he was not on board and that he had not been for hours, so I gave up._

_On the third day, I tried to find X using my mind. I sent my mind through the Dreamweaver and then all around the city. I spent hours looking for him. And finally, just as I was about to let my consciousness return to my body, I found him. I wasn't sure where it was, but I found him. My heart felt relief, but it was crushed just as quickly. I tried to speak with X to tell him to come back; that we wanted him around, but he hid his mind from me. I couldn't believe that he shut me out completely. When I came back to my body, my eyes were stinging red. I felt stupid and hurt, so I holed myself in my room and meditated for the rest of the day. I feel like I've cried too much lately. Everyone's going to start thinking that I've become weak and emotional. _

She was about to put down her quill and stop. Her quill wavered over the last sentences, threatening to scribble them out, but her clam breaths and the brief chanting of her 'Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos' mantra kept her diary in tact. The feather earned another dip of ink and returned to the pages.

_I didn't talk to anyone for the rest of the day, not that I wanted to. Everyone calls me gloomy, but now even Starfire has given in to depression with both Cyborg and X missing. Beast Boy hasn't been his normal, obnoxious self, either. He just mopes around his room and the common room. I think I liked him better when he was annoying me. Robin still manages to keep his spirit, though. It must be hard on him to stay so strong in the face of all of this._

Raven failed to suppress a heavy yawn from escaping her lungs. She rubbed her tired eyes and glanced at the grandfather clock sitting in the corner. Its hands pointed to just short of midnight. Fatigue flushed across her face and her head nodded off, almost landing on her journal. Raven groaned lightly and pressed against her temples to try and stimulate a few more ounces of strength so she could finish her journal.

"Almost done Raven," she encouraged herself, "Only a few more minutes." She dipped her quill in for the final time that night.

_Today is the fourth day since we saw either X or Cyborg. There was a Maverick attack on the Jump City Asylum, but we were far too late to stop them. Once we arrived, they had long since gone, but what we found when we got there was startling. We expected Cinderblock and many others to have been released, but we instead found everyone bound and caged tightly. Only one criminal had been released, and that was Plasmus._

Raven didn't want to know what the Mavericks were going to do to the already threatening toxic mass of humanoid slime. If Cinderblock's advancements were any indication, then the next time they fought Plasmus could easily be their last, but there were more details about the day's events that held even more cause for alarm.

_The guards that survived the attack told us that a monster with four arms was the one who was responsible. A few of them had died from the same poisoning that had infected Starfire when we first fought the Mavericks, so we knew it was Magna Centipede. Robin interrogated the prisoners nearby Plasmus' cell, and found out that the Centipede had also tried to release Overload, but Overload tried to take over the Maverick's machine body. Apparently Magna Centipede effortlessly crushed Overload into bits for his defiance. We found the pieces of his computer chip body to confirm it. It then occurred to me that the Mavericks might have had some role in Cyborg's behavior. His brain is, after all, part machine. _

Raven thought for a moment at the feelings that she harbored inside. There was a merging of confusion, sadness and depression swirling through her inner recesses from the past half week. The last words she wrote reflected the one thing that might have offered some comfort.

_If only X were here, he could help us. _

* * *

She quickly flipped the book closed and clamped it shut. Normally the ritual practice helped to ease her mind, but she only felt more upset than when she had began. She couldn't get the events of the past few days out of her thoughts. Two friends were missing, and they were no closer to finding what the Mavericks wanted. Everyone's morale was waning, especially the dark sorceress'. She tried not to admit it, but without X, Raven felt an indescribable loneliness inside of herself.

Raven turned off the lamp, extinguishing what little light remained in the room. In the pale moonlight, Raven slipped under her bed sheets and wrapped them tightly around her shoulders. Only a few moments after the grandfather clock struck twelve, Raven's exhaustion gripped her eyelids and pried them shut.

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On a high rooftop, the lone Maverick Hunter leaped from building to building with a remarkable silence in his steps. He passed above the streets that he and Cinderblock had helped destroy. The moonlight glazed across the left side of X's face, revealing his face and that it hadn't healed from the monstrous punch that Cyborg had dealt him. Two scars, one from the corner of his mouth to his ear and another across the center of his chin that traced his entire cheekbone still provided a constant reminder of the event.

X stopped for a moment to survey the target that he sought at the late, moonlit hours. Sneaking across the streets was a member of the Hive Five, a group of 'anti-Titans' X had concluded. From what he had learned in the Titans' database, The Hive Five were once enrolled at Hive Academy for gifted youngsters until its headmaster, Brother Blood, became corrupted and dedicated his life to the destruction of the Titans, and more specifically, Cyborg. These five students that had seceded from the school chose to make their own life, mostly involving petty crimes, but they were not dominant enough of a threat to warrant the Titans hunting them down.

This one member of the Hive Five was performing some of his routine thievery to keep the group well funded. The pitter patter of his little feet echoed ever so lightly up to the rooftops where X's acute sense of hearing picked it up. He examined closer the tiny thief that he was tracking. He stood only about three feet tall and wore a green jumpsuit with protective goggles and a backpack that contained the source of his power. X was not worried. He had done more than enough research to not be surprised by this bite-sized delinquent or any of his technological tricks.

X followed him for a few more minutes until he came to a large drop off from his building into a large grocery store parking lot. The sneak thief was heading through the empty lot to an ATM just outside the store.

_Pathetic_, X thought, _but then again, I suppose it pays the bills_.

The Hive member was already well on his way to hacking into the ATM's systems to force it to shoot out every bit of money inside of it. X was ready for him.

_Alright, time to put some of my skills to use_.

Without a noise, X's blue armor swirled and changed color to a mixture of pine and lime green. He hid low so not to be noticed, and charged the special energy around his body. Upon releasing it, X's armor glowed a number of colors and then slowly erased itself until he vanished entirely. He quietly stood up and then jumped off the edge of the building. The impact of his feet was deliberately thunderous, making an indent in the tar that seemed to appear out of nowhere to the little Hive operative as he spun around, startled by the crashing sound, and four giant mechanical legs burst out of his backpack and propped him up off the ground as he shined a light in the direction of the noise.

"Who… who's there?" his childish, screeching voice called out in the night. The light that he shined at the spot where the concealed reploid landed revealed nothing but broken pieces of the parking lot and a spattering of dust and dirt. He quickly swung around using his mechanical limbs and searched for a trace of anyone, but the only thing he could hear was a clanging metal sound that kept growing closer and closer.

"Whaaaa!! What the freaking heck is going on?!"

The machine legs were sliced off one by one by the transparent Mega Man X. The Hive member fell and felt a hand dig into his back, keeping his little feet from touching the ground as another hand ripped his backpack of tricks from him.

"You're going to shut up, and then you're going to help me," X threatened as he revealed himself from the shadows of his disguise.

After a moment of shock, X's prisoner realized what was going on. "You… you're that Mega _dork_ Man with the space ship helping the Titans! What do you want with me?! I haven't done anything to you, ya stupid tin can!"

"Good, you know who I am. And I know a lot about you, Gizmo," snarled the Maverick Hunter with the brat in his hands, "So that saves us the trouble of making introductions. Now shut up and listen or I'll snap your little neck."

"You… you wouldn't!" Gizmo stammered as he started to shiver from fear at the mighty reploid who looked like he could rip him apart at any second.

"I'm just a machine," X said with a dark fury in his eyes, "I don't hold as much value in your human lives as the Titans do, so if you don't cooperate, your Hive friends won't even be able to _recognize_ what's left of you once I'm finished."

"Ok, OK! I'll help!!" shrieked Gizmo as he squirmed out of X's hands and on to the ground.

"Then spill it! I know you hacked into the tracking signal on the T-car, and I know you've been trying to break into Maverick communications. What else have you been up to, and are you working with the Mavericks?"

"Whoa, whoa!" Gizmo interjected, "I don't work with that kind of crowd. Even _I'm_ not that vicious."

"Then what were you doing messing with the T-car and with Maverick transmissions?" X yelled at him, causing him to take a nervous step backward.

"Because the Titans' stupid car and those stupid Mavericks are both major pieces of high-tech that I'd like to get my hands on! Why else would I want them? Ya brain dead can opener!"

Mega Man picked up Gizmo by his neck and roared at him. "What about the T-car? What do you know that we don't?!"

Gizmo struggled for breath through the reploid's fierce grip. "Th… the car… went north… way north. L… lost track of it around the Canadian b… border."

X chucked him on the cement as though he were as useless rag doll. Crouching down and leaning right into the Hive technician's face, X interrogated him further. "And how did you manage to track Cyborg after he ripped out the tracking device?"

Gizmo gasped for breath and rubbed his neck where X's hands had left distinct markings. Once he managed to inflate his lungs again with air, the Hive child realized he had no choice than to reveal some his technological know-how. It was either that or run, but Mega Man's X-Buster in his face made the choice for him.

"If you don't answer me, I'll shoot, but don't worry; it won't kill you right away," the Hunter said with a sinister look across his damaged face. "You see, the weapon I'm using right now is one I acquired after annihilating a Maverick called the Sting Chameleon. It allows me to vanish for a few minutes, which I'm sure you've figured out by now, but I can also use it to discharge toxin infested plasma beams that will slowly and painfully eat your organic little body from the inside out."

"No, I'll tell you! Don't hurt me!" he squealed. "I locked on to the car using the tracking system, and then I recorded the energy emissions that the T-car emits."

X narrowed his eyes with lack of understanding, so Gizmo elaborated. "The T-car is a one-of-a-kind vehicle developed by the Titans, so it lets out a distinct energy trail that I could follow even once the tracking beacon was removed."

The Hunter with his green armor raised an eyebrow. "Clever," he said. "Now what about the Mavericks?"

"I don't know anything," he said, provoking X to situate his Buster right on Gizmo's forehead.

"I swear I don't know anything!" he pleaded to X with sweat rolling down his face, "All I could manage to pick up was something about 'an incredible source of power'. I couldn't risk intercepting communications any more without getting caught!"

X shifted his Buster back into a hand and pulled it away from Gizmo's face. "Alright, you can go."

"Wh… what? You're just gonna let me off?" Gizmo asked, exasperated and confounded. He finally saw through X's façade. "That's not fair! No one told me you could act like that!"

X laughed at the effects of his own theatrical performance. "Hey," he chuckled, "I can't help it that you can't call a bluff." X handed Gizmo what was left of his backpack. "Now get out of here."

Gizmo started to run, but he turned back to X. "I don't get it… why are you letting me go?" he asked with a quizzical expression.

"My quarrel is with the Mavericks or anyone else who threatens the lives of innocent people," replied X. "And even though the Titans have problems with you and the rest of your Hive friends, I don't think that any of you really want to hurt people, so it's not my problem."

Gizmo muttered something under his breath that sounded like "that's weird" and then he bolted off down the street as fast as his little legs could carry them.

"Gizmo!" shouted X in the dim night light, "Don't mess with the Mavericks! You're putting yourself and all of your friends in danger by involving yourself with them!"

The misdirected young boy gave X one more glance, then turned around a corner and vanished.

_I hope he listens, _worried the Maverick Hunter.

X recapped the information he had gathered. "Cyborg is somewhere far north, and the Mavericks are looking for a source of power." He crossed his arms and leaned against a lamppost. "That's not very helpful, but it's better than nothing."

Without warning, a light from the jewel on his head pierced through the darkness of the night, and a wintry chill coursed through his spine. Vivid mental images invaded and took precedence over his other thoughts. He felt a similar ominous feeling to the one he had when he traveled into Raven's mind. Then it hit him.

_Raven_……_ something's happening to her_!!

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_What's going on? I'm sitting here_…_ eating pizza with the rest of the gang? Even Cyborg and Terra? This doesn't make any sense_…_ I must be dreaming_…

Raven narrowed her eyes and looked suspiciously at everything. Six Titans including herself were enjoying the day at their favorite pizza joint, sitting at the sunny, outdoor tables on the second floor. Robin and Starfire were chatting at her table while sharing a pepperoni pizza. Starfire had drenched her slices in mustard, as usual. At the adjacent table, Beast Boy was eating a plain cheese with Terra sitting next to him, who was devouring a meat lover's.

That was the first inconsistency in Raven's opinion. The young, blonde haired girl with stunning Lapis Lazuli eyes had been turned to stone months ago when she used her powers to stop an underground volcano from annihilating the city. She had also been the one who had previously betrayed the team, nearly costing them their lives. Raven's blood boiled at that thought, but Terra redeemed herself for saving everyone in Jump City and ridding it of Slade's horrible grasp. Sadly, it reduced her to the petrified state that she was in today, and the Titans had found no cure. At least, that was what Raven was sure was true.

The second and more obvious thing that didn't belong in this scene was Cyborg. Raven _knew_ that he had left the Titans four days ago. But she also knew that she wasn't hallucinating. Why was he sitting there?

Raven jumped and the hairs on the back of her neck stood stiff when Robin grabbed her by the shoulder. His hand and voice felt stunningly real, too.

"Raven, is everything alright?" he asked. "You seem really tense."

"Um… yeah, I'm fine…" she lied.

Raven watched him shrug and return to his conversation with Starfire. Not that it mattered, _because it's just an illusion,_ Raven try to convince herself.

_Maybe this is one of Mad Mod's or Mumbo's tricks? They've caused illusions before_… _No, that can't be it_. _I can _feel_ all of the Titans' spirits here, including Terra's_. _Am I going crazy? Maybe I got hurt on a mission, and went into a coma, and now I have some memory problem?_

Raven tried to act natural amongst… whomever it was she was sitting with. She nodded and pretended to pay attention to Starfire and Robin talking to her.

_No_._ This place doesn't feel right_. _It's like_… _the world itself is out of place_. _And I _know _that X is real_. _I feel a part of him with me, even now_. _Ever since he risked his life to save mine, he's been with me_. _I have to find him_.

Raven shoved her chair out from under her legs and stood up, attracting the attention of the false Titans. They all looked at her, wondering what reason she had for interrupting their fun day this time.

"Where is X? Tell me now," she demanded firmly, her eyes shifting to a state of black light.

"We have not seen the Red X for many weeks," explained the Tamaranian girl.

Raven twisted her face at the fake redheaded alien and energy started to trickle out of her eyes as she glared at Starfire.

"I'm not talking about Red X. I'm talking about _Mega Man_ X."

The other Titans, whether they were real or not, all exchanged mystified looks.

"Who's Mega Man X?" asked Beast Boy, scratching his head.

Terra unexpectedly jabbed Beast Boy in the ribs. "What are you talking about, BB? Don't you remember Mega Man X?" The sixth Titan looked from Beast Boy to the other four who had no clue who she was referring to. "Don't any of you remember him?"

_Impossible_… _she's the only one who _shouldn't_ know X_. _What is going on?_

Terra got up from her table and approached Raven with a quizzical expression in regards to the other team members.

"Raven, I know who you're talking about," she said, "I'm not sure why the others don't remember, but maybe we can figure it out if we work together."

"Don't touch me!" Raven shouted at Terra's approaching hand. "You shouldn't even exist!!"

Terra's eyes widened in shock and sadness, "Raven, how could you say that? It was X who _saved _me!"

Raven's mouth was wide open, trying to find words to explain what was happening, but she couldn't come up with anything logical. She clutched her head and fell to her knees, gritting her teeth so tightly that her head shook uncontrollably.

_What's happening? What's happening?! I'm_ _so confused_. _This isn't right… it has to be fake; it has to be a dream! X, where are you?!_

"You won't be needing Mega Man X anymore," came a sound from within the pit of Cyborg's body.

Raven recognized the foul stench of malice and hate spoken in those words, even though they were from the mouth of a friend. It was the dark voice that laughed at her when she was dying. It was the voice that threatened death itself for her. It was Vile.

Cyborg's normally sky blue machine components faded like the bright sky turned thunderous, making him a hideous shade of black and purple, and he grinned with such horrible intentions that it paralyzed Raven and dropped her to the ground, shaking in fear.

Cyborg shifted his arm into his sonic cannon, and he fired a dark wave of energy at Starfire and Robin. They disintegrated into dust after a brief moment of terrified screaming. Beast Boy didn't even have time to react before Cyborg grabbed his skull and smashed it against the edge of the table, making a terrible crunching sound and spilling blood on the floors that horrified Raven purely from the sound. But then something unexpected happened. Terra stood in front of Raven with her arms spread wide in strength and defiance of Cyborg.

"Don't you touch her, you Maverick!!" she bellowed.

Terra's eyes glowed luminously yellow as she summoned a titanic piece of earth from underneath the streets and placed it in front of herself and Raven as a shield. On the other side, the evil and possessed Cyborg was blasting away at the stone with cannon.

"Raven, help me! I can't hold it together much longer!"

"I… I can't… X will come! X can defeat him!" she cried behind Terra, but Terra could not protect her any longer. The blonde Titans screamed in pain as Cyborg's attack sent her soaring over the balcony's edge to the hard pavement.

"X… he'll come for me…" she muttered as she huddled in a corner.

Cyborg's black armor and crazed face towered over the dark sorceress. "X can't save you. You're all alone, and you'll die that way!"

A voice crept into Raven's mind from afar. It echoed in her thoughts and drowned out Cyborg's threats, but he still stood with his weapon pointed at her face.

_Don't listen to him! You're not alone!_

"X… help me!!"

_I'm coming Raven!_

"Please, I can't fight him!"

_I'm almost there!! Hang on!!_

Vile's weapon began to glow a furious looking purple. He was going to kill her.

_Raven, wake up!!_ _Wake up NOW!!_

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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

"Raven, I'm here, it's ok!!" X reached out to touch her, but she flew out of her bed and stumbled across the room, crashing through everything that in her way. Her grandfather clocked tipped over and the glass frame protecting the hands shattered into pieces. After she crashed into a bookshelf scattering several novels on the floor, X managed to catch Raven and pull her face towards his. She looked straight into his bright green eyes with her heart pounding at an alarming pace. Raven grabbed his wrists and squeezed them tightly until her breathing slowed down. Her body began to relax and her heartbeat softened with X's gentle palms on hers. He was still staring at her with care, not evening knowing what had happened. She returned the gaze from his wondrous green eyes and then leapt on top of him with the tightest hug that a shaking, terrified body could give.

"X, I… I… Cyborg, he… and Terra… Terra was there…"

Raven squinted her eyes and stemmed the flow of salty water welling up. She didn't want to cry again, and especially not in front of X.

Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy burst through the doors ready for a fight, and it startled Raven and X out of their tender moment.

"X, you're here! We heard screams; is everything alright?" Robin asked.

"Yeah… we're ok," X nodded. He turned to the dark sorceress girl in her black nightgown. "Raven? What happened?"

She looked from one set of eyes to another. They all bore down on her uncomfortably.

"I… think I may have had a premonition… of some kind…"

Raven told them about every detail of her nightmare. She told them about how she and Terra were the only ones who knew X, and how Cyborg destroyed them all. A long period of silence followed the story, and the Titans felt discomfort lingering in the air for several minutes.

"Friend Raven, your dream is very frightening, but I am afraid that it does not make sense," explained Starfire.

"If it is a premonition," X said as he pulled Raven onto her feet, "it might have different elements from numerous events from the future."

"So… if Raven dreamed that only she and Terra knew about you, then it could just mean that Terra might have something important to do with you, or that she and Raven will have a closer relationship to you than the rest of us?" Robin deduced.

"Something like that," said X firmly, "but we shouldn't try to predict the future or start second guessing ourselves over this."

"What about Cyborg?" Raven asked.

"I hunted down Gizmo; he tracked Cyborg pretty far north even after you lost track of him… I think that the Mavericks may have him."

"_What?!_" shouted Robin. "How?!"

"I think that they may have altered the machine half of his brain," X said regretfully. They… probably convinced him to join their side."

"No!" bawled Starfire, and she punched the wall leaving a fist shaped dent. "Cyborg would never join with the enemy!"

"It's not that simple, Star!" X yelled back, "He won't be able to resist them whether he wants to or not."

"Then we must save him!" she shot back.

"All we know is that they're up north!" complained Beast Boy. "How are we even supposed to find them?!"

Raven continued to watch them argue back and forth. They were getting nowhere but a place between agitated and depressed. Raven's sense of leadership and wisdom suddenly rose to the surface.

"Will all of you shut up!!" she belted above the rest of the noise. Almost like magic, the other Titans and even X gave her their undivided attention.

"It's pointless to argue about this," she said. "We have to come up with a solid plan to save Cyborg." She turned to Mega Man. "You know the most about the Mavericks, X. What do you think we should do?"

All mouths finally closed as they turned to the Hunter. "First," he said as his eyes shifted from side to side in thought, "we need to at least find him. If I employ the same strategy that Gizmo used, I may be able to find the T-car even without the tracking signal inside it, but it'll take some time while my ship's sensors scan up north for it."

"What should we do in the meantime?" asked Beast Boy.

"What we need to do is recruit more help," said X grimly. "There's no way we can take on the entire Maverick outpost here. Vile himself is too much of a threat, and I'm sure he's got plenty of other Mavericks with him to make things even worse."

"And to top it all off," added Robin depressingly, "we may have to fight Cyborg, too."

The Titans all bowed their heads. In all likeliness, their former friend was now their enemy, turning the tables in even greater favor of the Mavericks. X was not as fazed as the rest, but he still did not relish the thought of having to fight Cyborg. He tried to clear his mind of what little bond he had with the half machine, for he knew that if he had even an inkling of friendship toward Cyborg inside of him, he might falter and put himself or others in a very dangerous position in battle. X knew that the Titans would have trouble attacking their own friend, but he felt in his heart that it was not his place to try and convince them not to hold back again.

X glanced between the faces of each depressed Titan. Starfire looked ready to cry. Beast Boy twiddled his thumbs to try and distract himself from thinking about it. Robin still wore his position of leader in both his upright posture and blank face, but X could tell that he was utterly distraught. Raven… Raven was looking right into X's face with heavy dark circles settling beneath her eyes from her unrest. She looked concerned, but not as much for Cyborg as she should have been. X could tell that her worry was for him, and he shot her a strange expression as if to ask 'why are you looking at me like that?'

"We should try and get some sleep," Robin decided with an unhappy sternness. "We've got a lot ahead of us."

The five helped pick up the damage to Raven's room, and then Beast Boy, Robin and Starfire slowly but surely said their goodnights and headed back to their own beds. X was turning to leave just the same, but Raven latched onto his hand.

"X, just a moment ago, I felt something inside of you," she said. "It was very dark. You can tell me."

Mega Man's face hardened and his voice became toneless. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

He turned to leave once more, but Raven's grip persisted and pulled back on him again.

"X, I don't think I can face Vile," she told him reluctantly. "I'm… I'm afraid."

X sighed and loosened his manner. His tone returned to the soft, caring one that the dark sorceress knew he had inside of him, and he took hold of both of her hands. "Don't worry," he assured her. "We'll all do it together. You won't be alone."

Raven did her best to take courage from X's words, but the image of Vile still made her soul shudder. She took deep breaths to fight the feeling of fear and squeezed tighter onto X's hands with closed eyes.

_Be strong!_ Raven told herself, but before she had finished the thought, she felt something strange on the side of her face. A soft pair of lips was touching her cheek. _Kissing _her cheek. She opened her eyes to see X pulling his face slowly away from hers where his lips had pressed against it. She couldn't find words to express what she felt for the handsome reploid with the bright green eyes standing before her. He smiled gently at her speechless expression.

"Goodnight, Raven," he said with a compassion that made her body tingle with warmth and restful content. Her hands slipped out of his, and he backed out of her room with an affectionate smile until he was out of sight. Raven held the image of him in her heart, and then laughed.

"My knight in shining armor."


	8. Breath of the Earth

**Chapter 8 – Breath of the Earth**

A shrill chirping of the morning birds made Robin roll over and groan in his state of half-sleep. Bed sheets were bunched and twisted around his spread limbs, and a fuzzy red light that Robin knew to be his alarm clock managed to penetrate through his closed eyes. He forced himself to look at the dreadfully early hour in front of him.

_Five thirty_…… _I should get up_.

He sat up and let his legs plop on the floor lazily as he hunched over the side of his bed. Bushy black hair blocked his vision, but at this early hour he didn't really care. He stretched widely and then scratched his side with glazed over eyes. In a pair of black boxer briefs, the Boy Wonder walked over to a mirror on the side wall of his typically male room where he could ruffle his hair into what he considered a more orderly manner. He picked up articles of clothing on the way to his bathroom and threw them haphazardly into a pile that probably needed washing. After brushing his teeth vigorously and then realizing how tired he really felt after staring off into space for an amount of time that he couldn't determine, he jumped at a startling sound. It was a forceful knock on the door.

"Come in," he said, quickly pulling on a pair of pants as he yawned.

Mega Man X entered the door, looking more awake then Robin did. Then again, it occurred to Robin that X might not have the need for sleep at all. He bore a look of utter seriousness on his face. Somehow, the scarred parts of the reploid's face gave his glare an even more demanding importance.

"What's up, X?" he asked with a low, morning voice.

X raised his eyebrow at Robin's appearance and the appearance of his room. It was not the sort of thing he expected from a leader.

"I need to see Terra," he said flatly.

Robin's eyes widened, with surprise and excitement now effortlessly tossing away the drowsiness. The thought of having their dear friend and fellow Titan back was exhilarating, and Raven's dream implied that it just might be possible with X's help.

"Great. We can go see her right now," he replied. He pulled the rest of his outfit on and buckled his utility belt firmly around his waist.

"Do you really think you can change her back to normal?" he asked hopefully.

X's face was still stern and unmoving. "We'll just have to wait and see," he said. Robin was no psychic, but something told him that this wasn't going to be a pleasurable greeting for him. An un-answering 'why?' repeated itself on his lips as the two walked.

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Raven wandered alone through X's memoriam aboard the Dreamweaver with a mix of emotions that put unnecessary stress on her mind. First on her mind was the kiss that she had received much earlier that day before the sun had risen. Her heart felt as though it was in flight at the time, but she had soon thereafter thought of the nature of a relationship between the two of them; a series of reflections that she cursed herself for thinking up in the first place. He was a machine; albeit a very human-like machine, but there was no denying that he and Raven were very different. Could he possibly be made to do… _everything_ in a romantic relationship?

Then the innate instinct that every one of the Titans had about relationships came stinging in. They all had it, even though they treated it differently. It was like an eleventh commandment had been struck down on them; this inability to be with others in _that_ way. Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, all of the Titans East… every single one who trusted in a relationship either got deceived or hurt or weakened in some way. There was always the danger that the enemy would use that one special person against you, making you do things you didn't want to do…

"_Damn it, think about something else_!" The dark sorceress cursed at herself, but the next problem didn't bother her any less.

Raven's worry for the feelings between her and X was only moved by the thought of having to face both Cyborg and Vile, along with who knew how many more Mavericks. She feared hurting her friend, and she feared Vile in general. The only way she could think of to distract herself from the both thoughts was to inspect the many curiosities that X's had collected in his travels.

She looked from one glass case to another, admiring more of the rarities that Mega Man had gathered over the years, hoping they would provide some sort of solace, which didn't work. At least they had provided some distraction. She hadn't looked at anything on the second floor last time, so that was where she had started. She found scrolls of ancient looking parchment in one corner written in a language that she couldn't read. There was also an entire wall dedicated to swords and other sharp weapons that looked one-of-a-kind. One such weapon gleamed with rainbow like color in the lights of the room. It was like a long staff with swords on either end that curved like the waves of the ocean. Underneath the casing was a small, golden label that read 'Rainbow Swallow.' Another weapon was a long, red rod that carried a fiery orange crystal on the end of it. It was simply called 'The Rod of Fire'.

A strange feeling in her mind tickled the back of her neck and sent a shiver down her spine, causing her knees to wiggle unusually. She turned about and looked up to the third floor. With only a light effort, she pushed off the railing with her hands and floated up to the large, encased row of materia that she had seen before. Her eyes drew straight to the red orb that X hadn't finished telling her about. She wasn't sure what was inside of that thing, but her curiosity was very strong; almost strong enough to make her phase an arm right through the glass and just take it, but her deep sense of logic held back, teasing at her curiosity. She sighed, knowing that she would have to wait.

Raven looked around at the expanse of different colored balls of magic. Suddenly, her eyes noticed something was out of place. She backed up so that she could see all of the materia at once, and she could have sworn that one was missing. Raven crossed her legs and hovered above the ground with her cape draping below her.

"Azarath, metrion, zynthos," she chanted. She shut her eyes.

"Azarath, metrion, zynthos," she chanted again, this time letting her whole body relax.

"Azarath, metrion, zynnnthossss," she spoke once more, falling into a trance.

Raven felt an awkward bending of every perception that she had in her body. It felt like she was being forcefully pulled through a hole that was far too tiny, but the sensation was one that Raven had induced on herself before, making it tolerable enough.

Vision and hearing were the only senses that were available to the dark sorceress as she found herself pushing through a deep fog. Once it had cleared, a blurred image of Raven and X several days ago appeared before her. It was only a memory, but that was what Raven needed.

The dark sorceress watched her past self peering into the red materia, but Raven was not interested in that. She instead took in the image of the entire case, and then overlapped it onto the fresh image that her present body had just seen.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed, "There's one missing! But where did it go? Did X take it?"

Raven didn't have the answers to any of those questions, so she prepared to return her body to the present, but a strange event occurred that she could not have seen before because of her back being turned to X. The past Raven fell backwards at the sight of the eyes inside the red materia, but X was also somehow affected by it. His eyes glowed very brightly and then suddenly became bloodshot with veins of green across the whites of his eyes. It only lasted for a single, startling moment, and then the old X rushed to help up past Raven as he had done before, with his eyes looking completely normal. Raven focused her spirit and returned from the realm of her own memories to her physical form. Her brow curved downward in concern. X had appeared almost ill when whatever it was happened to him.

"What is he hiding?" she whispered to herself.

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The air smelled strongly of sulfuric from past volcanic activity in the underground lair that used to belong to the criminal mastermind, Slade. Broken stained glass littered both the walls and several areas along the outskirts of the natural rock floor. A stone pathway led X and Robin to the center of the vast cave, where a girl stood, frozen in time from her own heroic deeds. Her hair looked as though it had been waving intensely before it was solidified along with the rest of her body into what looked like a work of a great artist, but it was the statue herself who had done the sculpting.

Beneath the statue of Terra, the girl who sacrificed her freedom to save thousands, was a plaque dedicated to her memory. It read in silvery letters, "Terra: A Teen Titan; A True Friend." Mega Man X eyed her up and down with skepticism.

"Well, this is Terra," said Robin. "She's been like this for nearly a year now. We've been researching a way to counteract the effect when we have spare time, but we've practically given up. We haven't had any success at all."

X didn't seem to be listening. He approached Terra's frozen body and ran his hands along it, as though he hoped to find something on her. He set down a shoulder bag that he had carried with him and he sorted out its contents. There were three set of containers, each carrying a different substance. In the first was a clear, thick liquid that slid slowly from side to side when it was moved. In the second was a bright yellow powder, and in the third were what looked like very large lizard scales.

"What are you doing?" asked Robin with interest.

"I'm mixing a serum," he said, sprinkling a large portion of the yellow powder into the transparent liquid. "It's a very advance cure for people who have been turned to stone."

He crunched several of the large scales into smaller pieces and stirred them in the mixture until it glowed a golden yellow. "Now," he continued, "the world that this came from has several reptilian creatures that have the ability to petrify most organic material, and that's what the serum is derived from. Since Terra turned to stone from her own powers, this remedy might not work, but every effort is worth it."

With the concoction complete, he faced the statue, and threw some of the liquid at it. He waited for a few moments, but there was no reaction. X took the entire jarful and drenched Terra with it, but not a single piece of her stone body had changed. She remained the same, motionless girl, but now she was covered in an undignified shade of yellow.

X snorted in frustration and anger, but he still had another way to cure her. He had just deeply wished that he would not have to use it.

Robin watched intently as X pulled a small, glowing green ball out of the bag that had held the potion's contents. X looked at the little orb fearfully, as if it were going to kill him. His eyes wandered from the orb, to Terra, to Robin, and then to the ground, where they felt most comfortable.

_Come on, this is to save somebody's life. I shouldn't hesitate just because of a little bit of pain. _X swallowed and took deep, heavy breaths. _Just relax, X. The first time probably won't even hurt, and that might be enough._

"X, is everything…"

"_Yes_," X snapped, "Everything's fine."

X's teeth were grinding from side to side as he clasped the piece of green materia so tightly in his palm that his arm shook violently. His eyes began to shine brightly with power that he borrowed from the materia in his hand. Light webbed out from his hand that encircled his feet then spiraled around his arms until it dissipated above his head. He pointed his palm firmly in the direction of Terra.

"_Esuna_!" he shouted, and white rays shot forth until they had enveloped Terra's entire body. X's legs felt wobbly beneath him and his eyes stung with fire, but he fought the pain and held his ground until the energy stopped flowing from his body. When the shining sparkles in the air settled, he and Robin stared at Terra's stone body. Aside from being slightly illuminated by X's magic, there was no change in her condition at all.

"Dammit!" cursed X and he punched the ground so hard that it shattered chunks of stone and left his fist print.

"X, it's ok, you tried your best," Robin consoled him, but X was not content with a life that hadn't been saved. He shoved Robin aside and stood tall once again and held out the shining, magic materia.

X's body repeated the same glowing once again, but this time it was much different, and Robin noticed it. The energy was flowing out of control around the cave walls. X's whole body almost looked it was being consumed by it. Through the blinding rays, Robin could make out X, on his knees, shaking to keep hold of the materia that he held. The ground began to shake, and Robin could just make out X screaming "_ESUNA_!" once more as the healing white light enveloped Terra. Robin could then hear more screaming coming from X, but it was screams of terror and unrelenting pain that he heard. All the lights ceased once more and Mega Man laid twitching and convulsing violently on the ground. His face lurched lazily from side to side. After the Boy Wonder managed to hold him still, he noticed a radiant, green liquid starting to slowly drip out of the reploid's nose to the side of his face. His emerald eyes also no longer had whites. They were pure green, and released a strangely large amount of light that reflected off the cavern walls.

"X! What's wrong! What happened!" Robin shouted while trying to lift X's trembling body up off the ground.

"Materia… sick… can't… urk!" Mega Man flipped himself over and propped himself up with his hands as he threw up a slimy, neon green substance. Struggling to catch his breath, he spit out more electric green chunks. X rubbed his lips of the rest if it and stood up carefully with Robin's aid. It looked to X as though he was hallucinating through blurred vision as he clutched the side of his aching head. From the reploid's disoriented perspective, little lights were floating around the cavern leaving little green trails of illumination that shouldn't have been there. At least, he knew that he had nothing to do with them. They looked almost like miniature comets. He rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath to try and break the image, but his vision became clear, and he could see that Robin was in awe at the tiny trails of light that drifted up and down. They were no hallucinations, but the bewildered stare in his fading pupils didn't have an answer either.

X reached out to touch one of the shining lights, and it passed right through his hand and continued on its path, as if it had never been interrupted. It tingled very lightly and warmly as the green trail slid past

"What are they?" asked Robin, bemused by the phenomenon.

"I'm… not really sure," X returned, knowing little more than the Boy Wonder did.

Mega Man cocked his head and tried to find some sort of explanation in his mind. He squinted his eyes weakly from the pain that he had just endured; they had finally reverted to their normal intensity and were no longer shining like lamps, but X still felt very ill. He couldn't think of any solution to the strange, firefly like objects floating smoothly in the dark cave, but his eyes picked up that they seemed to be orbiting at a distance around Terra's stone body.

With a startled jump, X realized that a few of the lights had drawn themselves toward the materia that he still held on tightly to. They almost seemed… interested in it.

"What the…?" He whispered under his breath. X glanced at the green orb, then at the mini comets orbiting the former Teen Titan.

"I have an idea," he said to Robin with fascination in his voice. X pointed his toes downward and propelled himself up high where a few more of the tiny shines hovered about. With a quick swing just as his boosters shut off, he snagged them with the magic materia. Instead of encircling the dark, damp cave, the neon lights were now clinging tightly to X's materia, and glowing even brighter than they had been before!

X, although still slightly dazed from his use of the materia, beamed at the lights that were now attached to it. He dashed across the room and chased down every last light until they shone brightly in a massive display that surrounded X's arm. They all swirled around intensely, spinning faster and brighter so that Robin and X had to shield their eyes. The bright shines flew across the dark caverns, and engulfed Terra's body. Robin stared with his eyes wide open, expecting his fellow Titan in the flesh after a long year of separation, but an even stranger vision came alive.

A ghastly white outline of the young Titan Geomancer, Terra, floated in front of them eerily. The figure seemed to be composed of all the tiny lights that had been floating around the cave. It peered at X intently, while completely ignoring Robin.

"_To_… _save_…" it spoke. The words of Terra's figure echoed through X's mind and X's only. They felt serene and calming, yet somehow urgent at the same time.

"How can I save you Terra!" he shouted to the ethereal girl.

"_Life_… _stream_… _magic_… _must bring_… _then free_."

The phantasm then shattered into its individual lights, which flew straight into Terra's stone body. Then, as darkness veiled over the cavern once more, a very awkward silence passed between the leader of the Titans and the leader of the Maverick Hunters. X approached her frozen body in the center of the cave and stared into its expression with wonder.

Robin hung his head. He had hoped that Raven's dream meant that X would be able to revive their friend, but apparently it was not to be. His face sagged downward in defeat and he rubbed his fingers across his tired eyes as he decided that they both should leave before the other Titans began to wonder where he and the reploid had gone. It would be best to not mention this failure to the others, especially Terra's closest companion; the friendly changeling, Beast Boy. He looked up at X to signal him to leave, but something strange caught his glance. He moved closer to X, who was still inspecting Terra, and he spotted a faint glow coming from the reploid's back. They had both seen more than enough shining lights and flashes to satisfy them for weeks, but something about this final light seemed much different. Robin edged closer through the darkness of the cave to see what it was. The feeble glow was coming from inside the sheath of X's sword!

"X, on your back!" he hollered.

"What? My back?"

Mega Man X twisted his sword around and pulled it out of the yellow and purple sheath that contained it. The three-triangle design near the hilt was shining a brilliant shade of gold, but then it suddenly faded.

"What happened?" Robin asked.

X shook his head, very confused. "I have no idea. I don't even know what this symbol means, if it means anything at all," he said as he cocked his head from side to side, trying to find something special on the great blade. He rubbed his hand across the mirror-like reflection on the blade, but there didn't seem to be anything extraordinary about it at all, nor did X's empathic senses tell him anything about it. It was just a sword, to him.

"You must have been seeing things," he disregarded Robin as he returned to Terra's stone body, but then he saw it too. As soon as he touched Terra, the glyph on X's blade glittered the same golden light that Robin had just seen. When X pulled away from her, the light slowly faded out again. X still couldn't feel anything special in the blade, and Robin was glaring steadily at him for some profound, incredible answer, but Mega Man didn't have any such thing, leaving him to grind his teeth in frustration.

"I don't have a clue what's going on," X said, feeling defeated. "Now we've got more questions than when we began, but we didn't even solve the one problem that we came here with."

"But maybe there's some connection between…"

"_No_," he snapped back at Robin. "We have more important concerns, like Cyborg and the Mavericks. We still haven't even figured out what they want, and the search has been going on for nearly a month between my efforts and your team's."

Robin backed down immediately to X's unintentional intimidation. X could see that the Boy Wonder had taken offense. The reploid sighed deeply and let his tension unwind for just a moment.

"Sorry, Robin," he apologized, "I know Terra means a lot you, but we can't go out on a whim and spend all of our time trying to revive her when there's real danger that's very near. I'm not completely sure what that... spirit… of Terra meant by what she said, and I don't know what kind of connection my sword has to her either, but I promise that I'll do everything in my power to heal her once your world is free from the Mavericks."

"You're right," Robin nodded. "Besides," he continued, "Maybe Raven's dream was… just a bad dream."

Mega Man made a facial gesture of agreement that wasn't at all truthful, but Robin could not tell. X knew from the strange bond that he had with Raven that her nightmare was much more than a concoction of her unconscious mind. He had felt the life in that dream himself as he was rushing to save her. Even to him it was very real and important in some way, but they didn't have time to try and solve the depth of riddles that it held. The most important task, he continued to tell himseld, was indeed to find the Mavericks, and if possible, rescue Cyborg.

X placed the green materia orb safely back in his shoulder bag and glanced backwards at Terra as he and Robin began to exit the dark grotto. He smiled even though the price for using the materia was high; because he now had clues to follow that would help him in discovering a cure for Terra's plight later on. Maybe then he could even discover what was hidden so deeply inside his sacred blade.

X moved in a rigid, but hurried pace with pebbles kicking underneath him. Robin slowly followed after him, but gave a moment of silence in Terra's memory while he was there. It was the least she deserved.

But as Robin turned away, he swore he heard another sound, even though it hadn't been accompanied by a single movement.

It sounded like "_Hero_."

"You coming?" X asked, his voice trailing out from the darkness in the tunnel.

"Yeah," Robin said back, and he left the girl of stone on her pedestal where she had been.


	9. A Bad Dream Come True

**Chapter 9 – A Bad Dream Come True**

It was unusual to see Starfire's sleek shape poised in front of a computer screen performing the duties in regards the Titans' defense systems and sensor arrays, but with Cyborg gone, Robin and X tending to other matters, Raven busy meditating, and Beast Boy's long record of blowing up even the most simple devices, she was the most qualified for the job.

With a blank expression that normally seemed happier than those of others, she plunked away at the keys and took in any and all information that she needed to. Contrary to her normally joyous and outgoing disposition, she was quite capable of handling the affairs of research and security in the tower in the event of the others' absence.

Beast Boy was at the opposite corner of the room, seeming very preoccupied with his thoughts. Starfire could hear the changeling talking to himself under his breath. The Tamaranian princess would have normally been quite enthusiastic to cheer him up, but truthfully she felt just as depressed as she did. One breathy sigh and a forceful upturning of her lips later, and she was sitting next to Beast Boy with a smile.

"What troubles you, friend?" she asked of the changeling.

Beast Boy turned away; his way of showing that he didn't want to talk about it, but there was something about Starfire's gentle voice and sweet smile that couldn't be denied even in the worst of depressions.

"Do you think…" he started, "Do you think that X will be able to bring Terra back?"

"I most certainly hope so," she replied with a warm smile, but Beast Boy acted as though he didn't want to see her. She pulled him close and tried to figure out the pain that was showing so clearly in his eyes.

"Friend Beast Boy, what is wrong?" she asked again.

He pushed away and hesitated as he squeezed his hands together uncomfortably. His mouth fumbled open and closed, but he couldn't quite express it.

"I… will she… what will happen to her if he she does come back? Everyone in the city knows what she did… in their eyes, she's a criminal, even if she did stop Slade. What are we gonna do?"

Starfire's fake smile couldn't hold itself any longer. Her mouth turned down sadly and her eyes became weak and tired with the same questions plaguing her mind that Beast Boy had just said. As Teen Titans, they both had the obligation to uphold the law of their city, but they also had an obligation to the feelings in their hearts. They looked at each other and both knew that they would protect their friend at any cost, no matter the consequences.

"We shall deal with it when the time comes," said heartfelt wisdom inside Starfire.

"Yeah, I guess we will, won't we?"

"Come, friend," she encouraged him cheerfully, "perhaps a snack of the giant banana split will cheer us up."

Beast Boy managed to smile a little at that prospect, and he followed behind Starfire to the Titans' kitchen to gather the ingredients for the emotionally uplifting treat. On the way, Starfire noticed that Raven was pacing impatiently in the living room. The Tamaranian cocked her head, knowing that Raven's normal treatment for impatience was meditating, as it was the cure for most of her emotional stresses, so under the circumstances, she thought it best to interrupt the dark sorceress.

"Friend Raven, would you like to join Beast Boy and I as we partake in the consumption of extremely unhealthy, anti-depressing sweets?"

Raven looked at them with burning pupils full of Hellfire.

"You're thinking about junk food at a time like _THIS_!" she screamed. "Do you have _any_ idea what we're up against! The Mavericks have Cyborg, and if he's on their side, then they'll know every strength and weakness that we have! We couldn't hurt them at all without X's help, and now he's…"

Raven had stopped herself from speaking very abruptly. She backed away and turned to leave, but Starfire rushed to her arm with a tight grip.

"What is wrong with Mega Man X?" she asked gently of the dark girl.

Raven's lip trembled and her eyes began to heat up. She pulled her hood over her face and turned away from Starfire's grip that was still holding on to her. "I don't know," she answered. "I… I don't know what's going on anymore. I can feel when he's in pain, even when he's nowhere near me. I feel him all the time."

"I can't even meditate anymore," she continued, her voice shaking in a way that let Starfire know that her tears were leaking out.

"Every time I try to focus, I get his memories in my mind. I can barely make out what they are, but I know that so much of it is painful, and it makes me feel in pain, too. Just a little while earlier this morning, I could feel him in anguish. It was brief, but it was so deep…"

She sniffed and turned back to Starfire, who was holding out a tissue. Raven lips trembled into a smile with tears streaming down the sides of her face as she took it out of the Tamaranian's hands.

"Heh… thanks. I just… I can hardly control my emotions ever since the battle with the Mavericks when X first came. Vile, and my coma, and X saving me _twice_, and then this weird bond we have between us…"

"Too much for a girl to handle?" Beast Boy asked with a smile, carrying a massive bowl with a Titan sized banana split ice cream in it.

She blew her nose in the tissue and laughed. "Yeah." She looked at the huge bowl. "Is the offer for the ice cream still open?" she asked hopefully with a sniff and her arms wrapped tightly around her.

They all smiled and sat down together in front of the tower of cream and sugar. Raven put a spoonful in her mouth and let it slowly melt until it slid down delighting her down to the belly. They were right. Although she didn't like to admit it, sitting down with friends to devour junk could be pretty nice. Beast Boy and Starfire sat on either side of the red-eyed sorceress, amazed and thrilled at how real she seemed at that moment.

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Robin and X were on board the Dreamweaver, not enjoying sweets of any kind, but they instead were looking through X's personal research records after their encounter with what they had decided to call a small piece of Terra's spirit.

"This is the information I have on the phenomenon known as the Lifestream," he explained. The image on the computer monitor that lit up the dim space of X's quarters on the ship tinted their faces with a green light that was remarkably similar to what the two leaders had seen in Terra's cave.

"I took this video recording over five years ago on the planet Gaia, well over a week's journey away from here on the Dreamweaver.

Flowing green lights that almost seemed alive were flowing like a tidal wave towards a massive, demonic looking meteor that was crashing toward the planet's surface. A few moments later, the video feed fizzled out and became static.

"What exactly _is_ this Lifestream, and what was happening right there?" asked Robin.

"The Lifestream," he explained, "is supposedly the life force of all the life on Gaia, both plant and animal, that has passed away. It's said that whenever a new life is born, a bit of the Lifestream travels into that new being, and it basically creates the cycle of life according to Gaian beliefs."

Robin looked shocked beyond words. "Is this what happens after life?" he asked, utterly astounded, "Is that what happens when we all die?"

"Whoa, whoa, don't misunderstand, Robin. As far as I know, the Lifestream exists only on Gaia. Besides, there's so little known about it that we can't make any definite judgments. It's theorized that parts of people's intelligence belong to the Lifestream, but there aren't records of any kind of reincarnation or anything like it. It's mostly a mystery. The only thing they've found out, regretfully, is that it can be used as a source of power, but like all energy, it can run out."

"You mean… they use the life force of the planet?" Robin said, and he tried to grasp what that meant. Withering land and dying people are what came to his mind.

"I don't know," the reploid shrugged. "A lot happened in the year that I was there. It's too long a story for now, but by the time I had left, they had realized what they were doing, and the use of the Lifestream for power had stopped. I just hope it's stayed that way."

"Then what about Terra?" Robin said back.

"Well, my best guess is that Terra's spirit has somehow become detached from her body because of her petrification. The materia I used reacted to her life force, and if I could get a hold of much stronger materia…"

Robin was excited. "Then we can revive her!" he exclaimed.

"Well… no," X pursed his lips in frustration, "I don't have powerful enough materia to do it, and the only place I could get it is on Gaia."

"Oh… and you can't leave for a two week trip with everything going on here," Robin finished X's disappointing sentence.

X grumbled and then pounded his fist on the wall.

"It'll have to wait," he said glumly.

A brief moment passed and then Robin spoke up again, this time, slightly nervously.

"X… even if you do get more powerful materia from Gaia… isn't it going to hurt you?"

X grinned ironically, and shut his eyes as he stood up and leaned against the wall. He had been trying to press that unpleasant thought out of his mind. The searing pain of using the materia hurt him in ways that he couldn't describe, and he had thought that he endured every kind of pain there was in years of fighting Mavericks.

"Yeah…" he eventually whispered, "it'll probably kill me."

Both Titan and Maverick Hunter turned their heads sharply from a shrill sounding gasp in the doorway to X's room. Raven had been listening to their every word.

The dark sorceress felt a tingle in her mind. X's voice flowed deep into her spirit, and the chakra on her head brightened.

_Raven_…

_X_… _you wouldn't_…

_No Raven, I don't plan on sacrificing myself to save someone when I don't even know if it will work_… _but_… _what other chance does she have?_

_X, you can't! There has to be another way!_

Raven approached X with worry in her eyes. She reached out to touch him, and he gently took her hand inside of his own. He smiled as brightly as his strength would let him.

"Don't worry," he reassured her, "I won't do anything brash."

Robin's face pulled back and twisted in confusion. "Er… did I… miss something?"

Raven's mind had only been focused solely on Mega Man X when she entered, and she blushed in the realization that Robin had been there for the silent scene. She hid under her hood when she realized how unusual it must have looked to see them react to conversations that were purely inside their minds.

"I'll, uh… just step outside," he said, and he quickly brushed past Raven and let the door shut behind him.

Once the light from outside X's quarters had faded behind her, Raven embraced X tightly. He slowly returned the tender squeeze and stroked her dark lavender hair.

"I could feel you in pain, earlier today," she spoke.

"I know. I felt your reaction, too. You were worried about me."

She slammed her hand on his metal chest firmly and squeezed her fingers on his back with more emotions in her mind than she wanted. She was worried, but she was angry, too. Angry, confused, upset, and even happy deep down because of the caring hug that she was surrounded by. She hadn't felt like that in such a long time, and all of her other emotions became so powerful from the fear of losing that warmth again. She kept beating her fists on him until she was almost gasping for breath.

"Of course I was worried!" she yelled straight into his face, "I didn't know what was happening to you! It could have been Mavericks, or Plasmus or… but… I somehow knew it wasn't."

Raven took deep breaths and loosened her hands to her sides.

"X, what happened with Terra?" she asked. "You used the materia, and it hurt you… but when you used magic in my room, it didn't…"

"I know, Raven, I know," he comforted her. "The magic I've already learned and can use without materia hardly bothers me, but when I actually have to use it… well, let's just say it's not very safe."

"But… wouldn't it have been unbearable to learn all that magic if it hurts so badly?"

Raven suddenly felt an unfamiliar jolt deep within the recesses of her mind. X's face had turned to nearly emotionless at the very same time.

"I don't want to talk about this right now," he said, tonelessly. It was then that Raven realized that he had blocked his mind from hers. She could no longer feel his strong presence even though the reploid was holding her close. The dark sorceress pushed away from his grip that now felt cold and meaningless.

"Why? Why are you hiding from me?" she accused X.

He shook his head. "Raven, please don't think of it like that," he said calmly. "There are just some things I'm not ready to share yet."

Raven wanted to interject, but X raised a wise hand pf silence. "Besides," he continued, "Not long from now, we're probably going to be heading into battle against the Mavericks and possibly against Cyborg, too. We don't need any kind of distractions between us during a fight, but I promise that when this is all over, we can spend a lot more time with each other, alright?"

Raven's felt tense and ill at ease, but his promise started to quell her frustration. She repeated it to herself; that once this was all over with; they could get to really know each other. Before she knew it, the promise had loosened the tenseness in her shoulders, and she felt her own deep breaths soothe down her spine.

"Alright," she said with a nod and a small effort to smile. They both started out off the Dreamweaver, but X stopped her abruptly wearing an expression that looked very dispirited.

"X, is everything alright?" Raven asked.

"Raven…?" He said with obvious discomfort in his voice.

"Yes?"

"About the battle… with the Mavericks and Vile…"

Raven's eyes narrowed slightly. Even though she couldn't penetrate into his mind anymore, she didn't like where this was going. Her body began to tense up again…

"Raven, perhaps it might be best if… you stayed out of this one."

The words stung her even more sharply than when X had shadowed his mind from hers. She felt as though an untouchable safe place inside her had just been crushed, trampled on, beaten.

"You think I'm not strong enough?" she grilled him, "You think that I can't hold my own? Do you think I'll just be in the way? Answer me!"

"Damn it, Raven!" he yelled back at her with force, "Of course I think you're strong enough, and I know that you're more than capable of holding your own in battle, but you _will _get in the way this time and you _know it_!"

Raven clawed at the sides of her robe viciously and tried with every ounce of might not to lash out at him.

"Listen to me, Raven! You know that you're terrified of Vile. You know that you won't be able to handle it if it should come down to you and him. You're so afraid of Vile that you can't even bear to hear his name!"

The dark sorceress knew that it was true, but she denied it even to herself. She bit her lip so hard, feeling both insulted and angry at herself that she couldn't admit or fight the fear. It started to bleed, and she had nearly ripped through her own cloak with her bare hands.

"FINE!" she screamed, and she used her spiritual powers to dissipate into the ground, far away from X. The reploid reached for her vanishing body, but Raven had left, leaving streaks of shadows behind.

_Damn_… _I hope she's alright_.

X released the guard on his mind to a small extent, just enough so that Raven only could feel it.

"There," he whispered, "just in case you need me."

Mega Man picked himself up dejectedly and headed the rest of the way back to Titans Tower. With the impending danger of the Mavericks, he didn't want to be worrying about Raven, but X knew in himself that he was nearly as tormented from memories that didn't belong as she was. As he entered the briefing room of the tower, Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy were waiting there for him. He hardly had the heart for it, but now was the time to plan the attack on the Mavericks and wipe them out before they unleashed whatever nightmares they had planned for this planet. Everyone was serious. Everyone was ready, but the numbers weren't encouraging.

"Is Raven coming?" asked Robin with concern.

X shook his head. Robin nodded; he understood what had happened.

"Alright then," he continued, "let's get this meeting over quickly so we can get Cyborg back."

_If he's anything more than spare parts by now_, X thought.

Starfire stood up next to a computerized display of North America. "Employing the same strategy that the Gizmo used, X's Dreamweaver was able to trace the T-Car far north." She pointed to a spot where a curving, erratic line had gone from Titans tower to where it had stopped near the northern edge of the continent.

"Also," Robin picked up after her, "There have been three different reports of unusual metal objects or machines spotted in the area. We estimate that the Maverick base is in this region slightly northeast, where there isn't a single living person for miles."

"It would be the most likely place," concluded X. The others gave varying, unenthusiastic responses of agreement. Robin searched for a way to bring confidence and courage back into their hearts

"Since we're down in numbers," he said, "Aqualad and Bumblebee are going coming over from Titans East to help. They should be here very shortly."

"What about Cyborg?" asked Beast Boy rhetorically. He had already fought one old friend in the past who had become the enemy. He didn't want him to become another Terra.

"Cyborg… assuming he's still alive," X said with great difficulty, "is most likely a Maverick now. We should treat him as such."

Starfire's shiny green eyes welled up with tears.

"Friend X! We cannot simply abandon him! There _must_ be a way to save him from becoming one of the evil Mavericks!"

Robin and X each reached for one of her shoulders to comfort her. Her long, red hair was ruffled from the stress, and she wrapped her arms around her ribs to keep her breath close to her heartbeat.

"Starfire…" said X solemnly, "Once turned Maverick, there's no way for any of my kind to be brought back, but… where Cyborg is half human, there might be a way. We'll try to disable him as best we can without hurting him, but if that isn't possible…"

They all bowed their heads. Cyborg's camaraderie and friendship over the past years had earned the moment of silence that lulled the room.

"X, what do you think we're up against?" Robin asked, not letting the stillness last too long, lest it cloud their judgment or be premature.

The Hunter compiled a quick list in his head of what would be typical defenses for a Maverick base of this magnitude. The result almost made him quiver for the lives of the youth in front of him.

"Vile, Magna Centipede, advanced forms of both Cyborg and Plasmus, several automated defense systems, about ten giant golems, over a hundred sentry drones, and possibly a few other elite Maverick reploids like Centipede and Vile."

The Titans' features all slumped down in the face of the overwhelming challenge. It seemed so hopeless.

"I actually sent a subspace message from the Dreamweaver to a close friend for help," X said in the hope of lifting their sulking faces and spirits. "He's one of the best Maverick Hunters that I've ever known. I'm sure with his help we can get through this."

"That is good news," said Starfire with pretense happiness.

Robin slammed his gloved fist on the table and snarled loudly.

"Come on you guys!" Robin said with a sudden burst of confidence, "We've fought battles that seemed impossible before, and we've won them. This isn't any different. We're going to beat the Mavericks off of our planet _and _save Cyborg!"

The surge of joy lasted for only a brief, fleeting moment. Robin's communicator beeped at his waist, and there was a face staring back at him that was half man, and half machine, but it was no longer the friendly one he used to know. Cyborg had become a Maverick.

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"I can't _believe _he had the nerve to say that about me!" spouted Raven from high atop a massive skyscraper with her back against a tall steeple that jutted into the clouds.

"He thinks I'm just a scared little girl! He thinks that I'll endanger everyone if I go! Damn it all!"

Her hands squeezed against the ground and made her fingers tingle and turn hot white. She gnashed her teeth together and her eyes flamed bright red with fury.

"I'm not scared," she chanted, "I'm _NOT SCARED_!"

As if defying her screams, the thoughts of Vile and death reached into her and crushed her resolve. Her angry eyes fizzled into frightened blue ones, and her tightly cringing hands instead tucked themselves inside her Robe. There, they felt the scars that were still on her body from the nightmare that she had endured. She felt them on her sides, her belly, her thighs, and her breasts. Then she reached up and touched the one that was still on her face. It had already healed itself completely, but it hurt to touch it. The skin of her cheek didn't sting at all as she gently caressed the painful memory, but her mind throbbed deeply with each stroke.

"I hate this…" she whispered. "I hate this feeling. I hate being vulnerable."

She leaned against the solid steel of the massive steeple. It was hot to the touch, but it felt relaxing on her stressed body. She pressed herself against it and slowly closed her eyes. It didn't take long for her mind to drift away into sleep.

Deep in her thoughts, a swirling collection of her past and X's merged together. A tall, slender figure robed in pearl white swayed across utter darkness. Raven reached out to it with incredible longing.

_Mother? Mother, is that you!_

A single, sleek hand waved and created a rift in the darkness. Revealed therein was the blue reploid that was ever present in Raven's mind, but he was much younger than the one she knew. Raven could tell from the look of his armor, much of which was white and yellow around the original lapis blue, but the largest difference was in his eyes.

_They're_..._ brown_. _They aren't bright green at all_. _I don't understand_…

She started after the robed figure that had slithered across the darkness. It had opened up another hole in the darkness; one much larger than the one that showcased the young Mega Man X. Raven knew what was to come before the figure came into the light.

_Arella_..._ mother! I don't want to see Vile_. _I don't want to see him hurt X!_

But the ghostly woman shook her head and brought forth the hateful Maverick, who was also much younger, but no less the monster for it. In the same monstrous carrier armor that he had used to attack her, Vile of the past dashed in a vicious attack on Mega Man. X slid out of the way and blasted the backside of the tank armor, but it barely had any effect. X was beaten horribly by the fist that swung around and sent him careening into a solid wall. Raven reached out to help, but the phantasm of her mother gripped her arm tightly.

_Just watch_.

_But_…

_It's alright, my daughter_. _Watch_.

The dark sorceress stood next to the calm, elegant looking woman as X was pulverized by the evil Maverick. It wasn't long before X had been completely defeated. His armor was mangled gruesomely, and blood was leaking out of his face in several different places. Raven's restraint weakened with every crushing blow that was dealt to X. She had to constantly remind herself that it was in the past. There was nothing she could do to interfere with this memory. Only a moment later, X had been immobilized by the paralyzing waves from Vile's shoulder cannon. The dark Maverick left his armor and slowly approached X's shattered body.

"Pathetic Maverick Hunter. Your ancient weapons could never hope to defeat me."

The younger Vile laughed at X's inability to move.

"What are you going to do now? Are you just going to cower in fear? I can see it on your ugly, humanoid face. You're terrified of me!"

Mega Man struggled to lift his face and look at the one who would surely kill him. Raven could see it in his eyes, too. X had been frightened of Vile, just as she was now.

The brutalized Maverick Hunter pulled himself up on his feet even against the shocks of electricity that tormented every joint his body.

"I… _am_ terrified of you…" the reploid admitted through a clenched jaw and the pain of crippled limbs that hung at his sides, "But that doesn't mean I can't crush you and save my friends!"

The two past reploids vanished, leaving Raven with the spirit of her mother that lived inside of her. The young sorceress looked anxiously at Arella.

_What happened?_

She lifted the veiling hood of her white Robe, revealing an experienced, but still very young appearance.

_With his great courage and strong will to save the ones he cared for, he conquered his fear; a fear that you must now conquer as well, for his sake and the sake of your friends_.

_Mother, what do you mean?_

But a sharp sting coursed through her mind that forcefully ripped her away from the reverie and her mother. Raven's eyes shot open and she leapt into flight instinctively from the concentrated shock. From her high viewpoint, she could see a cloud of black smoke rising up until it mixed with the white ones in the sky. Raven floated in midair, praying to herself that it was not coming from where she thought it was.

The dark sorceress streaked across the sky with her eyes watering and her Robe fluttering madly in the wind. As she neared the tower, she saw one of the most horrible sights she could ever bear. Fire and smoke clouds billowed out from shattered windows. Pieces of wall had been blown apart.

On the ground were machines; Maverick drones that had been destroyed. Many of them had even been sliced in two, a trademark of X's strength and swordsmanship, but she could not sense his presence anywhere as hard as she tried.

Raven transformed into a black mass of energy shaped like the bird whose name she shared and soared through the burning depths of her ruined home. Mechanical corpses lined the hallways. One especially massive machine had its internal parts ripped out, but none of her friends were there. She searched floor after floor, room after room, but all she found was chaos and destruction. Only a single bit of evidence held any bearing on how her friends had fared against the Mavericks, and it chilled her to the bone and instilled her with fear. A wide streak of crimson blood was smeared across a wall as if a bucket of red paint had been thrown at it. One of her friends had been sliced open and then dragged across the walls.

Raven flew out of the burning building and collapsed to her knees on the beach at the edge of the island. Vile was responsible. She knew it with every ounce of her soul. Her body ached with terror and guilt. She felt as though she may have been able to stop this if she had only been there.

"No… X was right," she sobbed, "I could never have faced him… not even for my friends…"

Pieces of debris floated along the beach as Raven sat there in anguish. Her friends were gone. X was gone. She didn't know if they were dead or alive, or even where they were. She squeezed around her knees and rested her head on them. Deep marks started to form on her legs where she tore into them with her fingers. She didn't care how much it hurt. She just needed to release the pain somehow. Anyway would do. Even spilling her own blood.

A weak, groaning noise that sounded human pulled Raven away from her torture and instilled a tiny bit of hope. Floating among the battle's garbage just off the beach, Raven could see an arm holding on to something that bobbed up and down in the water. With a great surge of anxiousness, the broken sorceress dragged herself into the water and swam toward the arm which she pulled on tightly.

"Graaaah! Don't…!" screeched Aqualad's brutalized form as he lifted his head above the water.

"Aqualad! What happened?"

"Ungh," he wheezed in pain, "come see for yourself."

Raven swam around to the aquatic Titans' side, and she nearly lost all breath. The hunk of wreckage that held him to the surface was lodged deep into his side, tinting the water around him pale red.

"My God… hold still Aqualad, I'll pull you on to shore and get this out of you."

"Easy… easy…" he whispered as she dragged him and the massive hunk of rubble onto the shore. Aqualad lay on his side with his blood dripping into his side. He squinted the lids of his jet black eyes together tightly and breathed through clenched teeth as his adrenaline started to flow as fast as his blood.

"Alright, pull it out… NOW!"

Raven ripped the jagged hunk out and Aqualad's face turned completely scarlet as he tried to swallow the anguish that traveled through his whole body. His face shook in horrible ways as he spit out blood and dug into the sand. Raven instinctively took over her Robe and tied it around his ripped open waste.

"Hang on, I'm going to try and seal up your wound."

Raven held him solidly with one arm and reached for his open gash with the other. Her palm tingled with glowing light and Aqualad's breathing seemed to relax as his pain lessened. The blood flow slowed, and bits of new flesh seemed to appear in his wound.

"Aqualad, what happened here?" she asked him with deep sorrow on her face and palms that shook, afraid to touch him too harshly. "Where is everyone?"

"Ungh… the Mavericks… they came," he spat. "Cyborg… he came too. He was with them."

"No…" was all she could whisper through cupped hands.

"They… they took everyone, even X. We crushed a lot of them, but… there were just too many. They were too strong. They went… ugh… they went north."

Raven held him up and stroked his damp, ruffled hair as his features loosened themselves into sleep.

"Rest easy," she said, "you're safe."

She laid him down to sleep on the sand and looked at the still-burning building in front of her. Aqualad would live, but her the rest of the Titans would not. She cried for her friends, and even more for X. The bond between them was gone. Emptiness wrung her mind and eyes until they both felt dry and cracked. The bond between her and all of the Titans was gone. The Mavericks had taken them all; even Mega Man with all of his power couldn't fight them off.

_Mother_…_ they're gone, and I'll never be able to get them back_._ How could I possibly do this by myself when X couldn't even stop them?_

She buried her teary face into trembling hands. But then she heard movement. Metal clanging against metal. A maverick was still alive somewhere on the island. Fear and sadness turned to deep hatred.

"I don't care if I die," she vowed. "I'll rip that damned thing to pieces!"

Her legs floated off the ground and her eyes blackened with energy. She could see the red armored Maverick kneeling down to inspect one of its fallen comrades.

"Bastard!" she screamed as black lighting surged from her finger tips. "You'll pay for what you've done!"

Raven's hands released bolts of energy through the smoke at the Maverick, but she saw them fly off into the sky in opposing directions. She backed away at this. Many had blocked her bursts of dark power before, but few had ever managed to deflect them.

A piercing green glow pushed through the smoky remains of destroyed machines, revealing the fierce Maverick's readied poise. The green light came from what looked like some strange sort of sword made of pure radiance. The weapon swayed with flames of jade when its holder waved it in the wind, and then he stepped forward as well. He had a humanoid face, like X, but Raven could sense a dark presence deep beneath his red armor. The letter 'Z' was etched with care into one of his white shoulder guards, and two emerald jewels were encrusted on either side of his chest. Blowing from side to side behind the Maverick was a massive length of blonde hair that nearly touched the ground. With complete calm, the Maverick slowly approached Raven wearing an expression that seemed void, but it changed suddenly when he saw the dark sorceress.

"What?" he said, putting away his saber behind his back, "you're not a…"

Raven was rushing to tackle him from the sky, but his reflexes were sharp. The red Maverick grabbed her by the arm and threw her fiercely to the ground, but she was immediately up again for another attack. This time she telekinetically levitated the Maverick corpses off the ground and launched them straight at her target. The reploid braced himself and crossed both arms in front of his face, blocking each piece that flew at his face.

"Will you cut it out!" he yelled as he was struck in the arms by piece by piece, but Raven would not listen. She was hell bent on tearing him apart piece by piece. The dark sorceress was dashing at him furiously, but he was ready for it. He pulled out his saber with striking speed and shouted.

"Raijingeki!"

A web of lighting surged out of his saber and engulfed Raven, paralyzing her in mid-flight. The Maverick swung again and threw Raven in the dirt as if she had been lassoed by the electricity that had engulfed her.

"Grrr, I'll kill you, Maverick!" she screamed, but the machine pleaded with her.

"I'm _not_ a Maverick, you stupid girl! I'm a Hunter, and a friend of Mega Man X!"

Raven's anger started to fade slightly, but her instincts were confused. Was this a trick?

"If you know X," she said, "then prove it. Tell me something only one of his friends would know!"

The reploid standing before her crossed his arms and thought for a moment, to the memories that he shared with his fellow Hunter.

"When X was much younger," he began, "his first mission was to help fight the Mavericks on the Reploid City highway. It was a pretty basic mission for him. The sector he was deployed to had only minor mechaniloid Mavericks. But that ended up changing. He had a run in with Vile, the one who attacked your team. He nearly died…" Zero laughed lightly, "and on his first mission, too. Lucky I was there to save his sorry hide."

Raven's guard completely dropped. "Y-you saved him? It was you?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I was a whole lot stronger than he was back then. But he said something that day that really made me trust him. He admitted that he wasn't powerful enough to beat Vile, but he wasn't unhappy about his weapons, or armor, or skills. X was unhappy, because he didn't think he had enough strength to protect others."

The words touched Raven, and she knew them to be true.

"And that's something that only a true friend of his would know," he finished. "Believe me now?"

"I'm sorry," Raven said to him.

He shook his head in dismissal of it, and the golden locks of hair leaned with him. "We've got more important things to take care of."

He gestured toward the unconscious body of Aqualad and the ruined tower that had been home to the Titans. Together, Raven and this new Hunter in red and black were the only ones left to stand against Vile and the Mavericks. It would most likely be suicide to even try, but Raven didn't care about living if her friends and Mega Man X were not in it.


	10. Braver

**Chapter 10 – Braver**

A glass reflection of her own face stood between the dark sorceress and Aqualad. He was in a position that Raven was in not long ago; one that many of the Titans had suffered, but the doctors said he would live. It was remarkable, how he hid the pain of three broken ribs and a crushed ankle even as the piece of jagged rubble had been ripped out of him. Raven had done the best job that she could to mend his wounds, and now time and medicine would heal the rest along with his own resilience. She rubbed her arms, which were still torn and dirty from fighting. She looked nearly as worn and tired as the young aquatic warrior that she looked at through the glass.

Standing with arms crossed only a few feet away was the Maverick Hunter that had accompanied her to the hospital. Without the heat of battle to get in the way, Raven was able to get a much clearer look at him as he leaned against the walls with eyelids occasionally closing in thought and then opening again when he felt the gazes of others. His face was very human, like X's, and his armor had a very similar style to it. A blue jewel adorned the forehead of his helmet instead of a red one, and it matched his equally blue eyes. The rest of this Hunter's face, she noticed, was less compassionate than the soft features of X. His helmet itself curved up in the back, forming a wing-like shape on either side, and his saber was tucked safely into its sheath just behind his head.

Even though there were more pressing worries, Raven could not help but fixate her eyes on the massive lengths of golden blonde hair that flowed out of a short tube on the back of his helmet at his neck, spilling out elegantly to his sides like a cape. It looked as though it would take hours to maintain it; a nuisance that she figured a Maverick Hunter would not need.

"You're staring," he said bluntly.

"Oh… sorry," she stammered. "We… got off to a bad start. I'm Raven, of the Teen Titans."

"I figured," he said in return, "X described a girl like you. I'm Zero."

Raven had expected to see a white-gloved hand to extend out to her, but she only got to look at his crimson backside with thick sheets of golden locks behind it.

She hurried after him through the hospital corridors, receiving many nervous looks from patients and nurses at their odd pairing that they were both used to ignoring. Zero's boots were remarkably quiet considering that they were completely made of metal, but they still attracted much unwanted attention.

"So," Zero said, breaking the uncomfortable silence, "are you coming, or staying?"

"I'm coming," she returned quickly.

"You sure? We'll probably both be killed."

"I _said_ I'm coming," Raven snapped.

Zero shrugged. "Fine, but you'd better be able to handle yourself, because I don't plan on saving your life every few minutes."

Zero's wide mane of hair continued to sway from side to side as he kept pace outside of the hospital, where the streets were being pelted with sharp, stinging raindrops. Raven veiled herself habitually in a psychic shroud to keep herself dry. Zero's lack of expression spoke of how little he cared that he and his hair were getting damp.

"Where are we going?" Raven asked tentatively.

"We're probably far enough by now," Zero returned without answering her question. He held out his hand, which Raven glared at, but eventually took. Then, Raven felt a strange twisting all over her body. It felt like she was being pulled through a hole far too small for her to pass through. The feeling intensified for a short burst, then ended.

Raven's vision tingled and swirled until she regained her bearings inside a cramped room with computers in the lead. She recognized it immediately as being very similar to the Dreamweaver, although much less physically accommodating. Zero was immediately upon the controls of the small craft without even helping Raven gather herself.

"Wait a minute," Raven interjected, "shouldn't we get some help? You can't seriously intend to do this with just the two of us."

"Every moment we waste means that X and your friends are more likely to be dead," he said sternly. "Is that what you want?"

She turned away to hide her trembling features from the unsympathetic reploid. Grinding her teeth tightly, she managed to keep the tears from escaping.

"No," she replied. "Of course not."

"Fine. We're going to land about twenty miles south of the Maverick base, so we won't be picked up by their sensors," Zero said tonelessly. "Then, we'll move in slowly and hope we can sneak in relatively unnoticed."

Raven sat down in a seat next to Zero and looked at his face that continued to focus forward. She didn't need her telepathy to tell that beneath his unchanging face, he shared much of the discomfort that she did.

"You're not nearly as confident as you're acting," she said, which finally got a genuine reaction out of the Hunter. He raised an eyebrow widely at her fixed gaze.

"I guess that makes sense, though," she went on, "since even X and three Titans couldn't do it."

"X isn't the best Hunter out there, you know," Zero said pointedly as he preoccupied himself with the controls. Raven felt a slight jerk underneath her as the small ship lifted off the ground that it had been resting on followed by a jolt of acceleration as they took flight. She could see through the front view screen that they were flying across Jump City at an extremely rapid pace.

"We'll be there in less than an hour," he said. "Do whatever you need to get ready."

For the first ten minutes, both of them sat wordlessly, keeping to their own thoughts. Zero had crossed his arms and shut his eyes as the ship's autopilot did the flying for him. He looked as though he was relaxing his mind; he was preparing for the battle in his own ritualistic way.

Raven tried to attain the same level of readiness with little success. There was far too much on her mind to focus well. Closing her eyes only drew painful images in the dark recesses of her mind. They were all similar. Vile or some other Maverick slaughtering one of her friends. Never seeing X alive again. Her home, ruined. Victory seemed to have lost its way inside of her. The dark sorceress, sitting with scars showing openly without her concealing Robe, shivered feebly from pain, cold, and her own torturous visions.

Raven flinched sharply and her eyes shot open as a sizeable article of clothing dropped into her lap. She stretched it out, revealing it to be a long trench coat that matched Zero's ruby red armor.

"What's this?"

"I wear it sometimes when I'm off duty and in my casual armor," he said, sounding like he cared for the first time despite his efforts to hide it. "You'll need something warmer once we get there. It's snowing and in single digit temperatures."

"Oh… thank you."

"Don't mention it."

She pulled it over her shoulders and slipped her arms through the extra large sleeves. They sagged on her slender arms and she had to roll back the cuffs so that her hands would stick out completely. After buckling the belt around her waist, the sorceress realized that she looked quite absurd in the ankle-length coat that was several sizes too big for her, but her body loosened with the warmth that trapped itself inside.

"Zero, can I ask you a question?" Raven posed.

His face said no. She was surprised when his voice said, "sure."

"Do you think we have any chance at all?"

The Maverick Hunter didn't say anything. His lips twitched with the answer trying to escape from the tip of his tongue.

"I've… fought Vile before…" Zero stuttered. He looked pained.

"You… won, right?" Raven asked him nervously. The reploid wouldn't look at her content gaze. He gripped the corners of his control panel so furiously that they cracked like brittle dirt.

"No…" he whispered agonizingly, "I didn't win…"

His emotions filled the entire shuttle with the sound of pained memories and fear. The blonde hair and luminous armor that composed Zero's presence didn't shine bright, but instead blackened the air that touched it.

"…I died."

And the room fell silent.

For a few moments, Zero and Raven sat motionless as they sped north, high above the land with emotions as overcast as the steadily darkening clouds below. Even though their movements now resembled that of statues, both had minds that were racing wildly through pasts that pained them. They were the kind of memories that were intended to be kept sealed away, until piles of new ones had been stacked on top, hiding the old ones. Raven's near death from Vile was fresh, and therefore hard to conceal, but Zero's had been some time ago. She knew that it had been at least a decade ago, if not more, when he had fought Vile. The memory inside of her that belonged to X, she now realized also belonged to Zero. Raven let the image flow into her mind; the same one that her mother had shown her, but this time she let light shine over all of it. The younger Mega Man lay wounded with Vile standing over him, taunting him, but in the far corner of the room, a young Zero had been beaten and caged by the hateful Maverick. Raven moved the recollection forward, and the blonde-haired Hunter broke free from his imprisonment, leaping on top of Vile's nearly indestructible tank armor. His voice rang through her mind as he began to build energy to destroy the Maverick.

"_I'm not through yet_!" the young Zero screamed as light brighter than the sun blinded the entire room, and the sound of deafening explosions rumbled the floor.

When all had settled, X was still left on one side of the room, while Vile stood only slightly injured in the other, but his tank had been demolished, and so had Zero. His remains were lying in a heap not far behind Vile. Raven knew what she needed to know. She let the specific recollection drop back into the river of memories from whence it came, and she opened her eyes on a much older, much more experienced Zero.

"That was very brave," she whispered.

He glared at her with a quizzical look. "What did you say?"

"I said that what you did for X back then was very brave."

"How could you possibly know about that?" he shouted, infuriated that a part of his past that was supposed to be unknown was now in the open.

Raven shifted away from him in her seat, but did not let him intimidate her.

"X's memories are a part of mine," she explained. "They're foggy, but I can see a lot from his past, whether you want me to or not."

"Don't act like you know me," he shot back, "You hardly know the first thing about me."

"I know that even though you're being a jerk right now, you're a very brave Maverick Hunter, and you'd do anything to protect your friends."

Zero didn't answer, which was his obvious way of ending the conversation. Raven almost smiled underneath the veil of the Hunter's high collared trench coat. She knew that she had touched a soft spot through the thick armor and even thicker barrier of cold personality. Even if X was no longer alive, she wanted to know more about him. In the short time left before they fought to what would most likely be their deaths, Raven wanted to be as close to the memory of X as she could.

"Zero…" she asked hesitantly, "that memory I have of you and X fighting Vile is from a long time ago. How old are the two of you?"

Zero started to speak, but his face twisted with confusion at the simple question.

"That's… much harder to answer than you'd think."

"I don't understand," she said, "How hard can it be to keep a record of when you were first activated?"

"Well, for other reploids, it isn't, but…" he took a deep breath and his eyes narrowed while he put together the necessary words.

"X and I," he continued, "are special cases. Nobody really knows much about how we were created. X was sealed in a sort of stasis capsule for many years. He was discovered in the rubble of a mountainside laboratory that had been all but annihilated by a war that almost destroyed the planet. So much history was lost during that war, according to those who survived it and repopulated our world. When they found X, the lab was so badly damaged that they couldn't retrieve any information about who had been there or when, and the internal chronometer on the capsule had also been lost."

"So… X could be hundreds of years old?" Raven asked, stunned at the thought.

Zero nodded. "He's classified as being twenty years old, since it's been that long since he was initially activated by Dr. Cain and the research teams, but no one knows his true age. Not even him."

"What about you?" she questioned him with curiosity.

"I'm a similar case, but I was already alive when I was discovered, and also without a working chronometer to give the answer. Even less was known about my initial creation than X's, but it's been theorized that we were created at roughly the same time period, and possibly even by the same person."

"How long have you been… you know… active, then?

Once again, Raven noticed him fidgeting subtly and having tremendous difficulty answering a simple question.

"I actually don't know the answer to that, either," he said. "I was already active before I was found, but I had to be… reprogrammed… because of 'severe malfunctions' they told me."

He glanced unhappily to Raven, and then continued to stare out at the bright sky above the clouds. Zero laughed to himself with irony, not knowing why he was sharing this with a strange girl that he had never met before, but he saw no harm in finishing.

"After a reploid is reprogrammed," he explained, "an evaluation is done to determine whether the reploid is officially a new life, or the same one with repairs made. Since I couldn't remember anything about _anything_, I was considered new, and that's where my age officially started from…"

He paused for a moment, thinking back.

"So from that viewpoint, I'm twenty two, but through a lot of research, my actual age is estimated to be about 130."

Raven was shocked. She had never imagined that the reploids lived so long. Her head hung drearily with what felt like a stinging shame. She had not once yet given X the credit he deserved for all that he was. Such an amazing life, and she had continued to think of him as just as machine on so many occasions. As soon as she felt a shift in weight and saw shadowy clouds filling the front view screen, the guilt stabbed Raven even harder. She knew that she probably wouldn't get a chance to make up for every time that she underestimated him.

Another shiver tickled up her spine as they landed. The doors hadn't opened. Was the shuttle colder, or did the sadness just rip the warmth from inside her? Raven didn't know the answer as she buckled Zero's trench coat as tightly to her body as it would go.

Zero paced to the back end of the ship.

"Brace yourself, it's freezing outside," he said and entered a button combination on a small console near the corner.

Slowly, the shuttle's door flipped down from the top, letting in a gust of frigid air. Zero wasn't fazed at all as he walked out onto a freezing wasteland. As far as the eye could see, it was a near-desolate wasteland. Only a few resilient plants and trees still managed to poke through the frozen, cracked ground of this place.

A light snow was falling from the ominous looking clouds and just beginning to cover the ground. The icy flakes wafted across Raven's face, draining the warmth from her body bit by bit. She instinctively formed a large, protective barrier from the wind that nearly encompassed her entire body, and she tried to think about X. She tried to sift through the memories that he had left her to find a happy one. Anything that wasn't as miserable as where she was at that moment. She captured an image of him, just smiling. It helped fight the cold, and it gave her strength.

Raven then realized that Zero was staring at her.

"You're going to have to make that shield smaller," he said. "The Mavericks will be able to pick up that energy signal easily on their sensors, and we don't want to get caught before we even get in."

Raven did not argue, and diminished the barrier so that it only covered a fraction of her front half.

"Good," nodded Zero. "Now, the storm will help conceal us, especially if it picks up some, but once we close in to a few miles, we'll have to go at a much slower pace, and you're going to have to shrink that thing a lot more."

The dark sorceress bowed her head in solemn agreement.

"Fine. Just one more thing," he added with a hint of harshness, "the shuttle emits a signal attuned specifically to the transport systems on my body. I probably won't, but if for any reason I decided to bail and warp back to the ship, you've either got to be making physical contact with me when I leave or you're stuck on your own, understand?"

"I understand," said Raven.

Zero looked at a specific direction through the storm. Neither of them could see anything but frosty ground, snow, and the black clouds that dropped it as the red armored reploid sped off using boosters on the bottom of his boots. Raven flew off after him, somehow knowing inside her mind that they were going the right way even though the scenery was the same in all directions.

With all her focus, the dark sorceress tried to clear her thoughts of everything but X; to create for herself a blank slate without any distractions of her pain or her friends dying. The freezing snow that managed to make its way past her barrier numbed her exposed cheeks, but she couldn't dull her mind the same way. Every second of flight to follow Zero was painful.

"…_so afraid_," she thought.

It seemed like so little time had passed when Zero propped himself upright and skidded to an elegant stop to face her, showing that he was drenched in snow and water. The heat that his body gave off kept melting the snow, but it continued to freeze, making trails of ice along his arms and around the curves of his chest. Raven awaited his instructions, glad to have it as a mental distraction.

"We're only a few miles away, now," he explained, with unruffled composure that Raven envied. "We're going to have to walk it from here, and you can't use your shield anymore."

Raven took his red coat and squeezed it as tightly as she could before she dropped the shield and let the cold bite her face until it was numb, and the effect was surprising. Even though her body felt terrible, the more numb her skin and bones became, the more she felt that she could control herself.

Zero had once again turned his back, and Raven followed him at a much slower pace through the storm that was steadily worsening. Much of Zero's coat that protected her was becoming white washed in the snow, and her hair had become glittered with the white crystals as she tromped through the sinking white trail that was now at her ankles. She was glad that her mind had become so dull; that she focused on nothing but X, and putting one freezing foot in front of the other. After a time that would have seemed like days if her mind had been free to wander, they came to a high hill covered in the same white as everything else, but something about it didn't look natural.

"Come on," Zero waved.

They climbed to the top and Raven's blood began to chill even more as she and Zero peered at what was unmistakably the Maverick base. Machines and other devices littered across a steep, snow covered mountain side, deforming it to the Mavericks' liking, but it was obvious that most of the base lay underneath the rocky exterior. On the outskirts of the machinery at the bottom of the mountain, the pair of fighters had both spotted the distant figures of soldiers guarding the base.

"They won't be too hard to defeat," Zero explained calmly, squeezing Raven's shoulder firmly to help bring back her frigid focus. "The trick is taking them down without alerting other guards or the more powerful Mavericks inside. We want to keep the element of surprise as long as possible."

Raven looked him up and down with a scowl. "Well, I'm going to have to do it then."

Zero returned the insult with an equally angry glare. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Take a look at yourself," she said, pointing at his bright armor and grabbing a lock of his long blonde hair, "If you're going to walk out there in a snowstorm wearing bright red with yellow hair, then you might as well shoot off a flare gun!"

"I wasn't planning on strolling right over," he snapped, pulling his hair away from her, "I was going to sneak in closer, then take them out using my Z-Buster before they can signal security inside."

His right hand transformed into a weapon much like Cyborg's and X's. Wait… Cyborg!

"Zero, I have to tell you something. One of my friends is half machine, and the Mavericks are controlling him. Whatever you do, please don't hurt him."

"Don't hurt him?!" he whispered crossly. "If he's a Maverick and he gets in my way, then he's going to die," Zero said heartlessly.

Raven's head shook in disgust. "How can you be so…"

"Be quiet, we're wasting time," he silenced her. "I'm going out there with or without you."

"_No_," Raven commanded, "You're coming with _me_!"

Before he could react, Raven had unbuckled the trench coat and waved one half of it at Zero, but inside the coat was no longer the slender body of the dark sorceress. Instead, a black void enveloped Zero, and Raven dragged him along with her ethereal form across the short span left between them and their goal.

The Maverick drone stood alone with an expressionless face and a large rifle weapon in both arms as he guarded the particular entrance he was assigned to. As a strange shadow slithered across the ground, the faceless machine cocked his head, thinking that his eyes were playing some sort of trick on him; a tactic that Raven knew would attract little immediate attention from nearly any typical soldier, reploid or human.

The shadow pillared upward from the snow, and a pair of glowing red eyes pierced through near its crown, provoking the guard to reach for a communicator at his hip, but a flap of darkness opened up from the shaded duo and whipped the communicator into the snow. The Maverick responded by raising his weapon, but it was ripped from his clutches by the elite Hunter as he leaped from the dark abyss and jammed his saber directly into the startled Maverick's mouth. He stated flailing wildly to escape, but every time he tried to grasp the energy saber lodged in his head, sparks shot out of the parts of it touched. Within seconds, the green beam from Zero's weapon pierced through the other side of the Maverick's skull, severing the top half of his head from its body. The minor explosion resulting from the Maverick's death was muffled by the severity of the storm, and a splatter of hot red liquid tainted the snow.

"I have to admit," said a slightly humbled Zero as he returned his saber to his back, "That was pretty impressive."

"Thanks. And, uh… nice kill," she said as she stared at the bloody stain in the snow.

The last word felt strange as it slipped out from between her lips. Raven had mistakenly tried to kill Zero when they first met, but she never thought about how she would feel if she had taken his life. Her job as a Titan was to apprehend, not destroy, and it occurred to her that she had never destroyed a life face to face. She wanted Vile to die so badly. Would it make her feel… good? Or would she feel guilt for robbing a sentient being of its life?

"_Just think about X, just think about X," _she kept telling herself.

Zero gripped Raven's shoulder fiercely and pulled her azure eyes straight into his gaze. Through the blinding snow, his face looked stone serious and almost worried.

"Don't think about it. Not now," he said with the most care he had shown since they had met. "Focus on the task; defeat Vile and save your friends. Can you do that?"

"Y-yes," she mumbled, "I'll be fine."

"Good," he replied as he dragged the Maverick corpse over to the small mechanical door in the mountain side. Opening a small metal compartment, he revealed a flat, glowing panel which he placed the Maverick's lifeless hand on. With a bleep of approval, a second slot opened up and a small red light waved slowly back and forth. Zero backed away sharply.

"Quick, grab one of the eyes!" he screamed.

"What?!"

"Pull out one of the eyes, it's a retinal scanner!"

Raven hesitated, but she reached for what was left of the severed machine's head and ripped out a spherical object with long, trailing wires hanging off it. The dark sorceress started to fumble it in her hands as a hot red liquid started to drip from it. The blood-like fluid trickled down her arms and restored feeling to the limbs that had been frozen by the cold, and the sensation made her hands shake.

"The eye! Give it to me now!" Zero screamed, but Raven had frozen in her position, watching the Maverick's blood slide out of sight underneath the sleeves of Zero's jacket, but she could feel it trailing down her arm, touching her elbow until it trickled off and soaked into her coat.

"Damn it, Raven!" came Zero's furious voice as he snatched the torn eye, but it was too late. Laser weapons propped up from the snow just above the sealed entryway and began firing. Finally out of her pained trance, Raven lifted her arms and shielded both of them with a powerful barrier.

"Zero, I'm sorry… I…"

"Don't worry about it now. We've got to keep moving ahead!"

Zero jammed his saber into the metal door, and it began to glow white hot with heat. He turned his head and saw that more guards had arrived and were firing rapidly on the wall of energy that was starting to buckle. He hurriedly moved the weapon along a circular path until he connected it to the initial entry point. With a fierce blow from both feet, Zero knocked the hunk of metal out place and leapt inside the Maverick base.

"Come on. Let's go!" he signaled Raven as the laser fire pushed her and the barrier back. She slid inside the opening that Zero had made, and then she used one arm to telepathically place the hunk of metal back where it had come from. A moment after, the sounds of rapid laser-fire traded with the sounds of blaring alarms.

Discarding the trench coat, Raven rushed through the half finished halls with Zero leading the way. They heard foot steps from around the corner, and they encountered some of the same faceless drones that had been guarding the fortress on the outside, but with experienced strength and agility, the red armored Hunter sliced them all down without taking so much as a scratch. Some of them screamed when their limbs were cut off. They weren't like the mindless, emotionless robots drones of Slade, or any of the other machines that she had destroyed before with the Titans. They were all alive, but she didn't have the voice inside her to make Zero stop, nor did she believe that he would even if she tried. Every corpse that he created unsettled Raven more and more. He killed them with such ease. Did he even feel remorse?

_It's X_._ I'm doing this for X_. _I have to be strong, I may have to kill for him, but I can do it!_

The path that they followed suddenly opened up into a much wider corridor with an arched ceiling high above them that made the sound of Zero's metal footsteps ricochet of the walls into a remarkable echo. The Hunter stopped abruptly and held his hand to halt Raven. The abrupt death of all noise was unsettling. A steady stream of soldiers had instantly become emptiness.

"Shit…" he whispered, and the tiny sound of his voice reverberated all the way to the distant and opposite end of the room.

"What is it?" Raven asked.

"Golems," was all he returned as he readied his gleaming green sword, watching the walls and floors as if they were going to attack him.

A grinding sound boomed through the acoustic hallway, and two massive passages opened up on both the walls and the floor. Each aperture thrust out towering automatons that hovered just above the ground. All four of them were easily thirty feet tall in height, and they wore thickly plated white armor on all sides, including around the pair of shining red eyes on their heads. Together, they formed a solid and complete wall against Zero and Raven.

"Raven, if you can phase through walls, then can you phase through them, too?"

"No, I'm too vulnerable to electrical energy in my spiritual form," she replied. "I could kill myself inside of one of them."

The golems' massive bodies floated in front of them, prepared to fight, but waiting for the first blow to be dealt. Each one focused their narrow red eyes on Zero, ignoring Raven almost entirely.

"Why aren't they attacking us?" Raven asked as she inched toward the Hunter.

"They've probably been ordered to block our path, only killing us if necessary. If that's the case, then that means Vile is trying to buy time!"

The realization made Raven's heart thump so fiercely that she swore the sound was echoing in the halls.

"They could still be alive!!" she screamed.

"Raven, you have to save them while I keep the golems busy!"

"Are you crazy?!" she shouted at Zero. "I'm not going to leave you to take on all four of them by yourself!"

Zero took her aside with the golems still motionless in front of them.

"I'll be alright," he said quickly. "As soon as I can distract one of them, you need to use the opening to get to the other side and find the others. I'll keep these Mavericks busy so they don't chase after you."

Raven felt a crushing feeling in the pit of her stomach. She reached out to Zero and tried with all her might to speak to the bravery that he showed.

"Don't worry," he said, smiling vigorously for the first time, "I'm not going to die so easily. Now go! Don't turn back!"

Zero rushed at the leftmost golem and dodged a furious punch and countered with a slash to its frontal chest plate, leaving a weak burn mark, but he didn't even manage to push it back an inch. Two of the other golems twisted out of formation to surround the red Maverick, and they began to pound on him viciously with their fists. Each blow that Zero failed to dodge was like clashing with a wrecking ball careening out of control, and the crushing pain began to bring the elite Hunter to his knees.

"Zero!"

"Ugh, damn it Raven, GO!!" he screamed through the flailing arms of the three surrounding him. Raven heard metal crunching. It made her shake.

Before her stood the fourth golem, having moved only an insignificant distance to focus itself on the dark sorceress as it left Zero to the others.

_Have to save the others_… _Before it's too late_…

She leapt off the ground and rushed airborne toward the soaring golem. It charged on her.

_I have to stop Vile_…

She could hear Zero screaming, fighting, hurting.

_I have to save X_…

A white mass of machine parts were flying towards her face.

_Even if he's the only one left_…

Without thinking, she slid underneath the golem's strike.

_I won't let him die!!_

A wave of anger coursed through to her finger tips, and it directed her to the giant machine's shoulder joint.

_I may have to kill_ _reploids_… _I may even have to kill Cyborg_…

With strength unknown, she ripped the golem's enormous arm out of the socket, spraying sparks and flames from the fissure that was created.

_But I'll do it for X, for the Titans, for Zero, and for anyone else who would be harmed by the Mavericks!!_

The other three golems had left Zero crippled in one corner of the room as they immediately reacted to Raven's outburst of strength. Before the adrenaline faded, the determined sorceress hurled the dismembered body part at them, knocking the golems back for a short moment, giving her time to dash to the other side of the room in the black blaze of her spiritual form. All four lashed out at Raven, and they began to gain on her. She was flying as fast as her mind would let her toward the thick steel door at the end of the room, but they reached closer and closer. So close that Raven could feel their heat. She pushed her mind to a tense straining point as she stretched the last of the distance and felt herself slide through the dense molecules of metal until she reformed her human body on the other side.

Raven could not see anything in this new room, but she already felt unsettled. The golems weren't trying to break down the wall, and the absence of light felt disturbingly intentional.

A gentle humming vibrated her senses softly, but the tiny sound made her tense.

Suddenly, a firm pair of hands grasped her neck tightly and entirely. A single red light the size of an eye flashed in front of her as she began to lose air.

"Hey there Rae," said a familiar voice, twisted with evil.


	11. Etchings of Agony

**Chapter 11 – Etchings of Agony**

Raven's blood dripped down onto her chin from Cyborg's crushing blows. Mounted on her former ally's shoulder was a weapon that expelled the same paralytic bursts of energy that Vile was capable of. Her mind was free from the weapon's effects, but her body couldn't comply. Raven was only able to speak weakly to the half man, half Maverick who dragged her across the floor by her hair.

"Cy… please stop," she said, with her eyes only able to focus on the metal floors passing quickly beneath her.

"Don't worry, Rae. I'm not gonna kill you jes' yet," he said. "'Sides, you want to see everybody one last time before us reploids wipe out every last one of the Titans, don't you?"

Raven struggled with all her might. Nothing budged, and Cyborg slammed her along the side of the wall as he grinned with laughter.

"Wh… what do the Mavericks… want from us?" Raven mumbled.

"Hmph," Cyborg snorted, "I suppose I can tell you. Might even spare you if you actually _know_ where it the hidden power source is."

"P-power source? Don't know… what you're talking about…"

Cyborg stopped not far from a large metallic doorway and tossed Raven upright in the corner.

"Figured you'd say that whether you knew the answer or not," he said as he placed his hand on the scanner to open the passage. He grabbed Raven by her wrist and threw her into the center of the dark room, cruelly bashing her head against the cold floor. The images in the room swirled and hazed, but Raven could easily make out the six-armed outline of the Magna Centipede. In the corner of her eye, she could see several glass cylinders filled with a strange looking, neon blue substance. There was something else in the huge capsules that looked alive, but her eyes were still spinning, and she couldn't fixate her eyes on the objects.

Raven finally regained a very slight grasp on her own movement, and twisted her head. Even with clouded vision, she knew that the pair of steel legs in front of her face belonged to the symbol of her fear. Vile kicked her in the ribs, and with her body still numb, she couldn't tighten against the violent blow.

"So, the impressive little girl has come to save her friends," Vile's low, machine voice spoke.

Raven crawled to her knees. Her arms trembled, and her lips were sticky with blood.

"A-Azarath…"

Vile slid up to Raven so fast that his own image trailed behind him. She was lifted up into the air and struck so fast that three punches managed to connect with her gut before her body could even fly backward, and a volley of stunning bursts from both Cyborg and Vile shocked her into a limp mass of useless flesh.

"Oh, you _are_ an interesting little being," sneered Vile, "for a human that is. It's a shame that once we're done extracting your neural information, you'll probably be dead."

Raven remained in a heap, feeling as though her stomach had collapsed on itself, but she still managed to keep a clear enough head to try and stall the Mavericks until she could do something. Anything at all to buy time, in the hopes that perhaps Zero might make it past the golems alive.

"…my… my neural… information?"

"That's right," Cyborg answered. "See those tanks?"

He lifted her face toward the cylinders that had been blurred in her vision before, but now she could see them clearly. Inside each of four containers was one of her friends; still alive, but unconscious in the strange blue material. Robin and X looked the most brutally beaten, undoubtedly having put up the greatest fight before being losing to the Mavericks on their homefront. Robin's arm was clearly broken, and much of his clothing was torn, revealing several burns on his midriff. The surface of X's armor was cracked, sliced, and torn from head to toe. One of his legs looked mangled beyond repair. Raven's heart wavered. She could not get through to his mind.

Cyborg turned Raven's head sharply once more, revealing an empty tank next to X's.

"The last one's for you," said Cyborg, "and you've always been pretty tough, so you might even have a chance of surviving your mind bein' ripped out. The information'll be real useful for creating weapons. Then you can join us, and we can rule over galaxies with the reploids instead of defending one stupid, insignificant little city!"

Raven spat on his leg, and he drove is knee into her shoulder in return.

"'Course, if you die, it'll be fitting that you get to die next to your little lover boy. Or should I say 'lover-bot'?"

Her fingers twisted and she dug her nails into the metal floor as she fought her immobility. She convulsed and hacked and drew herself up onto her knees until she could look straight at Cyborg with an angry, blood-and-dirt stained face.

"You… you're not the friend I know," she gritted her teeth, "You're just… a Maverick now!"

Vile and Centipede laughed out loud. The Centipede spoke for the first time in a high pitched, snake-like sound.

"Stupid girl, 'maverick' is just a silly title that all those pathetic reploids who bow down to the humans have created for us! Us, the true reploids! The ones who will usher in a new age with all those who would follow!"

"And," continued Vile, "with Zero and X gone; the greatest Maverick Hunters finally disposed of, our goal is nearly within grasp!"

Raven stared at X's torn figure in the tank of liquid. Her heart pumped loud enough to ring up through her ears.

_X_…_ I know you can hear me_. _I know you're in there!_ _Please, speak to me! I can't do this alone!_

No answer…

"He can't save you now, Rae. You're gonna have to make a choice. Join us, or die like the others."

The dark sorceress closed her eyes, and focused. Two powerful reploids and an ex-Titan that knew all her weaknesses. No strength left in her body, no friends to help her, and no X to give her strength and courage. The reploid that gave her heart the will to reach out to others again… he wasn't able to help her now. Her mind shivered with loneliness and fear. Every other emotion in her had crumbled into a weak, pitiful mass of nothingness. She pulled on her legs with the last of her strength, but they could not take the pain. She collapsed on to the floor, eyes shut, all touch and sound fading until there was nothing left but a frail piece of her mind that had left to shut down and concede defeat.

_I guess_… _this is it_._ Won't even_…_ be able to go out with a fight_. _I'm sorry everyone_. _Sorry Beast Boy, for all the times I made fun of you_. _I never wanted to admit it, but I always liked how you could stay so positive even in the worst of times_. _And I know that you think I never laugh at your jokes_. _But I do_. _You just don't see it_. _Underneath that happy-go-lucky personality of yours is one of the kindest souls I've ever known_.

_Starfire, I'm glad that we had the chance to bond when we did_. _The time that we accidentally had our bodies switched was, well_…_ kind of fun in ways_. _It was also nice to have you around to meditate with me_. _It always helped keep my emotions in check, but when you were there_… _I felt more like I belonged_. _Beast Boy was always too impatient for that sort of thing, and Robin was too busy obsessing over his work_… _or you, come to think of it_. _I know I've never been much on relationships, but I would have been happy to see the two of you together_.

_Robin_… _we've been through a lot_. _We've seen parts of each other that we never wanted to share before_… _but I'm glad we could_. _You're one of my most trusted friends, and you always will be_. _I can never thank you enough for how you never lost faith in me during my darkest hours_. _You're so stupid for not pursuing your relationship with Star_. _She means more to you than anyone_… _but I understand why you didn't_.

_Cyborg_… _it's sad_, _really_. _You're really already dead, aren't you? You were a good friend, too_. _You were like the older brother I never had_. _Strong, fun, but serious when the time came_. _You always had such a temper, too_. _But I'm not angry with you_. _I know that it's not really you helping the Mavericks and hurting all our friends_. _I know that the real you would never do that_.

Raven's spirit grew fainter. She had enough strength for one last goodbye.

_X_… _I'm so sorry_. _I couldn't save everyone_. _I feel like I've let you down_. _You came into my life so suddenly, and you helped me open my heart again_. _I'm sorry that we couldn't become more_. _If only we had more time_…

A light appeared deep within her consciousness. Three triangles in the shape of a pyramid glowed forth with golden light. They peered deep into the recesses of Raven's soul; the only place left that had any strength to see.

_Is this_… _heaven?_

A voice called her name.

_What? Who is it?_

_Raven, you whose intentions are pure of heart_…

Raven listened intently to the sweet sounding, female voice as she stared at the glowing triangles before her.

_Raven_… _you have the strength, courage and wisdom that is necessary_.

A quiet thumping told her that her heart was still beating.

_Necessary for what?_

The golden rays brightened, and something came forth from them. Raven was blinded by the lights, but in her mind, there were no eyes to close. A burning sensation covered every inch of her body and thoughts. Life surged through her, and the voice gave her one more message.

_Take the sword of evil's bane and save the Hero of Time!_

Raven awoke to hear intense screams of pain piercing her ears. When her eyes had come back to life, she realized that she had stabbed a sharp object directly into Cyborg's foot and up through the mechanical parts of his upper leg. She ripped the object out and gaped in awe at what she held. With the same golden triangle figure at the base of the blade, Raven held X's sword tightly in her hands! She was standing strong, with no wounds, scars, or blood on her as there was before, and the great blade bore such intense light from its double edged blade that both Magna Centipede and Cyborg backed away. Vile still held his ground.

"You _are_ full of surprises, girl," Vile taunted, "but it does not matter how many tricks you have up your sleeve. You are still no match for me!"

Vile and Cyborg released their paralyzing bursts of energy, but Raven's arms moved as though they had a mind of their own, deflecting every shot away with the sword. Magna Centipede leapt onto the ceiling where he stuck effortlessly against gravity and threw shuriken-like blades from each of his six arms which Raven deftly blocked with a mental shield that she waved into existence with her free hand. The last shuriken was allowed to slip past her guard, and she caught it in between her fingers and returned it to the Centipede, who vanished as he had done before, then reappeared behind the dark sorceress girl swiftly enough to stick his poisonous needle into the small of her back.

Raven wrenched her body forward from the searing sting flowing through her veins. With reflexes like lightning, she pulled the spike from her flesh, turned, and severed it from the Centipede's body, causing the toxins mixed with the reploid's blood to drip across the ground. The Centipede was enraged at the sight of his tail lying limp on the floor and lashed out in rage.

"You damned girl! I think it's about time I rip one of your limbs off!"

Raven waved her arm and with a hateful glare, she mentally sent the maverick crashing into Cyborg. Her breath started to deepen, and her legs wobbled slightly. She used X's sword to prop herself up momentarily, but she realized that she was getting weaker. Even with the great power that coursed through her, she could not fight for long if the poison continued to wreak havoc through her body.

_Grrr_... _Got to use my powers to keep myself standing_…

Cyborg crawled away into the corner as Raven's body glowed with mental energy to move her own limbs against the Centipede's attacks. Cyborg pulled himself up onto the one leg that still functioned and began to tinker with a control panel nearby the tanks containing his former friends. A strange device dipped into Robin's tank, and a needle inserted into the back of his neck. Robin suddenly came to life as blazing anguish began to rip his mind into pieces. His arms and legs flailed wildly through the blue fluid as he struck at the edges of the glass tank, but he couldn't even make a mark in it.

Raven reached out toward the pain filled body of her friend. "Robin!" she screamed, and with her eyes fixed completely on the dying Boy Wonder, she could not see the lone shuriken slipping past her guard until it had already pierced deep into the flesh of her upper thigh. Her mouth opened wide to scream, but she tightened her face and silently bore the pain that dropped her to one knee.

"Stupid girl," the Centipede's scaly voice said, "Your friends take one second of your thoughts and you end up getting killed!"

"Wrong," Raven snarled at him, "my friends give me a strength that you can never comprehend!"

Raven tried to pull the sharp object from her leg, but the blood that leaked out with each tug stopped her short. The Centipede was starting to make a run for her, and she could not force her leg to stand even with her telepathic strength.

_Raven, I will help you!_ came the voice again from within her. _Gather your emotions together_. _All of them! Use anger, happiness, fear, rage, the love of your friends, and with that blade in your hands, you cannot lose!_

She focused on X, Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy; letting their images flood her thoughts. Raven breathed deeply and ripped the shuriken out of her thigh, taking blood and pieces of skin with it, but her leg didn't buckle with the fuel of anger and determination pushing her to her limits. The sword of evil's bane glowed red from a power that came out of nowhere, but somehow Raven knew how to use the great strength emanating from it. She twisted the sword behind her as if winding up to throw it, taking a strong stance even with the poison and wounded leg. Magna Centipede leapt at her, and slowly, all movement in the room seemed to slow down and stop. Raven watched, and the voice inhabiting her shared the use of the arm that she held the sword in. Together, as the Centipede's body slid through the air toward her in slowed time, two different sets of eyes watched from within her one body.

The Centipede's arm reached out, throwing another blade and exposing his midsection for only a tiny moment, but the weakness that was normally instantaneous dragged out in the slow time. The two minds within Raven spotted it immediately, and the sensation that pulsated in the palm of her hand felt like both pure joy and indomitable power rolled into one. Raven's eyes flashed and the sword pulled itself forward into a fiery spin that blurred every inch of her vision. Flames erupted around the blades, and somehow, every circling swing made contact with each part of the Centipede that it needed to.

As the cyclone of Raven's blows finally stopped, she gasped for breath, wondering how she had just done what she had done. She turned and saw Magna Centipede behind her, who faced her in return, and then Raven saw his torso. She couldn't even count how many slice marks there where on his mechanical body. They had pierced well through his exterior armor and torn his insides to a shredded mass of machine parts and fluid. The Centipede collapsed to the ground, completely dead.

As Raven turned to confront Vile, she noticed an even more amazing feat that the sword had accomplished. The computer panel that controlled the torturous device in the back of Robin's neck had been clearly stabbed into, and Robin's pained screaming had stopped with the machine now shattered.

"DAMN YOU!" Vile screeched, "He was my best soldier!" and he dashed at her with blinding speed. She swung the sword at him, but the elite Maverick's reflexes caught the blade directly between the palms of his hands in an attempt to pull it from her hands. The sword then did something that neither of them expected. Shocking pulses streaked across the incredible blade from its handle where Raven held on, to the tip of its double-edge where Vile's grasp kept it. The throbbing shot through both of them, and the weapon was thrown away from both of them, landing next to the stasis tanks and well out of Raven's reach.

It felt as though a heavy weight had toppled onto the dark girl's shoulders from above. The presence inside of her was gone; the power she had gained now steadily weakening from the venom in her blood. She could feel the intensity of the torn flesh on her leg now. All because the sword had left her hands. The dark sorceress stared Vile down, determined to get it back with what remained of her power, but a voice entered her mind again; this time one that was far more familiar.

_Raven_… _I'm coming!!_

And then a crack. Both Mavericks turned, and saw the blue armored fist of Mega Man X connecting to the thick glass tank, shattering it open and spilling the contents across the floor. He stepped out, horribly damaged and barely conscious, but he knelt down and picked up his scared blade with a single hand while readying his buster in the other. Cyborg rushed him with malice in his eyes.

"Looks like I gotta show you who the best machine is a second time!" He yelled, charging at X on one good leg with his sonic cannon ready to shoot. X did not move a muscle. With a blast of power about to connect directly with the Hunter's head, Cyborg felt triumphant, but when there was suddenly no one left to fire at and no feeling in his mechanical arm, the half machine knew he had been bested. A mechanical stub that replaced what had been his left arm shot out sparks that fizzled into the blue liquid streaming across the floor. He spun around as fast as his pierced leg would allow, only to be blasted backward by X's buster until he collapsed. X then turned with a glare of fury in his eyes toward Vile, who stood in between him and Raven. Both of them gathered power within their bodies and took aim at the last Maverick. Vile still did not waver.

"You are both weak and crippled." he said plainly. "You still won't defeat me!"

X smiled. Then he started shaking with giggles, which eventually turned into all out laughter! Vile glared at him through the dark space in his helmet, furious and confused. Vile turned from X to Raven, then back to X. He shifted uncomfortably and couldn't maintain a stance. For the first time, Vile was finally unnerved.

"What the hell are you laughing at?!" Vile screamed into X's face.

Mega Man calmed his amusement and shook his head with a grin.

"You always say that you're unbeatable, and yet you've already died twice," he said, "And we may not be very strong right now, but we're not alone!"

"Who could you possibly have left? Maverick Hunter headquarters is light years away, and all of your stupid Titan friends have already been beaten."

X narrowed his eyes and widened his grin. The red jewel on his forehead started to glow, and Vile backed away sharply, almost afraid of the shining light. A few moments later, a mass of red energy gathered next to Mega Man, and then it took shape into a tall man with red armor and long locks of ankle length blonde hair. Although beaten nearly to pieces, the Maverick Hunter Zero held his Z-Saber firmly out to Vile's neck.

"Vile!" the blonde reploid spoke, "It's time for you to pay your penance!"

In one blinding assault, Zero and X cross-slashed Vile with their blades and Raven let off the most furious barrage of dark energy that she could gather, causing Vile to scream as parts of his body began to rupture and explode. The whole room illuminated with Vile's body disintegrating into a spectacle of flames and shrapnel.

Slowly, the inferno settled. As the dust and fire cleared, a dirty, cracked helm was all that remained recognizable of Raven's fear and pain. The Maverick that had tortured her thoughts and nearly brought death to her was nothing more than a heap of useless scrap now. As she glared at his broken corpse, a strange ball of dark light rose out from Vile's head and hovered at eye level in front of Raven's face.

"Our presence as reploids has drawn out his DNA; his spirit, so to speak," said X, "but you were the one who finished him. It's up to you to decide what to do with it."

The dark sorceress stood there without cloak; tired, sore, pained. She looked at what was left of Vile. Nothing more than a dark sphere of spiritual energy hovering in the air. Raven used the powers of her mind to encapsulate it inside a shell of her own dark energy. She held her palm out toward it, and with a deep breath, Raven squeezed her hand into a fist and crushed the last bit of the maverick into nothingness.

"There," she said, "It's done."

X bowed his head, but Zero was not at all in agreement.

"There's still one more Maverick to kill," he declared as he pointed the green flames of his saber at Cyborg's crippled body. Cyborg had fallen unconscious, defenseless and without the ability to function even if he was awake, but he still held the hatred of a traitor in his eyes.

"Zero, wait!" shouted X's exasperated voice. "We might be able to save him!"

"Save him?" Zero said, unbelieving. "He's a Maverick! You can't save him once he's been infected and you know it!"

X dragged his limp leg over to where Zero stood with Raven supporting his broken body, but though he was physically in near pieces, his guile was as in tact as ever, and he glared at his fellow reploid with eyes so piercing and so full of words that only the closest of friendships could create it or comprehend it. Zero's gritted his teeth, able to read X's mind purely through the look that he was given.

"You know it's possible," gasped X. "Twice it's happened, and he fits the criteria for one of them, doesn't he?"

Zero narrowed his eyes, and then he nodded softly.

"Alright. But you know what will happen if it doesn't work."

"Yes, I know," whispered X.

"Fine then. I'll take care of the others. You and Raven take care of him."

The red armored reploid turned to release the other three Titans, and Raven sidled up to X and clasped onto his arm tightly.

"What do we have to do?" she whispered with exhaustion.

"What we have to do is…" X paused, having difficulty saying it, "is kill as much of the machine in Cyborg as we possibly can without killing the human."

Raven gasped. "Can't we just remove his limbs?" she said hopefully. "They're designed to do that."

X sighed, trying to keep himself on his feet. Raven sensed his balance wavering and pulled X toward herself so he could lean on her.

"I'm afraid that won't work at all," he said plainly. "We have to cause damage, not take his pieces off. The infection… he can sense…" X stopped himself very abruptly and sealed his lips. Raven immediately sensed an awkward feeling coming from within X that she couldn't interpret. Accompanied with the feeling came images of things inside of her that she had never seen before, but they felt dark and frightening. One particular face flashed in front of her bearing eyes of pure, demonic looking blue with amethyst scar-like marks across them. The odious laugh that joined the image made Raven wince.

"Raven, you've got focus on saving Cyborg," said X, interrupting the dark sorceress from her trance.

"Right, of course," she said, massaging her temples to ease the sting.

"What I need you to do is be my eyes," he said. "I can't tell what's human and what's not inside of him. I don't want to hurt anything but the vitals of the machine."

Raven bit her lip and looked at the already gravely damaged body of her fellow Titan, laying with eyes shut against a wall and covered with blaster burns. His mechanical arm had been sliced off, and one of his legs had been deeply pierced into. She gently touched the dark skin of his face that was separate from the machine, and wondered how badly his other half would need to be to bring him back to the caring friend that she had known. From the bleak look that Mega Man X wore, she knew that it might be the last time she would get to see him.

"Raven… if he wakes up… it'll only make this harder."

"I… I know," her voice trembled. "I'm ready, but… how will we know if we've got him back?"

"Just keep your mind open to him, and you'll feel it when it happens."

Raven breathed deeply and tried to ignore the blood trickling down her thigh. She pulled her legs up and crossed them without moving the rest of her body as she hovered gently above the ground.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos… Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!"

Raven's dark, spiritual form leapt from her body and into X's, jerking his body from the point in his back at which it entered. Mega Man's eyes shifted from side to side, testing the new vision that had been bestowed upon him. Everything looked like it was composed of a strange sort of rapidly swirling fog. Most things were a cloudy grey, but Raven and Zero were much different looking. The dark sorceress shined a brilliant white, while Zero glimmered furiously with a dark purple tint. The other Titans shined with their own colors, but theirs were much fainter.

Mega Man turned back to Cyborg's unconscious body lying in a thin layer of blue slime that had spilled out nearly across the entire floor. With Raven's spirit sight guiding the way, X could perceive the parts of Cyborg that were his own, and then he could see the parts that held the concentrated life force of someone far different from the half machine Titan. It was another being that took control of Cyborg's body and mind; one far different from any Maverick, but it still held the same dark feeling to it.

X growled hatefully at the shadowed half of the body before him. He would not say so, but he already knew of the foul presence inside Cyborg. The reploid lifted his sword and chose the spot that held the densest cloud of the dark matter. Stretching the sword upward, X sucked in a breath of air, and then slammed the tip of the blade into Cyborg's chest. Sparks shot out that X could feel bounce off his face, and a large mass of the dark being inside of Cyborg seemed to migrate to other parts of his machine half. X stabbed again and again, dispersing and eliminating more and more of the creature that tormented its victim. Soon, there was very little left of the evil presence, and with a few more stabs, X had perforated Cyborg's metal parts into a useless pile of scrap, releasing the last bit of hatred inducing evil, and Raven suddenly flinched with the feeling of Cyborg's spirit leaping back into control.

Raven let her feet touch down and ran past X to the shattered body on the floor as it began to open its eyes. His lip trembled, and he looked at Raven with such pain, that he began to sob uncontrollably from the one eye that could give tears. The dark sorceress held him until he could cry no more, catching every tear that she could from her tortured friend. Cyborg cried until he could not keep his eyes open and he fell back asleep. Raven couldn't help but return the salty streams down her cheeks.

"He knows… he knows everything that he's done," she quivered.

"Yes, he does," X replied, and he knelt down to Raven and squeezed her close. "Come on," he said with gentle solemnity and sorrow for the young girl in his arms, "Let's go home."


	12. Renovation of The Heart

**Chapter 12 – Renovation of the Heart**

Raven stretched sore muscles and rubbed her eyes as she slid her sheets off and pulled herself upward. It felt good to wake up in her own room again even though it was not the same as it has been, and as she strolled over to her dark curtains, she could see bits of light poking through the bottoms of them. Raven wrenched open the shades. A bright, warm reflection of the morning sun's rays reflecting off the calm waters touched her lips and curled them into a smile. There was still much ahead of her and the Titans on the road to recovery, but she could not help but smile at the soul warming sunlight that had come up for her.

Three days after returning to their island home overlooking the tall buildings of Jump City, five Teen Titans and two Maverick Hunters were picking up the remaining pieces of the battle. Their spirits weren't at all as high as one would hope for, but at least they knew that the Maverick threat was over, and they could peacefully rebuild their base and home into a likeness of what it used to be. The T-shaped tower still looked drab next to the glorious Dreamweaver sitting not far away, but the difference between their elegance narrowed with each new window and metal wall frame that was replaced.

All of the Titans worked diligently on the project; all except Robin. The leader of the team was barely able to leave the bed that had been prepared for him aboard the Dreamweaver (his old one having been in one of the rooms that was burnt much worse than the others). Before retiring to heal, X had used the Dreamweaver's medical lab to analyze Robin's brain to determine how much damage was done by his torture at the Maverick base. The tests came back with very grim results. Robin suffered from severe long term and short term memory loss, and partial paralysis of all his major motor functions. Starfire bore the news far harder than anyone else had, and she personally took it upon herself to look after Robin until he was fully recovered, but no one knew when that would be.

Raven had decided to make visiting her leader and friend first priority that morning. She pulled her cloak on quickly and phased through the tower walls until she could feel the real warmth of the outside air on her face. She searched inside her mind for some signal of Mega Man X as she entered the ship, but there was very little of the reploid inside of her thoughts, telling her that he was still resting, so she continued on to Robin's. When Raven entered the young Boy Wonder's room aboard the Dreamweaver, she saw Starfire sitting next to him and gently stroking his hair with a depressed look on her face that wasn't typical of her. It occurred to the dark sorceress that this might have been the first time that Starfire had ever looked gloomier than she did.

"Hey, Star," she greeted the tired Tamaranian.

She smiled weakly, but kindly in return with eyes half glazed. "Hello, friend Raven," she said back.

Raven took a seat on Robin's bed next to the green-eyed alien girl and surveyed Robin's sleeping form. His hair was ruffled, as always, and his eyes were shut gently.

"How's he doing?" Raven asked.

Starfire bobbed her head lightly with a half smile that meant 'he's ok.'

"He can usually remember all of our names without having to think hard," she said, "and he nearly sat up without any assistance a short while ago when he was awake."

Starfire tried to turn the corners of her lips up, but they began to tremble and she buried her face into Raven's lap.

"Raven, I am scared!" she bawled onto the dark sorceress's legs. "What if he does not get all better? What if Robin can no longer fight? What will he then do? What if he does not remember all the times we have spent together? What will I do?"

Raven reluctantly patted Starfire on the head, feeling awkward and uncomfortable at the sudden outburst of emotion that was placed in her care.

"I don't know, Star," she hugged her tightly. "X might be able to help once he wakes up. Please don't cry Starfire. I know we can make Robin better again."

Starfire rubbed the areas around her eyes where the tears had dripped down, leaving them flushed red.

"But, X said that he might…" the Tamaranian began.

"Forget about what X said!" Raven returned, "We'll find a way. We always do."

A rush of life tingled from Raven's fingertips through her arms and into her chest, and a pair of bright green eyes shone into her mind. Her heart leapt. X was finally awake! She immediately pulled Starfire's face out of her lap and looked her in straight in the face.

"X is awake!" she shouted, "I've got to go and see him!"

Starfire let out a tearful laughed at such a giddy display from her gothic friend, and she gave a nod of approval to her to say that it was alright that she leave. Raven returned the smile and bolted out of the room and down the halls with one thought on her mind; how tightly she wanted to embrace him, and how wonderful it would feel to have him hold her in return.

She flew as fast as she could until she reached the door to X's quarters, which opened for her before she even reached it, as if inviting her in. She rushed through the door, and the blue armored reploid was standing there, looking at her kindly. He leaned to one side on an impressive looking mechanical crutch for the leg that had been badly wounded. Raven could still see that he was laden with injuries, but they were far less than what they had been a few days earlier.

The two stared at each other awkwardly for a moment, then turned away, then back again, both of them wearing red on their cheeks. Holding back the urge to hug the metal man made Raven's stomach tickle with a strange sort of nervousness that she wasn't used to.

"I… uh… how are you feeling?" she asked while slowly inching toward him.

He gestured to his crutch, then smiled at her with his glowing green eyes.

"I'm alright."

"I'm glad," she said back to him. "Um… how did you sleep?"

"Not too bad," he replied as he began to walk over to a computer system adorning the wall of his room, "but I was actually awake briefly late last night."

"Oh, you were?" she said, trying to hide her disappointment that he hadn't come to see her.

"Yeah," he nodded, "Zero had already woken up and went to the remains of the Maverick base up north. Standard Hunter procedure, you know."

Raven slid up behind X and placed a hand on his shoulder as his fingers clacked against a keyboard while his eyes jumped from place to place on the large monitor.

"Good, Zero's on his way back now," said X. "No problems then."

"That's good," Raven returned.

X tried to lift himself up, and with a sharp twinge of pain, he nearly fell over onto his crutch. Raven held him around the waist and steadied his balance. Mega Man grumbled in frustration at the mangled looking machine leg beneath his eyes, and then he hobbled with the aid of his crutch over to a desk where his seemingly ordinary sword lay under all manner of devices. Raven surmised quickly that he had tried to figure out what made it so special in the short time that he was awake earlier. The irritated sigh that left the reploid's lips was enough to tell the dark mage that he hadn't found anything, and the pointed look in his eyes vocalized that it had put him in a rather pissy mood since waking up.

Raven picked up the blade at the handle and the tip. She rubbed her fingers along the mirrored reflection of the weapon, and she felt the subtle indents of the three golden triangles etched near the hilt. Her mind stretched out to it, searching for the being who had spoken to her; who had helped her to use the weapon that had been called 'the sword of evil's bane'.

She felt nothing.

"I just don't understand," she said. "I hardly even know how to use a sword, but the things that I was able to do… and then there was the woman speaking through it." She shrugged. "Now I can't sense anything."

X took the sword from her and placed it in its sheath. "I've tried to scan it in every way possible, even using my telepathic abilities, but as far as I can tell, it's just a sword."

"You believe me, don't you?" Raven asked.

"Of course I do," he replied, "I've sensed it, too; the strange presence, being able to do things that I could never do with an ordinary sword."

He stood and leaned on his crutch as he strapped the sword back to its rightful place on his back.

"I'll admit," he said, feeling puzzled, "I've never felt it to the level that you described to me, but I know there's something really special about it."

X stood as straight as he could, looking down at Raven, and she seemed discouraged that they couldn't solve what lie beneath the common looking pieces of metal that made up the weapon on X's back. How could she just stop searching for the thing that saved her life? She wanted to know. And she was desperate to know of 'The Hero of Time'. As she and X walked together through the light-lined halls of the Dreamweaver, she only half listened to him saying something about the sub molecular composition of the sword. She was far too full of emotions that wrenched her body and mind.

Raven was first and foremost quite curious. The golden triangles had to mean something very important, as did 'The Hero of Time.' She wondered if X was this hero. She glanced at him sideways, figuring that if he was, he obviously didn't know about it.

The dark sorceress girl was also very nervous, in a way that tingled her stomach and parts of her spine that made her want to lurch over. A deep understanding of being a 'chosen one' was something that Raven had experienced, and it was not something she would wish upon anyone. She had been given the fate of bringing her evil father forth from the depths of oblivion to rule over the world, and it was only through a fierce battle that she and the Titans managed to defeat him. Raven smiled. The face of her father didn't scare her anymore. She hadn't had any nightmares at all in the few days since Vile had been destroyed, but the experience of being responsible for the near destruction of the world because of her being 'chosen' for it made her fear for the blue-armored man next to her. She knew that whatever 'Hero of Time' meant, if it was X's title, then he would have a very difficult road in front of him. She slipped her arm around his and leaned against him tightly.

"Raven, is everything alright?"

She squeezed onto his arm. "Yeah, I just… I mean, yes. I'm fine."

X smirked with one eye raised and shook his head.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked, half laughing at his expression.

"I know you've got something you don't want to share, and I won't try to force it out of you, but you're an absolutely terrible liar, you know."

Raven scoffed and playfully smacked his shoulder. "You could only tell because we can halfway read each other's minds!"

"No," he laughed, "it was obvious that you were hiding something. I only needed our telepathic bond to tell that you were ignoring me."

"Oh, well I…" the paleness of her face tingled into a fiery bright pink. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," X smiled, "it wasn't very interesting."

X looked at her reddened cheeks and he couldn't help but stroke them gently with the back of his hands. Raven couldn't resist any longer, and she leapt into his arms, hugging the metallic frame of his body as tightly as she could. She could feel his gentle arms pressing her near.

"I thought…" Raven whispered, "I thought we were both going to die."

"I know. I thought we might, too."

"You sound so calm about it," she said, lifting her face from his chest and looking into his bright green eyes. A strange look of neutrality had stretched across the reploid's face.

"I've been fighting for a long time. I've… sort of learned to drown out a lot of those feelings."

"I thought," began Raven, "that I had done the same. I always tried to numb my emotions as much as I could because they make it difficult to control my powers, but… ever since I met you; I've felt so many things… I've felt like I could share things with you that I've never been able to share with anyone else. And I've realized that…"

Raven's hold on his arm dropped as the sound of Zero's shuttlecraft took his glance away from hers. The small ship's engines hummed and blew the dust up near them as it landed, and X mouthed to her through the noise "We'll talk later, ok?"

Raven tried to smile and nodded her brow as the hydraulic swoosh of the large backdoor in the shuttle opened, revealing Zero's glistening blonde hair and fire filled ruby armor, and in his left hand he held a short, squirming, squinty-eyed teen in a green jumpsuit.

"Gizmo," snarled the dark sorceress.

"Grahh, let me go, ya snot sniffing bucket of bolts!" he shouted at Zero as he flailed his arms pointlessly with the blonde reploid holding tightly onto the scruff of his outfit. X immediately took notice of the destroyed backpack dangling behind Gizmo's shoulders. His teeth gritted together as he quickly surveyed the damage. The pieces that remained looked as if they had been ripped off, which wasn't at all Zero's style. X did chuckle a little as he thought about how Zero's style probably would have involved slicing Gizmo's torso off along with his backpack, but he immediately turned very serious upon realizing what the implications of Gizmo's trespassing in Maverick territory could mean.

"What're you looking at, ya blue freak?" the bratty child screamed in Mega Man's face.

X grabbed him by the neck very tightly and glared at him with a ferocity that Gizmo knew to be genuine unlike the theatrical guise that the reploid had put forth the first time they had met.

"I'll take care of him, Zero," he said angrily, and then he turned to Raven. "You should go help rebuild now," he said firmly.

"But X, I can…"

"No," he said sternly, and then he spun away from her in the direction of the Dreamweaver.

As X walked off with the puny Gizmo held tight under one arm, Raven clenched her fist and her lip twisted. She could hear Zero walking off behind her as well, and her eyes began to glow and itch with irritation.

"Are all Maverick Hunters so rude and offensive when it comes to fighting?" she shouted at the door that had closed behind X.

Zero halted, then decided to turn back to the angry young girl with the dark blue cloak pulled over her face.

"Yes," he said simply with arms crossed, "we are. There are a lot of things from our world that outsiders aren't welcome to."

"But I'm not…"

"Yes you are. You aren't from our world, so you're not welcome to it. And even though you and X are getting close to each other; much closer than you should be if you ask me, there are still a lot of things that he won't ever tell you."

"You don't know anything about our relationship!" she yelled into his stern, unwavering face.

"I know enough to not be blinded by the fact that it will never work out," he stated plainly, yet harshly enough to redden Raven's eyes. "Relationships between a Hunter and another reploid never work out, and you expect that you can make it with him as a half demon?"

Raven only could let out pained sputters of air in return. Zero's face lightened just a little in seeing how hurt she had become.

"Look, I'm not trying to be an asshole, I'm just telling you to think about what you're doing before you do something stupid."

He paused briefly, looking at her, then strode past her and reentered the small shuttle without another word. Soon after, a chilly breeze made its way up Raven's spine, forcing her to wrap her cloak more tightly about herself. The sun that had come up for her that morning was fading behind clouds of gray. She felt stupid in front of the unwavering logic that Zero had spoken to her, and she couldn't believe that she had hardly even given it any thought.

How could I be so stupid… How would it last? How could we possibly be together when we're so different, and when one of us could die any day?

"Problems?" asked an approaching, green skinned friend.

"Oh, Beast Boy. You startled me," she said. "No, I'm fine; nothing I can't handle."

"Problems with X, huh?" he questioned with a grin.

Raven stared at him, somewhat impressed. "Since when did you get psychic powers?" she asked.

"I'm not as dull as you all think," he snickered, "and besides, all the emotions you're letting out these days seem to be directed toward him."

Raven had to admit, Beast Boy was completely right. Her mind was almost constantly upon Mega Man. She thought about the kiss that X had given her, and it made her let her hood fall to her shoulders, letting dark blue hair blow in the wind. It still needed to be cut, but she didn't want to anymore. Thinking about X… it made her want to let it down and grow out. Thinking about the comfort that she had when she was with him let her body loosen and tingle with warmth. She felt like she could actually show her emotions, and yet she could still control her powers. Then she remembered Zero's words and it made her feel even more miserable.

"So what's the problem?" Beast Boy asked, interrupting her dreamy moment.

"Well, Zero said that…"

"Whoa, whoa," said Beast Boy, waving his hands in front of Raven's mouth, "why did you listen to that guy?"

"But, I…"

"Don't 'but I' me, Rae. I've only known him for about a day, but I can tell Zero's even more uptight than Robin is, and you took advice from him?"

"But he had a point…"

"I don't care what Zero said," Beast Boy told her, "If you're having problems with X, then you should talk to X about them."

Raven couldn't help but embrace her changeling friend, despite the differences they shared in the past.

"When did you get so clever?" she asked him as she let the hug go.

Beast Boy laughed. "Learned from you."

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Mega Man X paced back and forth, occasionally glancing at Gizmo, who had his arms crossed and a childish, impatient expression. The room was silent, aside from X's machine feet clanking lightly against the floor.

"Can I go, or are we gonna sit here in this stupid rust bucket of a ship all day?" Gizmo snorted from the chair that X had set him in.

The Maverick Hunter stopped dead and gaped at the child's ignorance. The blaze in his green eyes made the former Hive agent sink into the chair as much as he could. Gizmo's shuddering made it evident to X that he was frightened.

Good, he thought, because I'm not acting this time.

He grabbed Gizmo around the neck again and squeezed enough so that the little machinist could just barely breathe.

"I don't think you realize what you're dealing with! If Zero hadn't been there, you could have brought back something that might have destroyed this planet!"

X released his grip letting Gizmo fall back into the seat, where he gasped for more air.

"What the heck," he coughed, "are you talking about? I just… was trying to get some futuristic machines… so I could sell 'em… or use 'em…"

"I figured as much," X sneered back, with eyes and nose flaring, "but I'm willing to bet I can recap exactly what happened while you were at the Maverick base."

Gizmo was half skeptical, half curious as he caught the rest of his breath, but he didn't dare respond as X began to perfectly describe his attempt to steal reploid technology.

"You encountered only minor defenses since all of the elite Mavericks were destroyed, probably along the lines of auto turrets and other such weapons that you probably didn't have too much trouble with. You probably managed to pick up a few interesting gadgets on your way through until you made it to the central computer room, where we destroyed Vile and the Centipede, but then you had a little problem, didn't you?"

Gizmo sat silently, swallowing hard and starting to sweat with the reploid directly in his face.

"I think your backpack started to malfunction," X continued, "and then it went completely berserk and tried to attack you. My guess is," X surmised, "that the only reason you're alive right now is because Zero saved your pitiful hide. Am I right?"

Gizmo fumbled nervously in his seat without his mechanical backpack to protect him.

"Y-yeah," he stammered, "that's about it."

"And do you know what it was that made your backpack turn on you?"

He didn't answer, and X slammed his fists down on the seat back of the metal chair, letting his crutch go and making Gizmo clench his hands tightly on the chair's edges as the sweat congealed and dripped down his face.

"Well? Do you!"

"I… I dunno, maybe th-the s-same thing that m-messed with Cyborg?" Gizmo fumbled.

X backed away at the answer with nothing but seriousness and anger blazing in his face.

"Good guess," he said flatly, beginning to calm down, "but you can't imagine exactly what it is that caused it. It's not like anything you've ever seen on this world, nor has any other planet suffered from it like mine has, and I'm warning you out of genuine concern not to meddle with it. It will get millions killed, especially those who try to control it."

X sat down across from Gizmo, hunched over with stress from his wounded leg. He rubbed his forehead and his jaw twitched to one side with worry as he averted his eyes from the boy that he interrogated. The flux of destructive visions that he could see in his mind if the Maverick influence were to spread throughout this world made his insides lurch. He looked at Gizmo, who was now sitting entirely still without a single snide remark escaping his mouth.

"Gizmo, if you toy with the Mavericks, you'll end up being responsible for killing this world, and that's assuming that Zero himself doesn't kill you snooping around where you don't belong. Is that what you want?"

He scratched his head and quietly answered, "No, it isn't."

"Good," said X. His leg clearly agonized him as he pressed himself up with his crutch, but he used his free arm to wave Gizmo in the direction of the door.

"Alright… you can go," he told the former Hive member. He didn't say anything in return; he simply hopped off the chair and walked toward the exit with a noticeable amount of hurry in his steps.

"Gizmo, wait," X said, "There's something I just can't understand about you."

"What's that?" he replied nervously.

"Unlike a lot of your friends at the Hive Academy," said X, "you've got a real talent going for you. Your knowledge of machines and science is beyond some of the best minds in the country. Even by the standards of my world, you're incredibly intelligent, and yet you waste your time using your skills to commit petty crimes."

"Well… so? What's your point?"

X shook his head. "You could use your mind to invent and improve upon all kinds of things and then get the patents on them, making all the money you need without having the Titans on your back all the time. It's not like it would even be very difficult for you to live the easy life, and yet you choose the dangerous path instead. Wouldn't that be better than having to live with the worry of being put in jail all the time?"

Gizmo looked down at his feet, then back at X and answered, "Maybe," and then he turned to leave. X turned to his personal computer to make a report of Gizmo's interference, as Hunter Headquarters would surely want to know about it, but the bright young boy's screechy voice rang out once more.

"Hey…" he asked uneasily, "I swear I'm not gonna mess with it, but… what exactly was it that took control of my backpack and Cyborg?"

"You don't need to know that," X snapped sharply, and Gizmo quickly left thereafter.

"Unfortunately," the blue armored reploid said to himself, "Cyborg does."

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"Grrr… what the hell is wrong with my hand?" Zero said irritably as he scratched the armored backside of his hand. "I'm a reploid; I don't get God damned itches!"

A timer went off on the front computer panel of the shuttlecraft just as the hand that was bothering him had slammed down onto it. He snarled, then shoved himself up from his seat and pulled a small metal box from an overhead compartment in the back of the shuttle as he continued to rub the back of his hand against his side. In the box was a small tube, a sharp looking syringe with claw like attachments at the opposite edge of the needle, and several vials of a bubbly yellow liquid.

Damn it, I hate having to do this… incinerating my own blood just to stop this incredible power...

The needle slid underneath an opening at the bend of his elbow and Zero pressed the liquid into his bloodstream with one deft squeeze. He dropped the needle and immediately put the handle of his saber in between his teeth where he clenched it tightly as searing pain began to seep through to his arm and fingers. The burning started to spread through his chest, across to his other arm and to his legs, dropping him to the floor as though his insides were beginning to ignite. He bit tighter and tighter onto his saber, knowing that it would hold strong and keep him from screaming, but the worst of the pain had just worked its way to his head, and he dropped to the floor with a heavy clank of his armor and a swish of his hair.

Only a few minutes later, Zero's eyes slowly drew into focus again. He scanned around to make sure now one had intruded upon him. Once he was confident that no one had seen or heard him, he sat quietly at the shuttle's computer, logging his report as if nothing had happened……

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The half man, half machine sat in the basement depths in the broken home of the Teen Titans; his home. Or at least it had once felt like home. He sat alone in the dim cellar light, not wanting the company of the other Titans or of anyone else for that matter. When he could focus, Cyborg worked on replacing and fixing the wiring and machinery that had been destroyed, but every time his hands shook feebly, he couldn't help but allow his mind to torture itself with the pain of what he had done.

A few days prior he had allowed Raven to be the one to help put him back together again, knowing that she would not probe him or judge what he had done, but as soon as he arms had been properly replaced, he had asked her to leave so he could finish the job himself. He had done nothing that first day after he had regained his senses. He just lay there on the maintenance table in his room that had been ravaged by the battle.

Cyborg now looked at his metal hands, half wishing that they hadn't been fixed as he tried to mend the intricate circuitry lining the Titan's Tower walls.

A diagonal column of light jutted down into the expansive darkness of the basement, and Cyborg could clearly hear the metal-to-metal footsteps of what had to be either Zero or Mega Man X, but he knew that Zero had no reason to pay him a visit.

X slowly hobbled down the steps, bearing hard on the railing as he neared Cyborg at the bottom. He still hadn't moved from his work even when X was only an arm's length away. Once Cyborg had finished crossing and connecting several wires, a small screwdriver head popped out of his pointer finger and he sealed metal plating over it. Then the two of them sat there in silence, neither one knowing what to say. Even X, who had more experience than anyone about what happened to Cyborg, save a select few others, didn't know what to tell the weak and shattered man kneeling with back turned in front of him, but it was eventually the half man who spoke first.

"Sometimes you do things you don't want to do," he said, "Sometimes you get carried away with your feelings and you hurt people close to you." His voice was frail and he sounded frightened of himself. "But what if you couldn't stop?" he went on, "One incident of anger and it just keeps going and going no matter how hard you want it to stop. You hurt people more and more, and even though every ounce of you tries to pull back, you keep on hurting." He turned to face X, but would not look down into the reploid's face. "Is it my fault because I felt that way in the first place? Or is it my fault because I couldn't fight the feeling once it took over?"

He couldn't help but let a lone tear leak down the side of his face that still showed emotion.

"Cyborg… what happened to you isn't your fault. It's not like others have been able to fight this on their own. There are only two others who have ever lived through what the Maverick's did to you and lived to tell the story. One of them was half machine, like yourself, and the other…" X quickly cut himself off, and Cyborg somehow knew how to fill in the blank, as if another person had dropped an envelope into his mind.

"Zero?" he said, finally lifting his eyes.

X locked intense gazes with him, knowing there was no possible way that Cyborg could know that Zero, his close friend and fellow Hunter, had been one of the most powerful Mavericks before Mega Man was ever unearthed.

"How do you know that?"

Cyborg fumbled with an answer, trying to speak but he was too unsure of himself to do so.

"It's like, I know things now… things that I shouldn't know. It's almost like what happened to you and Raven, but… it was much worse getting mine." Cyborg clutched the sides of his head in his hands as if he were trying to contain his head from bursting. "Only tiny bits here and there… mostly nothing I can make out, but… it's all so full of hate… hate for you, and hate for Zero. And I saw Zero… long ago, fighting another reploid… but he was a Maverick, I'm sure of it."

"Cyborg, if you can remember anything else…"

"No way, man. Every day, it gets cloudier and cloudier. I doubt I'll be able to remember any of it in a week or so…"

X crossed his arms in frustration, but he dropped them just as quickly when he realized that it would be best for Cyborg if the last of the torturous Maverick memories left him. Mega Man could see that the dark skin underneath his human eye was sunken and more shadowed than the rest. He clearly hadn't slept in days, and the false memories prodding his heart and mind kept him from reaching any kind of peace with himself and the actions that he was manipulated into doing.

"I don't feel like I deserve to live," Cyborg said, "but I don't feel like I deserve to die either. Dying would be too easy an escape from what I've done."

"Cyborg, this isn't your fault!" X forced onto him, "You may have had one angry emotion that the Mavericks latched on to, but the real you wouldn't have done anything that they forced on you. You would never hurt your friends, and you would never side with the Mavericks!"

"I know!" he screamed, and it reflected off the walls, stretching an echo from floor to ceiling that shook the dust and cobwebs from their rest.

"I just need some time…" Cyborg said quietly, "Need to find myself again, y'know?"

"Yeah, I understand," said X, "I'll leave you be."

X turned from the hulking man and walked back up the metal staircase that he had come from, clanking with every step and slowly drowning out from Cyborg's ears as he reached the top. Just as Mega Man began to shut the door that illuminated the dark, dank basement, Cyborg called out to him.

"I saw a lot about you from the Mavericks' memories," he said solemnly. "After seeing all the fighting you've done just to protect others, well… I guess you're just really something." He froze for a moment, but X stared down at him from above, knowing that there was still something digging at his mind.

"Raven's lucky to have you," he said to the reploid above him.

X nodded lightly, and then backed away with a smile that only he could see.


	13. Longing

**Chapter 13 – Longing**

A shower of golden yellow sparks fell from an ebony plate of metal and then seemingly vanished into nothing after a chaotic rebound on the Dreamweaver's floors. Mega Man X lifted the thick, transparent shield from his face and inspected the bottom of a large armored boot much like his own, but it was a bit thinner, and instead of the varying shades of blue, white, and a touch of red and green on his, this one that he was wielding was primarily black with a faint golden outline trailing up its side and along the back.

Looking somewhat skeptically at the boot, he ducked underneath the steel work bench where a second, matching boot lay. After tapping a spot on the back of its heel, he firmly fastened the bottom of the armored footwear upside down on the underside of table, where it stuck effortlessly without X's aid. Then, he waited. Several minutes went by with him merely staring it, waiting for something to happen, but when nothing did, he smiled and peeled the boot away, setting it next to its twin as a door behind him swooshed open.

"I don't know why you bother working on those," Zero said dryly from the entryway. "It's not like you ever use your old armor anymore."

"I know," X replied, taking the two boots and placing them in a large capsule that contained the rest of the armor; dark, black and gold armor that look sleek and agile, with white gloves and a helmet that had a short, black, steeped point jutting backwards from it. He carefully placed the boots where they belonged at the bottom of the suit of armor.

"I know I haven't changed this in ages," he said, reflecting on his own body, "but you never know. It might come in handy. After all, my shadow armor is much stealthier and lightweight than what I've got equipped now."

Zero snorted.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," X said, rolling his eyes, "but even still, they used to be a part of me. I can't just throw them away."

X sealed the large container with the boots inside it and glanced along the wall at over half a dozen other capsules where some of his memories were kept. As he and Zero left the Dreamweaver's science lab, he his mind drew back to some of his battles; where some of his specific armors had saved his life, and how long some of them had been with him. It wasn't like he got up everyday and put on a new outfit like the humans. He wore the same armor for months, sometimes even years at a time. It was awkward for him to discard old ones for new. X wondered why Zero had nothing that was sentimental to him, but he already knew the answer before his thought finished itself. Zero's history was shrouded in mystery, and as a Hunter, X knew as well as his long haired friend that they had both lost many things that had been important to them. Besides, Zero had never had any kind of upgrades, save the time that he was destroyed at Vile's hands almost two decades ago, so there was no former gear for him to cherish and remember.

"There really wasn't much left at Vile's base," Zero said out of nowhere. "All of the computer drives had auto-fried themselves, and the few mechaniloid drones that may have been left took anything of value. Needless to say, they're long gone by now."

X was discouraged. "We never found Plasmus."

"Plasmus?" Zero asked as they walked down the steps out of the Dreamweaver's reflective hull. "Care to enlighten me?"

"Oh, that's right, you weren't around for that," X mentioned as Zero scoffed at his being left in the dark. "Plasmus is a powerful mutated being that the Mavericks stole from prison. You sure there wasn't any trace of it?" He asked the blonde reploid.

"Maybe if I knew what it _looked_ like, I could tell you," Zero snarled.

"Lighten up, Z, it's not like I had a chance to tell you everything."

Zero didn't respond as he opened up the back of his shuttlecraft. He stood with his back turned to X and sighed as he shook his head.

"You ought to come back a little more often, you know."

"I know," X nodded silently.

"Alia would be really happy to see you again."

"Zero, Alia and I…"

"I know X," Zero interrupted, "but she still cares about you. And…"

A strange, unnerving tingle wove through X's chest. It felt unfamiliar and uncomfortable; the strange caring and silence that Zero seemed to suddenly have. The look in the red armored reploid's eyes looked worried, and yet subdued, as if something was still there that he wouldn't speak.

"Zero… what is it? Is something wrong with Alia?" X asked, grabbing him on the shoulders.

Zero shoved him back and rubbed the side of his own head, as if loud voices were pounding on his ears.

"I don't know," he said. "I just really think you ought to see her."

There was a long, windy silence as the two friends stared each other down. The awkward silence lingered unpleasantly until Zero broke it.

"X…" he started, "Maverick activity has been really down lately… and Maverick Hunter HQ is deciding to start up the annual Hunter's Ball again ten days from now."

X immediately opened his mouth to retort, but Zero's hand hushed him. "I'm not telling you to ask Alia to go with you. Go with that Raven girl if you must… just come home is all I'm saying. We'd all appreciate a visit from you now and then…"

"……I'll think about it," Mega Man said to him quietly.

Zero nodded with the serious expression that almost always painted his face. He then held out his forearm, which X in return did. The two then locked their lower arms together tightly in their own special bond of friendship.

"Stay safe, Zero," said X.

The blonde reploid backed away and the shuttlecraft door hummed shut with him inside it. After a few moments, the small ship lifted off the ground and slowly shrank into the silver of the clouds with Zero inside it. X shielded his face from the dust that had been sent into a small whirlwind from the shuttle's thrusters until it calmed down and became part of the ground again. He dropped his hand and sighed.

"A dance… he's got to be kidding," X mumbled under his breath. "I couldn't ask Alia… but how could I take Raven? She would never…" He burst out in laughter at just the thought. "Raven would never even _dance_, let alone leave everybody here to go to my world… would she?"

His mind twitched, almost pleasantly this time, and he looked up knowing that the dark sorceress was going to be in his eyes. Sure enough, she was there with her dark sapphire hair waving lightly at its tips near her neck. Her cloak waved in a similar fashion, occasionally creating gaps in it that showed her arms and legs moving in a rigid manner. She definitely wasn't there to casually visit him. It took a moment for X to gaze past her and see that the other Titans minus Cyborg, but including a wheelchair ridden Robin, were following just behind.

"Hey X," Raven said softly and with a light smile, but still she maintained much of the temperament of a fellow teammate, not a close friend. X's eyebrow raised itself almost subconsciously.

"What's up? Is something wrong?" he asked.

Starfire wheeled Robin in front of Raven so that he sat between she and X. He still looked exhausted, but the expression on his face showed that he had regained much more of his continence than his impaired body would lead to believe.

"Mega Man, the Titans are really hurting, both here and at Titans East," he said slowly and carefully, as it was the only way that his damaged mind would allow him to. "We would appreciate it," he continued, "if you could lead the Titans until we're back on our feet again."

X could sense the approval of every one of the Titans if he were to agree. Starfire's "the more the merrier" personality was as clear as day, and Beast Boy wore a look of hope to have a new video game partner with Cyborg's apathetic mood separating him from the others. Robin's face only held the desire to rest for a change, until his body could tolerate the role of leadership once again, and then Mega Man's eyes shifted to Raven… X could of course feel Raven's mood more powerfully than the other Titans, but she wasn't full of the same enthusiasm that they had. The scattered whispers that his mind noticed before she shielded her thoughts felt nervous and worried, but still with some hope in them.

"I… I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."

Their disappointed faces were enough to make X feel ill.

"I'm sorry… I can only stay for a few more days, and then… I'm heading back to my own planet." X hurried to think of something to redeem himself while trying to ignore whatever it was Raven was thinking, fearing that it would make his heart sink further. "But… I'll help out as much as I can to get everything up and running again before I leave. I'll put in a lot of effort, and…"

"_X! It's alright!"_ Raven's mind reached out to calm him. _"We completely…"_

"We understand," Robin said, continuing Raven's thoughts. "We know you and Zero both have a lot to do out there," he said as he wheeled around and looked out into the sky. "We were hoping to ask him, too, but… guess we missed our chance."

"Sorry," said X.

"No worries, dude," Beast Boy chimed in with energy. "Besides," he went on, "I doubt he woulda stayed anyway. Not exactly the most friendly robot is he?"

X's eyes narrowed slightly at the changeling. "Don't judge him so quickly. He may be a bit hard at times, but he'd do anything to protect innocent people, and even more for his friends."

"I got to know Zero a bit, too," Raven said, "and even though it might be buried deep, Zero's got a good soul in there."

Robin wheeled back into the conversation. "No point in arguing about it," he said, making it final. "He helped to save us and defeat the Mavericks, so he's an ally in my book."

"Yes," Starfire agreed, "the 'Zero' did indeed assist in saving us, and therefore he must be our friend."

"At any rate," Robin said, "we're glad to have you here for the next few days, and you're always welcome back here at… at…"

His head twitched and bobbed downward as his speech trailed off into babble. Starfire immediately gave him a gentle shake to try to bring him back, which had some success.

"Robin is feeling tired," she said, wearing a false expression of cheer. "I shall take him back inside and tend to him."

"I'll… go and help, or… something…" Beast Boy said as he followed behind the other two, leaving Raven and X alone with each other again. The two of them both reached out for the other Titans not to leave, for they knew that the conversation that was about to ensue would be an awkward one. Raven stared at X with a look of hurt on her face. She hid the rest of herself deep inside her cloak and toed at the dirt and grass.

"So… you're leaving?" she asked with her head down.

"It's not… It's not like I'm never coming back. They just really want me back home for a bit, that's all."

She edged closer to him, her hand moving up his arm. "Something's wrong, X. Why won't you tell me?" she asked with a gentle tenderness.

Mega Man shrugged depressingly. "I… just have too many memories on my planet that I don't want to remember."

"X, that's awful," she said as she reached up and stroked his cheek. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

X took her hand and led her toward the Dreamweaver. "Keep me company for a while?"

She nodded and smiled at him as she took his arm and went back into the ship. Raven had hoped that they might be returning to his memoriam, but he had instead led her back to the large laboratory containing X's former body frames. He sat down at his work bench and tapped at a tiny set of green labels, which made five of the six armor capsules slide open and light up, revealing parts of the reploid's past.

"What is all this?" the dark sorceress asked while examining his shadow armor.

"These are some of the armors I've worn in the past against the war with Mavericks. Most of them are… pretty obsolete at this point, but I still keep them in case I have a mission that requires something specialized."

Raven was looking at the different shells that had contained Mega Man. The shadow armor looked frightful, stealthy; as though the wearer would be shrouded in mystery. A second armor resembled an elegant bird, with silver, metallic wings and very sleek and sharp looking boots and arms. A third one had the visage of a fierce reptile that bore razor-like claws, a thick, barbed tail and a helmet that was even shaped like a crocodile's head. Raven imagined X's face in the blank space of the reptile's head, and it didn't seem to fit right. It looked more like a monster in her mind than the brave reploid in front of her. She then noticed the one that was still sealed and eyed it with curiosity.

"What's in this one?" she asked.

"It's not likely you'll ever see me wear that," X said flatly

"Oh? Why not?"

"I just don't have any reason to wear it… unless…" A smile streaked across his face and hiseyes lit up nearly as bright as his X-Buster was capable of shining.

"Raven?" he asked with a smirk that made the dark sorceress's eyes widen, "Can you dance?"


	14. Finishing Touch

**Chapter 14 – Finishing Touch**

The red hair of the Tamaranian princess swayed from side to side, knocking over coffee cups as her head drooped from exhaustion. She was determined to stay awake for as long as possible in case the sleeping Robin next to her needed anything, but between repairs on the tower and the simple stress of taking care of the Titans' incapacitated leader, she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer as her head bobbed up and down and her pupils glazed over. A light rapping on the door broke the lulling silence and made Starfire's heart snap with an adrenaline rush that threw her out of her chair. From outside, Raven had heard the crash and quickly swung the door open with a glowing hand full of dark energy at the ready.

"Starfire…" she said, lowering her arm and noticing the increasingly dark circles under her eyes and the blotched skin on her face. "Star… you look like you're going to collapse. You need rest."

"Oh, no friend Raven," she slurred and coughed, "I am quite alright. I believe I just need another dose of the caffeine."

"No, Starfire, you need to get some sleep. You're starting to get sick. I can watch Robin for a while."

The young Tamaranian coughed heavily, smiled weakly at Raven, and then hovered out the room without any more argument. Robin sat there silently, snoring softly even after Starfire's stumble out of her chair. Raven took her place and sat in the still warm seat to watch over the young boy wonder as he slept. She sighed, shaking her head at their nobleleader stuck in a helpless state.

"Can I talk to you about something?" she asked his unmoving face. Even though he didn't respond, his face was gentle and comfortable enough for Raven to confide in.

"X wants me to go to a dance on his world," she continued, almost laughing. "At first, I blatantly turned him down, but… but not because I didn't to be with him. I mean, of course I want to… well, be with him, but I..." She then realized how stupid it must've looked; her getting so worked up as she talked to herself in front of Robin as he slept.

"When he told me I didn't have to dance… that he just wanted me to see his world and meet some of his friends… I couldn't say no."

She paced around the room, looking at her feet. She laughed again.

"I said I would go to the dance. Only because that's where I'd meet everyone."

Robin stirred lightly, and Raven stopped moving, but he quickly resumed his low snore, setting Raven at ease.

"I have to wear a dress," she went on, "He said, 'something that brings out the real me', as if I know anything about dressing for a ball. I don't even know what to look for; whether or not it should be revealing, what kind of silly accessories should go with it…"

She took a deep breath and then let it out as her face fell into her hands.

"I don't even know what color it should be."

"Wh-wh," was the subtle response that came from Robin's lips.

Raven knelt down next to his face and whispered to him, "What did you say?"

"Your dress," he said, stretching his eyes open, "should be white."

"White?" she asked with a certain reservation. "Somehow, Robin,I don't think that being half demon and wearing white brings out the real me."

Robin shook his head and focused his waking eyes on the sorceress girl. "You say you're a demon..." he voiced, "but you've always looked much more like an angel to me."

"A… an angel?" Raven stammered, hiding red cheeks even though Robin couldn't clearly see them. "Y-you can't be serious. I'm not an angel. Not even close."

He chuckled through thick coughs and hacks as he propped himself up. "Even if you aren't, you'll still look good in white."

Raven smiled; she could still feel the warmth that filled her cheeks, but the embarrassment had left. She bent over Robin's bed and gave him a gentle kiss on his forehead. He beamed serenely as his eyelids folded shut again; the image of Raven's red cheeks being the last thing he saw before his snoring returned, but he was calm; tranquil.

"White it is, then."

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A dark, human figure crawled delicately on all fours, each and every step placed with the utmost care onto the old stone ceiling that it clung to. He wore primarily black, and a tight layer of his costume was wrapped around the majority of his face, only letting through a pair of brightly glowing eyes. Beneath him, several strange, ghost-like beings were pacing in an orderly fashion at very precise intervals from one another. They guarded the entrance to this ancient temple, but their eyes mainly focused on the entrance, which the dark intruder had already snuck past on the high ceiling above. The dim, torch lit hallways concealed much of the ceiling, making the job easier, but the dark intruder was no less careful for it as he reach a spot above an enormous wooden door where two of the faceless, ghastly guards stood with old, but very sharp looking axes.

Directly above them, the dark being climbed from the ceiling to the wall, and he slowly crawled down to one of the guards. With his face only inches away from the back of the guard's head, he pulled a long, blackened knife from his waist and methodically moved it toward the neck, careful to watch the other guard's movements the entire time. Before even a gasp of breath could be made, the sentry's throat had been slit. The other guard turned with spear ready, but the same knife had already been thrust into his chest. Both of the ghoul-like guards burst into clouds of dust.

The dark figure's veil mechanically slid into the rest of his helmet as he burst through the wooden doors where over a dozen of the same monstrous soldiers stood. A flash of energy surrounded him, discarding the shadow armor, and Mega Man X stood confidently with his gleaming blue shell tinted by the red torch light.

"Showtime," slipped from his mouth, and his sacred sword pointed at the crowd of demonic soldiers.

A wave of six rushed him in a half circle, and X slid beneath the hail of spears and sheared a pair of shins off; stabbing the same soldier before he hit the ground and shriveled into sand. Another ghoul threw his spear at X's face, but the Hunter arched backward and somersaulted just enough to see the projectile stab another in the neck. Without a weapon, a third ghoul was easily sliced apart.

"Urgh!" X growled as a spear scratched through the surface of his arm. He pulled it out of the owner's hands and impaled both he and another. Before they crumbled into ashes, the sixth spearman was clubbed into the wall by X's creative use of a baseball bat, where a distinct, humanoid dusting was left. Mega Man then turned to face the remaining six, ignoring the blood coming from his arm. He dropped the spear and tightly gripped his sword in his hands as one of them stepped forward, dropping a tattered cloak and brandishing six, ghastly arms that each held a thick saber with three vicious points on their ends. The faceless enemy began to spin the blades in all six hands, making a wall of seemingly impenetrable propellers.

"Oh, for the love of…" X's sword slipped back into its sheath and he rolled his eyes at the plethora of unnecessary dramatics. His hand retracted into his arm, and he radiated with power for a few moments before his Buster blew the six-armed beast into even less dust than the others. The last five looked at each other, then made a very swift exit, but they vanished along with the entire setting as soon as X uttered, "End program."

The pretense that X had created to train in dissolved into the very plain walls of the holodeck, and he shrugged with discontent. He had discovered that the shadow armor, with a few minor modifications at least, was still useful, but his other intent for the training program hadn't gone at all as he had hoped. He glared at his sword, and at the small golden triangles engraved into the bottom of the blade. There had been no voices, no miraculous powers. Nothing at all to indicate the presence that Raven had very clearly heard, let alone what little he himself had sensed from it in the past.

X traveled back to his room and tossed the sword on the bottom of an unused bunk bed. X slept in his capsule across the room, so the human bed was instead used as a sort of table top storage space. He sat down next to his sword and inspected his arm. It was bleeding, but very mildly. The wound was fairly shallow, and X took a gray, silver armband from a trunk underneath the bed that he firmly clasped around his arm. It clicked, and a small red bulb flashed on and off as long as it was attached. He then turned to his leg. The armored boot no longer had the cracks and bends that had been inflicted upon it, and only a small discoloration remained. It still irritated him a bit, but the injury was tolerable now without a crutch.

Then it suddenly dawned on him while he tended to his leg. His hand was itching. It had been itching for several minutes, and the back of his right hand, normally a very dark blue like the rest of his hands, looked stained and splotched by a lighter color. He rubbed at it, making no change, but his hand still tingled with whatever was happening to it. X stood up, instinctively heading for the medical station, but he didn't make it as far as his own door before he stopped. His eyes searched for whatever it was that had latched on to his mind. It didn't take long for him to be drawn to the golden triangles tinting the area around the bed. His sword was glowing of its own accord. He reached for the hilt, but before his hand could even grasp it, he heard a strange whisper.

…_will obey me_…_I_…_master_…

He could only hear bits and fragments of what was being said, but it sounded like a second voice was responding to the first.

…_I don't_…_no one's servant_…

The second voice sounded almost defiant of the first. The initial voice then attacked with rage.

…_I command_…_greatest power_…_will obey_…_will release me!_

…_no_..._will do_…_I want to do_…_stay there forever_…_all I care_…

A loud scream then came from the first voice. A scream of rage, hate, and desperation. The second voice said nothing. X could no longer sense the second presence at all. The second voice, whatever it had done, had obviously refused to obey the first and had left the conversation, but the first; the first was still there, writhing, agonized in his own pitiful hate and obsession. It was like X could sense this person's spirit in all of its hateful blackness. Then, the remaining voice seemed to be choking, squeezing for life, but it got none. The hate filled voice was dead.

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"Cyborg, I really appreciate you coming with me. I'm not sure I could survive in the mall on my own."

He gave his best to smile back at Raven as they attempted to blend in at the Jump City mega mall. It was always crowded with people from open to close, so it was generally an unwelcome place for Raven at any time, but she made an exception for the white dress that she was searching for.

Raven knew that some companionship and time away from the tower might help Cyborg to feel better. He had been slowly improving over the past few days, and she had hope that his morale would eventually come back to him. She strove to pull out as much of the old Cyborg as she could.

"Hey Cy," Raven said, pushing cheerfulness as much as she could, "remember when Beast Boy morphed into an eagle, and then he saw the new Gamestation through the Electronic Boutique window and crashed right into it?"

"Heh. Yeah, that was great," he said, making considerable efforts of his own to be pleasant.

Raven thought hard for some other good memory. "And, um… remember when…"

"Rae, it's alright, you don't need to try so hard. I just need some time."

"Sorry," she said.

"No, I appreciate it," returned Cyborg. "Just be yourself, and I'm sure that'll make me feel better. Oh, hey, there's another store with prom dresses."

She glanced at the crowds of teenage girls toying with frilly, pink gowns and brightly colored mini-skirts. It was obvious that she wasn't the only one searching for the right dress. Raven scowled at the prissy show of giddiness that the shopping girls displayed, and she felt a natural repulsion for them that made her back away.

"Come on, Rae," encouraged Cyborg with a bit of a grin, "I'll fend them off for you."

The dark sorceress breathed deeply and removed the hood from her head. She walked over the threshold and cringed as a pair of blondes skated past her with overwhelming excitement at their matching, hideously bright lime green gowns. Raven simply cringed in return as her dark robe and pale skin clashed more and more the further she dared to venture into the racks of formal dresses. She could start to feel the eyes of other girls on the back of her head.

"I feel… like an idiot," she mumbled as she quickly shuffled through every single one of the colored dresses. "Damn it, don't they have a single white one here?" she snarled, turning to Cyborg, but she then realized that Cyborg looked like even more of a misfit than she did. He stood like a deer in headlights in the middle of the store, resembling a very large, frightened male manikin.

Taking a wider look of the store, she realized that there wasn't a single white dress left in it, nor was there anything even close to what she would consider acceptable wear for her.

"Come on, Cy, let's get out of here before we get stared at to death."

"No argument there," Cyborg said nervously, "This place gives me the willies."

Raven pulled her hood back on and agreed. "Yeah, I thought I was going to throw up from all the pink," she said.

"What if we don't find anything in the other stores, Rae?" Cyborg asked, hurrying away from the gazes of everyone in the store.

"Then we'll look somewhere else."

They walked through the rest of the mall, avoiding the storms of people as best as a hulking half machine could. It wasn't as though the people of Jump City had never seen the Teen Titans before, but their reputation as heroes never seemed to expire, not to mention that Raven's abhorrence for popular fashion and Cyborg's soaring figure tended to catch any eye. Just as the heightened emotions of seeing them never dulled, the dread of being watched so constantly under the public eye rarely faded either. Raven and Cyborg, as well as the other Titans (save Beast Boy, who actually relished in the popularity) had learned to adapt to their own version of fame; being able to tolerate stares, questions, and even public criticism, but the uneasiness was always there.

After torturing themselves through a couple of other clothing stores without success, Raven and Cyborg were ready to leave, but one last department store looked hopeful.

"The Black and White Boutique," Cyborg read.

"Hmm. It actually doesn't look too terrible," Raven said. "Is it new?"

Cyborg shrugged. "Must be. Haven't seen it before."

The two of them walked in, and the sight was astonishing. Clothes of every size and shape in both black and white mixed among the entire store. Half of the store was painted black, and half of it was white, but not solidly cut half and half. The swirls and designs of absolute color and the lack thereof mixed together were surprisingly attractive to both Titans.

"Can I help you with something?" asked a tall woman of a fierce stature, wearing a straight, ankle length dress that had a hypnotizing swirl of black and white centering at her considerably sized chest. The woman's silver hair was tied up tightly in a bun that had each a black and white rod to hold it in place. Her thick, muscular arms caught the attention of both of them, especially Cyborg once his eyes were drawn away from her chest by Raven's stiff elbow.

"Is… something wrong?" she asked, not getting any response from either Titan as they realized that she was not wearing heels and yet managed to stand taller than even Cyborg.

"I was… uh… looking for a white dress."

"Pure white?" she asked plainly with her neck bent at quite an angle to look Raven in the face.

"Yes. That's right," Raven answered.

The woman approached Raven and looked her up and down. She pulled Raven's hood off and turned her cheek to one side, looking at her hair, her neck; anything that seemed to catch her interest. She then took Raven's arms and held them out sideways while she spun around the dark sorceress, taking note of her shape. While she was doing this, Raven noticed a very strange thing about this attendant. She had long ears, but not like any kind of animal ears. These were like any other human ear, except that they went very far back and came to a sharp point, making them look elf like.

The woman finally put Raven's arms back to her sides as she knelt down and said "I need to see your legs."

"Uh… my legs?" asked a very confused Raven.

"Yes, that's right," she said.

Reluctantly, Raven pulled her robe open, exposing her bare legs in the outfit that resembled a bathing suit.

"You have strong legs," the pointy eared woman said kindly, "legs that are worth… showing off."

She smiled at Raven, who didn't know what expression to wear in return.

"Please, come with me," she said. "I think I have something that you will like very much."

The tall woman led Raven into the back where the changing rooms were, and came out shortly after while the dark sorceress tried on the outfit that she was given. Cyborg waited there, feeling a little bit more comfortable as he was the only one aside from the attendant in the black and white store, but his nerves tensed as the woman approached.

As a bead of sweat dropped down his forehead, he repeated to himself in his mind over and over, "don't look at her chest, don't look at her chest, don't look at her chest."

"You," she said very firmly, "you are her friend?"

"Y-yes ma'am," he stammered.

Her eyes narrowed with a seriousness that came from much more than a fashion store clerk. "You must do your best to take care of her when you are near," she demanded. "She is more important than you know."

Cyborg scratched his head and replied, "Uh, yeah, um… I will."

She raised an eyebrow at him, making him shrink down from the strength of her gaze.

"And do learn to not stare at a woman's chest when they are much stronger than you."

A red flush of heat filled the organic half of his face, but he could have sworn that even the metal parts were rose colored. He was very curious about her, but he didn't dare ask her a thing while he waited.

After a few moments of awkwardness, Raven inched out from the changing rooms. Her head poked around the corner, careful not to show what she was wearing. She bit her lip hard and breathed very deeply. She thought of X; what he meant to her; how important this was for the both of them, and it gave her courage. Raven slowly stepped out, glowing in radiant white. The dress shimmered in the light, making every movement look truly angelic as the layers of smooth, reflective fabric contoured to her strong figure. Her arms, gloved in silky white almost to her shoulders, hung anxiously at her sides. The thick white straps that covered her breasts curved up and crossed in front of her neck before looping around just beneath her lavender hair. The dress clung tightly enough around her waist to show curvaceous, yet frail hips and a well kept midsection, but from her thighs down, the dress was slit open on both sides, revealing a pair of strong, alluring legs that were smooth to the touch.

"So," asked a shy voice that did not match the portrait of angel that it was coming from, "do I look alright?"

Cyborg didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. His just stood there, gaping with his mouth wide open.

"He says that you look astounding," said the giant woman from behind the counter.

"I… I think I like it, too," said Raven, glancing into a mirror and admiring the way it fit on her. "I don't have any experience with this, but… I think that this is the one."

A loud crash came from behind them as one of the clothes racks collapsed. A pair as mismatched at the two Titans were checking out the store in their own way; with violence.

"Look at this garbage," said the smaller, pink-haired girl with a hulking, red haired monster of a man following behind her, "nobody in their right mind would wear anything this gothic." She then glanced at the dark sorceress and laughed. "Oh, sorry Rae Rae, didn't see you there," she said sarcastically. Her dark purple outfit and pale skin were comparable to Raven's, but her demeanor was far more confrontational.

"Get out of here, Jynx, and take Mammoth and any of your other Hive buddies with you," Raven snapped at them, but the two of them didn't flinch at her outburst.

"Oh, calm down Raven, we're just shopping." She eyed Raven up and down with a teasing smirk on her face. "Cute dress. Although, you don't look half as threatening. Still plenty ugly though."

Raven was ready to lash out at the insult, but Cyborg squeezed her shoulder tightly to convince her to show a little restraint. She clenched her fists furiously enough to make the color of her knuckles match the dress she wore and she milled her teeth together, but her self-control only encouraged Jynx to increase her taunts.

"Hey there, Cy, sweetie," Jynx flirted. "You're not thinking of taking her to a formal event, are you, hun? You know she'll find some way to lose her temper and ruin everything like she usually does."

Cyborg squeezed harder. "It's not worth it, Rae. Just ignore them."

But ignoring them was difficult to do with Mammoth knocking over racks of clothing and ripping them apart while he laughed heartily about it.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the store's tall attendant told Mammoth face to face. The hulking menace stared straight at her, blowing hot breath on her from his nostrils, but the woman wasn't frightened of Mammoth, no matter how much she should have been.

"Get outta my way, lady," Mammoth barked at her, but as he reached up to shove her aside, the large woman locked three of his fingers in her palm and twisted them down until he buckled to the ground with a yelp of pain. She then yanked on his arm, pulling the enormous Hive student to his feet with a single hand, and she drove her foot into his back, sending him careening through a thick layer of glass before crashing into the middle of the mall's walkway. People screamed; some dropping their bags and others freezing with shock at a five hundred pound man being thrown clear through a very dense window.

The woman turned to Jynx, but she was too large a target to dodge the bolts of energy emanating from the little mage's hands that knocked her solidly into a wall. The side of the store buckled, and the woman was covered in plaster, unmoving.

"Can't avoid a fight, now!" shouted Cyborg, rushing out to handle Mammoth before he could regain his composure, and Raven was left with Jynx.

"Stupid Titan, I'm gonna tear you _and_ your stupid dress to pieces!" Jynx screamed, aiming waves of energy in Raven's directions.

Raven dodged the blasts swiftly as she flew from side to side, but she was restricted by the low ceiling and was struck hard in the shoulder, just missing her silky gloves and leaving a black and red burn that started to bleed. She screamed at Jynx, flying through the air as she caught the startled girl around the waist and drove the battle out into the open, multi-story mall. Most of the civilians had scattered, but a few stupid tourist types had stayed at a distance with cheap, yellow disposable cameras. Cyborg was doing his best to contain Mammoth's gargantuan size from spilling out into the remaining people, but Raven's anger pushed her to a rage where she didn't really think about or care who was around as long as she could give Jynx a beating she would not soon forget.

The two girls grappled on the floor, punching and elbowing each other without the safe distance to throw energy beams, but Raven could still move things telepathically. She animated a thick black trash bin and clubbed Jynx's back as they held each other by the wrists. Jynx pulled back and her hands shook as she threw two fierce waves of energy; the first at the trash can, which exploded into pieces, and the second at Raven, who barely managed to phase into the ground to avoid being struck.

When Raven rose up from the floor in a mist of black fog, she had intended to take Jynx by surprise, but as soon as her vision focused, she only saw a blur of dark brown wood and metal impacting her chest and knocking her into another store window, leaving a human frame of cracks and breaks. She only narrowly flew up in time to avoid the same chair legs being lodged into her by Jynx's vigorous throw.

"Come on, Raven, is that the best you can do!" Jynx sneered between breaths, almost laughing.

"You think this is fun?" she snorted as she grabbed Jynx by the two pink hair extensions that jutted up from her head.

Jynx squealed and began tugging on Raven's shorter locks that hung down at the sides of her face. The pulling war went back and forth, and bits of hair got ripped out here and there. Mammoth and Cyborg, who had been wrestling to the side, saw the tug of war, looked at each other, and decided that watching was more entertaining than their petty brawl.

The girls continued their fight, neither of them at their fullest strength or with their superior powers, but instead with pure feminine animosity. As soon as Raven's arm crossed in front of Jynx's face, the former Hive student bit hard into it, causing Raven to release her other grip on Jynx's locks. Caught off guard, Raven couldn't stop a sharp set of fingernails from scraping across her face and drawing blood. The dark sorceress returned with a solid fist across Jynx's face that collapsed her to the floor, but the pink haired teen kicked at Raven's legs and caught the front half of her silk white dress with the sharp heel of her shoes. The front fold of her dress was torn over half way from one knee to the other.

"Uh-oh," grunted Mammoth worriedly.

"Yeah," Cyborg agreed, "This is gonna be ugly."

The enormous tear hung part of the dress at Raven's feet. Her legs shook. She felt like she was going to throw up, but she downed the feeling with unbridled anger.

"My dress," she gasped, "YOU RIPPED MY DRESS!" she shrieked as she tackled the pink haired girl to the floor with pure loathing. She held her arms down so tightly that Jynx couldn't budge them with all of her might. White lightning started to sparkle in Raven's eyes, and Jynx trembled beneath the dark sorceress with her eyes closed. She was expecting her body to be torn apart, or broken pieces of glass to perforate her, but what she wasn't anticipating was Raven's forehead crashing down on her face and causing a break that shocked her entire body.

"You bitch! You God damn bitch! You broke my nose!" Jynx wailed in agony, with tears dropping down into her own blood.

Raven went for a second blow to Jynx's face, but a pair of metal talons grabbed them by their waists and hoisted them off the ground, placing them both inches away from the squinty eyed, obnoxious Gizmo. He looked more than irate, crossing his arms in midair as the other two steel appendages from his new backpack held him aloft.

"What in the slimy scuzballs are you snot buckets doing?" He demanded of them both, and the two girls began spouting out blames and insults at one another, which Gizmo seemed to have no patience for.

"Quit your whining, Jynx," he snapped at his fellow Hive graduate, "It's not even twisted. It'll be fine in a week or two."

He then turned to the furious Raven. "If you go get changed quick before the police come, I can fix your stupid dress, good as new."

Raven was puzzled. He had no reason to help any of the Titans, nor did he have any reason to snap at Jynx, one of his teammates and supposedly his friend, but Raven looked at her torn dress and decided that it would be best to trust him under these strange circumstances.

Raven and Cyborg rushed into the boutique and saw the attendant pulling herself out of the rubble.

"Are you alright?" the beaten sorceress asked her as the tall woman brushed herself off.

"Yes, I am fine, thank you."

"That was some move you pulled on Mammoth at the beginning," Cyborg admitted, and she bowed lightly at the praise.

"I am well trained," she said simply, and then she saw the wide tear at Raven's feet. "Oh my… your dress…"

"I can get it fixed," she returned, using her telekinesis to help pick up the overturned clothing racks.

"Very well," she smiled, "If you still want it, then you may take it, free of charge."

Raven wanted to argue, but the tall woman told her that it was hers in exchange for helping fend off Mammoth and Jynx.

"Thank you so much," Raven said, and she hurried to change her clothing. When she returned, she saw the three Hive students arguing vehemently outside the shop, or rather she saw Gizmo arguing with Mammoth while Jynx held a thick wad of tissues under her nose. Shortly thereafter, Jynx hopped up on Mammoth's shoulders and they promptly left the mall through an exit that they forcefully made themselves through a solid wall, while Gizmo scurried into the store on his own legs.

"Quick! Gimmie the dress before the feds get here!" said his high pitched, scratchy voice.

He snatched it from Raven's hands and pulled out a small contraption shaped like a stapler. For the extremely wide rip, he bunched up the torn sides in the device and flipped a switch on the back. Raven peered at it working, and it looked as though it was shredding the edges of the dress and re-sewing them without a mark. As he slowly pulled the fabric out, it looked as though it had never been frayed in the first place. As soon as it was finished, he tossed it back in her arms and ran for the door, but Raven stopped him at the doors.

"Gizmo, I don't understand," Raven said astonished. "Why are you helping me?"

"Lemme go!" he squirmed, but the police force had already arrived for him. Two of the masked guards in thick armor grabbed him by the arms and pulled him off the ground. A third approached Raven and Cyborg. The protective masks that they wore hid any kind of expression, making the normally dark Raven look quite cheerful in comparison.

"We heard reports that there were two of the former Hive academy members here," he said through a mechanical mouthpiece. "Did the other escape?"

"No, wait! Gizmo wasn't involved with this," Raven entreated him. "It was Mammoth and Jynx that wrecked the store."

"Very well," returned the guard tonelessly, "but Gizmo is still a convicted felon, and part of a criminal syndicate. He'll have to be taken into custody."

"But, he…" Raven searched quickly for a solution, but the only one that came to her made her cringe. "Gizmo is… being dealt with by the Titans. We're in the process of, uh… reforming him."

Even though the protective headgear blocked any emotion from them, all three of the guards were clearly dumbstruck. Their leader signaled to the other two to drop their captive, which they did slowly and reluctantly as Cyborg leaned in and whispered in Raven's ear.

"You sure you know what you're doing?"

Raven groaned. "No."

"This is highly irregular, but…" a sigh mechanically sounded from the inside of his helmet. "Alright, I'll let it slide this time, but if he makes one slip up…"

"I understand."

"Fine then," he said sternly. "Let's go, men."

They hurried out the broken mall walls in hopes of catching the other two, and Gizmo was left with Raven. The two looked at each other; both of them completely dumfounded.

"You didn't have to do that y'know," Gizmo snapped. "I coulda handled them myself."

"Oh, really?" Raven huffed. "Nice to see that you're grateful that I completely cleaned your slate." She glared at him darkly. "Maybe I should just call those soldiers back in?"

"No, no!" he wailed. "I'll be good! I promise!"

"Good, now get out of here before I change my mind."

His metal legs propped him up and launched him forward at much faster speeds than his little legs could carry him, and with a quick climb up to the ceiling using the artificial limbs, Gizmo broke a ceiling window and crawled out of sight.

"I hope I just did the right thing," Raven said to herself. She turned to see the store clerk with a fascinated smile managing to make its way across her face. Raven raised an eyebrow in return, mystified at the giant woman's expression.

"Well, um… thank you so much for the dress. I really like it."

The woman continued to smile warmly, as if she were deep in thought at the dark sorceress girl in front of her. She then took her hand and reached behind one of her long, pointed ears, pulling a small, jeweled silver clip in the shape of three triangles together to form a pyramid, almost exactly like the golden ones on X's sword.

"I would like you to have this," the tall woman told her kindly as she placed it just behind Raven's temple with it parallel to her ear.

"Wait, I… I can't accept this."

"Please do," she insisted. "It belonged to a very good person before me, and I think that it now belongs to another very good person."

Raven clasped it in her hands and blushed warmly. "Thank you," she said, and she kept it secured tightly in her dark lavender hair as she left the Black and White Boutique with Cyborg and a shopping bag in tow.

"We're definitely gonna have go back there some time," said Cyborg.

"Yeah," Raven answered, looking back to the clothing store. "To think, I have reason to come back to the… mall… now…?"

Cyborg turned to see what had made Raven's face turn as white as one half of the Black and White Boutique, but it was the clothing store itself that froze her in place with mouth agape. In place of the store, the broken glass, all the clothing, and even the mighty, towering attendant, there were blank plaster walls, no lights, and a closed gate. Not even the remnants of battle remained, with the exception of the burns on Raven's arm.

"Cy… are you seeing this?"

"No, I'm not seeing anything," he replied, "but that's the problem! Where'd it all go?"

Raven felt the strings of her bag pulling down gently with the force of gravity. She felt the side of her head, and the ornamented clip was still there.

"I don't know," she whispered hesitantly, "but whatever it was… I think it was for me."

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Starfire helped to bandage Raven's wounds back at the tower, and the sorceress said her temporary goodbyes to everyone. She told everyone about the run in with Mammoth and Jynx, and even how Gizmo was so willing to help her, but both Raven and Cyborg were careful to conceal the details of the store. Neither of them were very sure of what happened, but they felt inside themselves that no harm would come of not divulging the events that had transpired. Cyborg also took additional comfort in being able to conceal his interactions with the giant, intimidating, yet kind woman who tended to the store, whoever she was.

Later, in front of the bright silver wings of the Dreamweaver on the edge of Titan's island, all of the Titans had gathered to give both X and Raven a proper send off for their trip.

"Friend X, friend Raven," beamed Starfire, having recovered a bit of her strength, "I hope you will have a _won_derful time on your trip and your ceremonial ball," she went on. "For the trip, I have baked you a special batch of my blorthog pie!"

She held out a silver tin that contained a putrid smelling, slimy, worm like concoction that revolted even X's high tolerance.

"Well…thank you, Star," X said insincerely, but as kindly as he could while he held Starfire's pie at an arm's length.

"Cy," began Raven to the hulking tin man, "I really appreciate… well, everything you've done for me. Thank you." She hopped up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his large frame, and he gently hugged her in return.

X approached Robin, still trapped in his wheelchair but well enough to see them off.

"I'm worried, Robin. Are you sure you'll be able to hold up without either of us around?"

"Don't worry," he reassured the blue armored reploid, "we always manage somehow."

Raven then came to Beast Boy, who was grinning ridiculously. He held his arms out, persisting with his childish, innocent looking smile.

"So… I suppose you're looking for a hug?" she said dryly with a touch of revulsion.

Beast Boy's cheerfulness was sucked off his face and dropped deep in his stomach. His smile vanished and his outstretched arms contracted uncomfortably.

"Well, I just thought that… oh, never mind," he sulked away, but the normally reclusive sorceress leapt around the changeling and squeezed him tightly, and he returned the friendly embrace.

"See? I'm not as dark and gloomy as you might think," she teased, and she left Beast Boy feeling a little baffled but remarkably happy.

Raven took one of her suitcases and X's free arm around her own, and as they boarded the Dreamweaver, their friends all waved energetically until the ship rose into the sky and out of sight. After they passed through the fiery shell protecting the planet and the Earth shrank to nothing more than the size of a marble, Raven and Mega Man X were alone together amongst the stars.


	15. My Life

This chapter features a bunch of alone time between Raven and X, as well as more of X's history. Hope you like it. And to those who don't review, may your nether regions be devoured by the fleas of a thousand camels.

Oh, and I hope you all notice the first mention of a crossover that's going to be big.

Chapter 15 – My Life

A trail of white specks flew across the darkness of space. They looked to be simply floating by the Dreamweaver's hull, gently passing by with a tiny, rainbow colored trail behind them. Fixated upon them were a young sorceress and a mighty reploid Hunter.

"Why do they do that?" Raven asked. "That little rainbow tail they have."

Mega Man X came behind her and put an arm around her shoulders. "We're traveling faster than the speed of light itself," he explained as he held her near, "so we can actually see the spectrum of light coming from most of the stars as we pass by them."

She smiled. "That's really fascinating. I've been in space before, but I've never seen the stars like this."

She turned around and took in the surroundings of the new room they were in. The space was large and the décor was plain; primarily gray with white lights illuminating the edges of the floor and dimly at the ceiling. It was mostly empty, but there were a few small tables and what even looked like a vacant bar with its lights off. Raven felt comfortable with X, but the room itself contained the essence of loneliness.

"Is this a lounge?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said simply in return.

"Oh," she said, not sensing anything from X in return. "Well, this trip is about six days, isn't it?"

He nodded.

"Well, what are we going to do the whole time?" she asked. "What do _you_ do on these trips?"

"There's a lot to do," he said excitedly as he led her away from the lounge's impressive view. "I normally do a lot of combat training in the holodeck, but it can be used to simulate almost anything, and there's plenty of memory to even create some of your own programs if you'd like to give it a try."

"I like the sound of that," she said with a smile. "What else?"

"Hmm. There's always the memoriam," he suggested. "There are still lots of things you haven't seen there. And you've hardly read any of the Book of Myths, let alone all the other ancient works I've got stored in there, and the Dreamweaver has a huge database of information if you want to learn anything about my travels or my world."

X and Raven turned a corridor in the direction of his mini-museum. "I'll definitely like that," she returned, "but all of that sounds so technical; so… regimental. What do you _do_? What makes you feel alive?"

They passed through the holographic wall into the memoriam, and when their faces phased through to the other side, X was looked at her, astonished, but with an interested grin.

"I've never seen this side of you before," he declared, fascinated.

"I haven't changed on the inside," she said confidently. "I'm just expressing myself on the outside a little differently. Reading fantasy novels, putting myself in the story; that makes me feel alive." She gave him a glance out of the corner of her eye as she rubbed across the glass casing of a particularly thick, very dilapidated tome. "When I meditate," she continued, "On a rare occasion when my focus is at its peak… I can sometimes reach this feeling that I can barely describe. I can only stay there for a few moments at best, but it's like, I can feel things on a higher plain; like I can just understand everything a little bit better."

"I think I know what you mean," Mega Man said in return.

"And?" she asked, turning to him, "What about you? You can't tell me that the holodeck make you feel alive."

He shook his head as he opened the case she was toying at and gently handed her the book. "This is called the Book of Blades. It's a detailed collection of magical and legendary swords and other such weapons throughout the ages. And no, no matter how impressive a setting I can create, the holodeck doesn't make me feel alive because I know it's not real."

She sat down on the ground with legs crossed and the large book situated in her lap as she began to flip the pages.

"I've tried looking through that to see if there's anything about it on the sword I use, but…"

"Trying to change the subject?"

"Maybe I am," he laughed.

She smiled back at him. "There are some pages ripped out of this anyway. Who knows? Your sword might have been there."

"Maybe," he shrugged.

Raven stopped at one particular illustration that protruded itself to her. The brownish colored image portrayed a sword without a blade, but instead, at the hilt was a flower like guard with flames erupting from it. "Red Lotus" was its name.

"Ah, yes, the Lotus Blade," X recalled. "If you'd like to give that one a test run, I wouldn't mind."

"A test run? You mean… you _have_ this sword?" she questioned him with tone that was practically begging to see it.

He nodded enthusiastically. "Actually, I have a few of the weapons in there. Do you want to look at them?"

"_Look_ at them?" she cried. "I think I'll take you up on that offer for a test drive!"

He smiled as the two up them flew up to the third floor. Sure enough, in one of the cases along the wall of weapons was the faded orange handle and flower like extensions of the Red Lotus, but there were no flames coming from it.

"Where's the fire?" Raven asked.

X opened the case and gently grabbed the edges of the handle, but he was strangely careful not to place his palms around it.

"All of the swords in the Book of Blades have something very special about them," he explained. "The Red Lotus Blade's flames will only come out if somebody places their hands over the handle, like this."

He held it tightly with one arm around the handle pointing outward to his side, and a tower of blood red heat shot out of it intensely. She could feel the furious heat coming from it, and sweat began to show on her brow. The fire was unusually dark colored, probably the reason for it being called the Red Lotus, Raven surmised. She then noticed X flinch very inconspicuously, but not well enough to hide it from her.

"X… does it hurt to hold it?" she asked.

He nodded. "Come feel around the handle."

She gently touched it, and it was quite hot. Nearly enough to burn someone's skin.

"When the flames first come out, whoever holds it will feel two slight instances of pain," X said as he released his grip and the flames extinguished themselves. "The first is a small sting, similar to having your finger pricked when the sword takes a bit of the user's blood to fuel the fire."

"The sword takes your blood?" Raven gasped.

"Yes, it does. Kind of hard to create the flames otherwise," he pointed out sarcastically. The two of them dropped back down to ground level and exited with the blade and the book in tow. "The second pain is right after the first when the flames jut out. For a moment, the sword is actually hot enough to burn, which it does all across your palm."

He exchanged glances with the dark sorceress, whose uneasy expression suggested that she was having second thoughts about trying out the life draining weapon.

"It doesn't seem very safe," she stated.

"As long as you don't mind the heat, it really isn't a problem as long as you don't use for too long a time without resting."

She raised a quizzical eyebrow to X's last comment. "How long a time?"

His eyes moved as if he was searching the inside of his head for the answer, and he eventually came up with, "Around thirty minutes at most per day. You still want to do this?"

Raven knew that she alone had ample powers to defend herself without the use of a sword, but then again, so did X. She had never asked him why he used a sword with all the weaponry he had equipped as a reploid Maverick Hunter, but she decided this might be a good way to learn, not to mention that the Red Lotus's dark nature appealed to her.

"Yes. I want to learn," she said as they came to the archway leading into the holodeck. Mega Man commanded one of his basic training programs to run, and they entered shortly thereafter. Strangely, the holodeck looked just like the holodeck. The transparent square tiles with the yellow linings remained the same. The only difference was the featureless manikin standing rigidly in the center of the expansive room.

"Now," stated X, "the first thing you always must do when learning to use a sword is get used to the sword itself being in your hands." He gently handed the Red Lotus to her, which she kept at the edge of her fingertips. "Of course, the Lotus Blade is a little bit more difficult to get accustomed to, because of the pain, the heat, and the eventual dizziness it will cause if you use it for too long. So," he said to Raven, who swallowed hard while she beheld the weapon, "Go ahead. Hold on to it."

She could already feel heat traveling through her hands and arms even though the handle of the Lotus Blade was merely at the edge of her hand. With a breath of relaxation and calming, she gripped the blade firmly in her right hand, in which she almost immediately felt a sharp sting at the center of her palm, followed by a mild prickle and then a burning sensation that would normally make her draw her hand away, but she held it tight, and it subsided to a tolerable sweltering temperature. Sweat was all across the back of her hand, but she looked up at the column of red fire coming from the petal guard. Her mind was set at ease in through this small victory.

"That's really good, Raven," X told her through the blanket of flames that she held in awe in front of her. "Is your hand alright?"

"It burns a bit, but nothing I haven't felt before," she admitted calmly. "My hand feels kind of strange, though. I think I can feel it slowly taking my energy out through my hand."

X smiled. "I expected no less from someone as aware of yourself as you are. I was a bit worried," he went on, "because if you had dropped the blade when your hand was burnt, you would have had to go through it all over again."

But Raven was busy admiring the flames. It moved slower than fire normally did; slow enough so that Raven could see the shifting tongues of flame lick the air around it, and the blood red color was like candy to her eyes.

Mega Man pushed the arm holding the weapon aside and replaced the sight of the fire with the sight of his face. "I'm sorry Raven, but I just don't think it would work out between you and the flames."

"Funny," she said with a sarcastic grin.

X then half-laughed unexpectedly. "Actually, since we're talking about you and the fire, I ought to mention that the Red Lotus has a couple of other interesting features that I discovered back when I first used it."

"What kind of features?" she asked.

He gestured to the plain manikin that was patiently waiting in the center of the room for them.

"Go and push the flames into its face for a minute," he told her, which she promptly did. In a very short time, the plastic face had melted quit violently, but when she pressed the tip of the blade against it initially, she felt a force pushing back; or at least there must have been, because the flames became harder to press against its head only a short way from their tips.

"There's something sort of solid there!" she shouted, feeling both astounded and intrigued. She looked as closely into the flames as she could without letting them touch her face, but she saw nothing blade like; only the dark fire.

"Look closer," X said as his face perked up with satisfaction.

"Are you crazy?" Raven retorted. "My face will look like that dummy's if I get much closer."

X only held out his hand to the burning flames that Raven controlled, and she, knowing that he would never do anything to intentionally harm her, reluctantly pulled herself closer to the fire. She felt the temperature rise ever so slightly as her face came closer and closer to the dancing red rage that was drawn from her own blood. Then, a rogue tail of fire reached out and slithered across Raven's face. She immediately pulled away and her lungs contracted sharply while her heart nearly doubled in speed. But Raven realized that she had no burn on her face. There wasn't even a hot spot where the fire had touched her, and she realized that her hand gripping the weapon was probably the hottest part of her body. Raven cocked her head at the weapon's pillaring blaze, and placed her face firmly into it where she saw something inside that couldn't be seen on the outside. A tiny column of black material that seemed to vary in length depending on the flames was coming from the petal-shaped hand guard, just like the fire. She gained the courage to even place her free hand into it, where she felt the black substance give very slightly, giving the flames a temporary arc until it moved back slowly into position.

"It's… almost elastic-like," Raven said when she pulled her eyes away from it. She then began to test its malleability without being up close. She found she could stretch it, compress it to a dagger sized flame, and even twist it to resemble a chakram. It was almost like a dark, wondrous toy to her. "And it doesn't hurt me because it's made of my blood, isn't it?" She asked.

X smiled. "Exactly."

"And this… bendy thing. What is it?"

"Well, that I'm not entirely sure about," X admitted. "But I think it might be some sort of dark magic device."

Raven felt it with her hand again; a sight that X found strange even though he knew it was safe for her to touch. The dark sorceress let a small dab of her spiritual energy drop into the center of the Red Lotus, and after a small spur of the flames, the blade shook X's ship with a shockwave and blast of flame that threw X and Raven crashing into the holodeck's walls.

"My God, Raven, are you alright?" X screamed through a cloud of smoke. "Raven, say something!"

After the rumbling of X's ship ceased, he could hear the gentle coughing of the dark girl with her Robe shielding her face from the smoke. X saw a brief glimpse of darkness and the edge of Raven's dark blue robe wrapping around him, and next thing he knew he was outside the holodeck doors with Raven crumpled weakly in a heap next to him.

He pulled off her hood and brushed away the tangled mess of hair that had been made from the blast. X sighed in relief. Her eyes couldn't focus well, but they were open.

"Th-that was… _definitely_… dark magic," she mumbled.

"Yeah," X agreed with a smile, seeing that she was alright. "Here, I can use a little bit of healing magic. It's not much, but it should help take care of the dizziness and soreness."

The green, glowing lights of materia energy glowed weakly around him and in his eyes, and from his hand came a few weak sparkles of light that dropped onto Raven's robe. Her eyes widened as if ice cubes had been dropped onto her belly, and with a shrill gasp, she stood up on her own with renewed strength.

"Thanks. I didn't know you could do that," she said, feeling the spot where the tiny light droplets had touched her.

X helped to brush her off. "It's not very effective," he said, "but at least I'm not risking my life when I do it."

"You learned that from the materia, didn't you?" she asked calmly.

He bowed his head gently to answer. "I wish I had learned that spell better before I… well, never mind. It's not that important."

"X, if it's not that important, then why won't you tell me?" Raven said with frustration.

"I'm just not ready to talk about it, yet," he answered.

"Rah! It isn't fair!" she screamed at him. "You know so much about me, and all my problems, and all my pain and you won't tell me about yours! I hardly know _anything_ about you in comparison, and you just sit there saying 'oh, it's not important' or 'I'm totally fine' while I have to just take it all and know that you're lying and hiding from me!"

Raven stared him down, angry, and with tears filling up in her eyes. X had never looked so frightened or as vulnerable to her as he did now.

"Raven, I…I'm sorry."

The dark sorceress shook her head and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.

"No, X. I'm sorry," she said through small sobs. "I shouldn't try to force anything out of you. It's just… I'm frustrated. You've been inside my mind, seen my past, present and future; all my fears and anger. I've hardly seen anything compared to that."

X lifted her face and gazed into her sapphire eyes.

"I'm sorry… that I don't feel comfortable sharing everything just yet," he said, "but… would you like it if you could go inside my mind a little?"

Raven's still watery eyes glistened, and she nodded softly. After a tight embrace, the two of them first reentered the holodeck doors, which billowed with smoke at first.

"There's the Lotus," Raven said. "I guess we should probably put it back."

"Put it back?" he said with an adventurous tone. "I thought you wanted to learn to use this?"

"Well, I do, but it… the explosion…"

"A minor setback, that's all," X said confidently. "You did just fine other than that. You looked really comfortable holding it, even with the pain." He picked up the weapon and placed it in firmly in her hands. "If you still want to learn, then it's yours to keep."

"X…" she said aghast, "this is a dark relic! I probably shouldn't have even used something this precious!"

"I know that," he returned, "but it's not like I keep it on display for the galaxy to see. If I think that something in my collection can be used, then I don't plan to keep it under lock and key." He glanced sideways at her. "Besides, each of the weapons in the Book of Blades supposedly has an owner that it's destined to. Perhaps it's yours?"

She smiled sweetly at him and held the unlit Lotus close to her. She felt its warmth across her chest, but X's kindness was what made it feel best.

"X, thank you. I'll keep it safe."

"Good. Now let's head back to my room and get you cleaned up," he smiled, "and then you can see if it's scarier inside my head than it is in yours."

She laughed quietly as she gazed into the bright green eyes that met her own. They went back to X's room, where Raven carefully placed the Red Lotus with her belongings. She then removed a small collection of incense that she placed in a circle around herself and X, who was already relaxing his mind for the trip.

"So… how did you do it back then?" she asked, crossing her legs in front of him and reaching toward his cheek. Raven carefully placed her thumb just to the side of X's nose, and let the rest of her fingers spread out to the side.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos…" she chanted, and X joined her.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos……"

Raven felt her mind stretch away from her body as it glided into X's consciousness. Her vision blurred into a stream of flashes and streaks until her hands slowly appeared in front of her again, in a dark room with several, twisted tunnels leading off into the distance. Raven could very scarcely see floating streaks of bright green in the distance, almost like streaks of silk blowing in the wind. As her feet slowly floated down toward them, a blue light shone from underneath a transparent floor. The soft glow continually grew brighter until her feet stopped gently on the glass-like surface. The silhouette of Mega Man came to be in front of her, illuminated by the same light that revealed Raven from below. X slowly stood, and the blue light shifted to conform to his change in position.

"How does it feel?" he asked, but his mouth did not move at all. His eyes instead lit up to match his emerald pupils with each syllable.

"It feels… dark, ominous; but like there's a lot going on."

X tilted his head and expressed acceptance at the description of his inner mind. "Anything else?" he asked.

Raven carefully studied the details of X's mind and let the feeling sink in. Her eyes narrowed at a curious feeling that tugged awkwardly on her mind inside his. She had been inside the thoughts of several humans, and in retrospect, she felt that something was missing that should have been there even though he was a machine, and looking up at the silky streaks of jade above gave her the distinct impression that the two of them were not as alone as they should have been.

"I'm not sure," was Raven's answer. She looked through the numerous tunnels laid out in front of them, and hazy events of X's past were being played out there. Even though the images were blurred, she could distinguish the first battle between X and Vile, a strange scene between Zero and Mega Man, and the very recent trip into Raven's consciousness. But she also saw totally unfamiliar people donned in black suits, a strange blue-red smear that seemed to be moving at incredible speeds as X failed to keep up, and the glowing outline of an old man wearing a lab coat.

"The old man…" Raven whispered.

"Yes, I thought that might get your attention," X's eyes glowed. "His image has been in your mind since we joined. Would you care to meet him?"

"Absolutely, but… why do your eyes glow like that inside your mind?" she asked, hoping that he might stop doing it.

X tried to make his mouth move properly with what he was saying, but he looked like he was being dubbed over like actors in an old Godzilla film.

"I'm… sorry," he said, nearly matching sound with movement, "but this is just the way my teacher did things, so I'm used to doing it this way when I or anyone else is in my own mind. I'll work on it."

He then took her hand and led her to the passageway showing the faint glow of the old man, and as soon as they approached it, the tunnel shot out like a living mouth, consuming them both, blocking out the rest of the tunnels; bringing the memory into full vision as though they were living it themselves.

They air was cold, or at least it was in X's memory. Raven had to remind herself that none of this was technically real. The two of them were walking along the halls of a barren factory that appeared to be underground or in the side of a mountain judging by the solid rock mixed with the old machinery. Bits of frost littered every surface, and their feet scrunched the snow underneath their feet.

"What is this we're seeing?" Raven asked him.

"A long time ago," he answered, and a very young replica of Mega Man X ran directly through Raven as though she were nothing more than a ghost. She could tell he was very different from the Mega Man of the current day. The old X carried himself much less rigidly, and his armor was very plain compared to the sharp features that it held now, and it was purely shades of blue. He had no sword, and his Buster was constantly at the ready. As the two of them rushed to keep up with X's past self, Raven once again noticed the distinct difference in his eyes. A pale brown encircled his pupils, and looking back at the real X's bright green eyes gave the two of them distinctly different bearings.

"I'm hardly a year old here," X said. "I was tracking a Maverick in the very first Maverick outbreak, only a couple of days after my first encounter with Vile." He watched his former life very intently, almost maliciously as the young reploid stopped at the ground beginning to rumble gently in front of him.

"This is where everything started," he stated. "This was my real beginning; where my life was defined. It was here that I made a choice to fight for what I believe in."

A circular mound of crusty, frozen earth began to push itself up in front of the year-old X, and a metallic shine rose up as the dirt fell to the sides. It was a strange device bearing a resemblance to X's own construction with thick tubes orderly arranged amongst the top and at the center laid a large, red orb, just like the one on the forehead of X's helmet. As the device rose to its full size out of the ground, it stood a few feet taller than X did, and the transparent shield going from the top to the platform-like bottom vanished, revealing the thickly bearded old man that she had seen before. As the old X reached out to touch it, his hand slid right through. It was only a hologram.

"Who… are you?" the past X asked it, and the hologram seemed to genuinely react to his question.

"So you've come…" the old man spoke. His face was stern, but held a strange kindness deep within it, even though it was nothing more than an illusion. It continued to speak to Mega Man. "X, I gave you the ability to choose your own path in life, and I hoped that the world would allow you to choose a peaceful one."

"X!" Raven gasped, "Is this your creator? Your… father?"

He glanced at her sideways, gave the gentlest bow of his head, and then set his eyes back to the scene nearly in tears as the old man continued.

"But now," he said to the young reploid, "it seems that you are destined to fight. Because I thought the world might need a new champion, I have hidden capsules like this one. If you find and use them, you will be able to increase your powers beyond anything the world has ever known."

The true X walked forward and stood next to his youthful counterpart so he could listen to his creator's words once again. It was strange for the dark sorceress; looking at the two of them side by side; both the same and yet completely different. She grabbed X's hand, and he squeezed hard on it as the old man commanded Mega Man to enter the capsule and receive and upgrade for his systems. The young X lifted a leg hesitantly and placed it on the capsule, and currents of power coursed through him, electrifying his body until a bright flash lit up his legs. The current of energy stopped, and Mega Man X jumped off, admiring a brand new pair of boots lined with white and yellow stripes.

"His name is…" X hesitated and shook his head. "His name _was_ Doctor Thomas Light. He created me long ago. How long, or why, I don't know. A huge amount of history was lost on my world in a war that lasted several decades. It ended about twenty years before I was discovered, and nobody knows anything about Dr. Light now, except for me."

The memory blurred and then vanished into nothingness as the two of them slid back up through the spiraling tunnel of X's thoughts to where they had began. The green streams of silk passed by their bodies until they stopped moving.

"X… is that a bad memory for you?" she asked.

Mega Man made a start at shaking his head, but he couldn't quite commit to it.

"I'm not sure," he said. "It's probably the most important event of my young life. If I hadn't found this… I'd probably just be another Maverick Hunter, long since passed away like many of the Hunters I've known throughout my time."

He paced uncomfortably in the hall of his memories, undistracted by the other pieces of history and the green faerie lights. "I had wanted to ask him so many questions," he said "but he was just a hologram, nothing more. I encountered many similar capsules in the future, each increasing my powers, but I haven't seen one in almost ten years. I've all but given up hope on seeing him again."

"I wish there was something I could do to help," Raven consoled him.

X's smile in return was mild, but warmly received by the dark sorceress. "I'm just glad to have your company. Now, how about a more pleasant memory?"

"I couldn't agree more," she returned. "What did you have in mind?"

X's hand signaled another one of the tunnels to come forth and with a blink of his eyes, the image inside changed. He narrowed his expression, shook his head, then blinked and changed the picture again. It was a green, grassy cliff overhanging a mass of land and water that looked to be possibly a few miles below. Another Mega Man X was not far from the cliff's edge.

"Here, this is a good one," the present X said as he pulled Raven through the tunnel, filling the surroundings with a warm breeze and the feeling of soft, thick, unkempt grass underneath their feet. Raven neared the edge of the cliff, and the sight made her leap away with her heart drumming inside her even though her ability to fly would never allow her to fall.

Struggling for breath she asked, "Where _is_ this?"

"This," X laughed as he helped her to her feet, "Is the Floating Island, on the planet Mobius."

Raven slowly leaned over the edge, searching for some kind of ground supporting the large stretch of land high in the air, but the rocks on the side jaggedly curved downward and disappeared out of sight toward the center of whatever it was they were on. As she pulled away, she looked across the grassy plains that they stood at. In the distance, she could see a dense forest, towering mountains, and birds flying through the sky. Then she locked eyes with X's former self, but this time the past was not far from the present. His pupils shone a bright green, and he carried himself very sternly; full of confidence, but weighted with years of fighting. The armor he wore, however, was different. Raven remembered it as the bird-like armor that she had seen in X's science lab aboard the Dreamweaver. The expression on his face was near empty, but she could tell how much trouble was on his mind. Raven turned to the real X and nudged against his arm to encourage him to talk about this particular memory.

"The Floating Island is an incredible place," he said. "The echidna race that primarily inhabits it is one of the most advanced societies that I've met. However, many years ago, a meteor was hurling directly towards it. They didn't have the ability to stop such a disaster, so they did the next best thing. They moved their entire continent to the sky where it couldn't be touched by the meteor."

"What?" Raven said aghast. "How… how is that possible?"

"By using the most powerful source of energy they had, and with a little tunneling to separate it all from the earth," he said simply. "It was this source of power that originally brought me to the Floating Island."

Raven scoffed. "The Mavericks were after it, weren't they?"

"Exactly right," X nodded, "and they were almost successful, too, but with some help from friends that I made along the way, we managed to stop them and protect the Floating Island from crashing down into the earth, much like a meteor itself."

The dark sorceress's eyes were wide with amazement. "That's amazing, X," she said, "but what and when is this memory?"

X surveyed his own double, who was breathing deeply in meditation. "This was my last day here, about a year ago," he said. "I was on the planet Mobius for nearly a year and a half, and I didn't know what to do with my last days, so I decided to spend it up here, admiring the rest of the planet below."

"The view…" she whispered, carefully leaning over the cliff's edge, "it's incredible."

X smiled warmly with the nostalgia of the moment. "Yes, it was."

He turned to take Raven's hand firmly as his double stood up and dashed for the cliff's edge. Following suit, he ran next to his former self and took a shocked and startled Raven in his tow.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she shouted at him with exasperation as they neared a drop-off so dizzying that not even those capable of flight would normally approach it.

X's eyes burned with a fire that Raven had never seen. His face was teeming with exhilaration from the wind blowing his face and the platform's end becoming closer and closer into view. "You wanted to know something that makes me feel alive? Well here it is!"

His arms spread like an eagle's wings; X took Raven down with him from the majesty of the Floating Island into the freedom of the endless sky. The land below was a mass of different colored patches representing forest land, plains, cities, and bodies of water, but after the initial moment of the sheer exhilaration, neither of them felt the need to keep their eyes open. Raven let her dark hair and her cape fly behind her in the wind's current, and Mega Man smiled as he relived the sensation with his past falling next to them.

The moment didn't last. Raven and X found themselves collapsed on the floor of X's quarters aboard the Dreamweaver. It had been so intense; the air and the falling so real, that it had physically pulled Raven away from their link for just a moment.

She slowly picked herself up with a surprisingly great deal of difficulty and clasped her hand over her chest, which was pulsing vibrantly between her heartbeat and her adrenaline pressed lungs.

"Are you alright?" X asked, slightly winded himself, but not to the degree that Raven had reached.

Her heart pounding with exhilaration, she slowly answered, "Yes, I'm alright, I think."

"That's probably enough for right now," X laughed. "You look like you need some rest."

She smiled and bowed her head. "Where am I going to sleep?"

"There are a few rooms of both human and reploid sleeping quarters on board," he answered. He then looked around his own room. "But if you want to stay nearby, there's actually both human beds and sleeping capsules in here, although I'm sure you'd prefer the former of the two choices."

She looked at the white-sheeted bunk beds in the corner of the room, and then at the pair of darkly colored containers with thick glass plates covering the insides. It was invitingly mysterious and appealing. X raised his eyebrow in a curious interest.

"Looks comfortable," she smiled.

X's face unleashed a varying cluster of different expressions, none of which seemed to fit his surprise at Raven's decision. He eventually shook his head with a grin of intrigue at Raven's ability to never cease to amaze him. He touched a keypad on the side of the second capsule, causing the glass tube to slide open, revealing a snug looking, angled chair shape built into the capsule's design. Raven stepped inside, and she sank very gently into the material that contoured perfectly to her shape and coaxed her body into relaxation.

"If you need anything, I'll be in the one next to you. To get out, just pull on the handle above your head."

"Mmm, thank you," she mumbled, her body already drifting off into rest. X smiled at the sweet, dark girl as her eyes closed and her violet hair pressed against her face when she leaned to the capsule's side.

Mega Man leaned away and glanced at the Red Lotus sitting near the bunks.

"The sword of a hero… I do hope it's meant for you. It was obvious that it wasn't meant for Zero."

A look of seriousness washed over his eyes of green when the back of his hand tingled yet again. The strangely colored splotches hadn't become clearer yet, but he knew deep down that something was stirring, and that he and Zero were somehow connected to it. Unknown to him, Raven was instinctively rubbing the back of her own hand against her leg while she slept.


	16. Shiekiah

**Chapter 16 – Shiekiah**

A window pane split in four by the cross of decaying wood in its center shone into a blank, featureless room. Other than a second window on the opposing wall, this single room, single story building was derelict of any furniture, personal belongings, and even insect life. Only a single, silent occupant laid current claim to this place. Sitting cross-legged on the turquoise colored, smoothed out stone floor, the shrouded figure was immersed in the beams of faint light shining through one of the panes. The cobalt cloak on the being covered a slim, slightly undernourished figure, but one that was still brimming with strength if the need to use it ever came.

Waves of blonde hair were just long enough to hang down out of the white, bandage-like wrapping on the being's head to cover up the left eye, but the figure's crimson pupils passed through them as both lids slowly averted from their meditation.

"You have returned," came an anxious voice from the seemingly lone being. "Please, tell me of the Hero," she asked at nothing from behind her cloak.

A wisp of silver skated across the dim lighting and expanded itself in front of the being. It slowly took the transparent shape of a burly, dark-skinned woman with a fierce posture and hair as silvery-white as the substance that she came from.

"I am afraid I did not get a glimpse of him," she began hesitantly like a failed servant to a master.

"Oh…" replied the first being with a touch of disappointment, but she did not scold or condemn the ghostly woman before her. "That is… unfortunate… but I trust that things with the girl went well?"

The mist of her presence shifted slowly as she bowed her head affirmatively. "The new Sage of darkness is astoundingly powerful. She is still young, but she shows remarkable courage, strength and wisdom."

"She has a kind heart as well, I assume?"

The female apparition nodded firmly.

"Good." She paced to the window, looking out a bleak, and half abandoned township. Houses were in shambles, the grass maintained an unhealthy tan color; even the air itself seemed arid of the zeal of life.

"Might I add that she also seems to show a genuine interest in the Hero himself," said the ghost abruptly.

The other woman's head jerked sharply, then back to its position, trying to conceal the movement ever happening in the first place.

"I… I see," she whispered.

The motion of the ethereal woman was silent, and the light cast no shadow through her as she joined her master at the pane.

"Princess, we should leave this hovel."

"Please, do not call me that," she said, disheartened. "I no longer deserve such a title."

The ghost's voice softened ever so slightly to this strange princess's downcast heart. "I apologize," she said, "but to me you will always be the destined princess that I must guard as long as you wish it of me."

The princess's head bowed solemnly, and her attendant heard the light sniffle that escaped her.

"Princess, the King of Darkness is gone. There is no reason to fear leaving this place anymore. Let us go for a walk."

The princess's cheeks rose up from behind the black cloak, which she promptly dropped on the stone floor. Her body was covered in a thick, lapis lazuli garb that clung tightly to her, and thin, white layers bearing the symbol of a piercing red eye protected her at the chest.

"You have always been so strong," she said to the ghost. "I promise that you will not have to suffer my service much longer. As soon as the hero arrives and we are released from this dreadful place, you will be free to go on to the afterlife as you should have been so long ago."

As they left the single, bare door at the side of the undersized shack, her attendant responded with, "Do not torture yourself over my fate, princess. It has been a pleasure to serve you and the greater good of our world as well as others. I would not have been content in the great beyond knowing that I had forsaken your aid."

They went out into the dark world that they were imprisoned within. Although the sight of a strangely outfitted woman and a spirit would have been abnormal in most cultures, this land of misfits saw nothing especially frightening about the duo itself, but the rigid way that the princess and her bulky guard carried themselves did make many of the darker inhabitants cower. A mist hung not especially far down from the clouds, giving the place an eerily dark mood to match the beings that lived there. Each tree held the scent of sickness and death, as well as the distinct impression of faces on the trunks. They swayed gently without the presence of wind as the princess walked past them with her attendant drifting behind.

"I do wonder, what has become of our beautiful land of Hyrule in all our time absent from it?" the Princess asked. "Do you think it still flourishes?"

Her attendant quickly responded with, "I am sure it is well;" an answer that was easily perceived as false in order to make her feel better.

"What is it?" her master demanded. "What has happened?"

The white-haired woman shook her head in subtle despondence. "Ever since you were a child; without your even knowing it, you and the Hero have protected the land of Hyrule from those who would harm it by the presence of the power within the both of you." She sighed, bearing the weight of her master's worry now. "But… with you trapped in this Dark World and the new Hero having not been awakened yet, I fear that your strength cannot reach our old home, and that it has since fallen into darkness."

Her eyes dropped in grief, and her lips pursed behind the cloth covering them; trying to fight tears. Sadness wouldn't accomplish anything, especially not in the Dark World that imprisoned them.

"Princess, you seem burdened with many more questions, and forgive me for being insensitive, but I have many to ask of you as well."

"Go ahead," she answered blandly.

She cleared her throat; an unnecessary movement for a ghost, but then again, so was maintaining a human form. "We know the location of only one of the eight sages; the dark sorceress which I met. Have you any knowledge of the others? We will want to make the hero's burden to locate them as painless as possible."

They passed into an open plain. Much of the grass and trees was dead or dying, and the bitter, lifeless wind that whipped what little was left standing remained in an attempt to hinder anything else from growing. In the distance she could see Hell Mountain; a towering mass of peaks with a broken down castle merely a tiny speck at the very top. She had heard tales of a hideous dungeon known as Turtle Rock existing not far from the castle itself. It was supposedly used at a place to harbor monsters and the most important of prisoners.

"_Ironic"_, she thought, before answering her aide's question. In her world, a very similar mountain stood in the very same place with a castle at the top, and very nearby that was actually a much smaller dungeon that had been abandoned for ages.

She turned to the hulking ghost woman and answered. "I believe that Saria will still be the Sage of Forest, and there is another young girl whom the Sage of Darkness has apparently befriended who may be the Sage of Earth. As for the others… I am not so sure."

"Hmm? You sense trouble?" the ghostly woman asked.

"Perhaps," the Princess returned as they began to traverse the field. "I have a strange feeling that the one or two of the past sages my not be so willing to give up their powers after having their spirits bound for so long like ours have been, and likewise, I worry that some of the new sages may be reluctant to join the Hero so easily."

The apparition raised a thick eyebrow, and her pointed hears shifted very slightly in disbelief. "This is… an instinct of yours, Princess?"

She shrugged. "Something like that. I know that there's no way I could know such things, but my heart and mind seem to agree them."

She suddenly yelled out in frustration into the open fields, and many in the distance around her stared, then quickly hid themselves like startled animals.

"Why is all this happening?" she shouted in vain. "Have the goddesses forsaken us?"

The Princess turned to her attendant, who floated nearly as rigidly as always, but the young woman knew that it was her way, and that she, in her own fashion, was showing kindness.

"I'm sorry. I just wish that it could be the way it used to be. The darkness always comes, tries to conquer, and then the Hero comes to stop it. Everything seems so much worse this time. I don't even understand how, but this time the Hero's quest spans between so many worlds and nearly all of the sages' whereabouts are unclear. We don't even know who or what we're trying to stop. And I…"

"You feel like just a pawn in everything this time?"

She plunked herself down onto the cold ground and rubbed the exposed parts of her face. 'A pawn' didn't even begin to describe the way she felt.

"I… and all of my ancestors have played vital roles in the Hero's quest to stop evil, but this time…" she couldn't stop the tears this time as they mixed with her hair and the garments protecting her face beneath the eyes. "I haven't told you yet. The mark? It's begun to vanish from my hand. I wonder… if it was something wrong I did that made me lose it."

"Perhaps it was time for the burden to be carried by someone else?"

The Princess looked up and smiled a teary smile.

"I'm a fool. Anyone but me would consider it a gift from the heavens to be relieved of this." She wiped away some of her tears. "Maybe I just drew my lineage too close to the Hero."

"I do not think that is the reason that your mark is fading. You are still and always will be very powerful, and perhaps the reason that this is happening is because the next Evil is not so closely connected to you."

She stood up and dried the rest of her face, leaving small red areas where the tears had splotched her skin.

"That… I guess makes sense," she admitted. "But I still want to know what happened to the last hero. I want to know what happened…"

They continued their walk across the field in the direction of Hell Mountain silently. The mountain itself was not their destination. They were traveling to a moderately large hut deep within a forest near its base. There, the Princess, being the only one of the two who needed it, would receive something small but substantial enough to eat. She earned this privilege in the Dark World by hunting animals and bringing her slain prey back to this place where the food was cooked or sold by a pair of old hags who resided there in exchange for anything they deemed of value. It proved to be a lucrative profession in this particular place, for the land was barely able to support crops, and the Princess's exchange for the food was providing the food itself; a task she found easy between her own skills and her servant able to easily seek out prey without being noticed. However, if she ever wanted the food, the old hags would give it to her for free in exchange for the several occasions where she fended of thieves and fiends who would simply have taken the food and perhaps the hags' lives.

The Princess's guardian suddenly interrupted their walk not far from the hut.

"Princess, what do you think will become of this land once we are freed from it?" she asked.

The young woman stopped abruptly. "I… don't know," she mumbled. "It was the King of Darkness who created it before, but now that he has gone… I believe that my presence is the only thing still holding it all together."

"Perhaps it is for the best that this place be destroyed," her guard responded. "It is, after all, an abomination of life."

She turned to her attendant, shocked at the harshness. "We cannot pass judgment on these people!" she exclaimed.

"Princess, I understand your feeling, but they are not natural. They were created for the purposes of darkness, and…"

"You do not know that! Not all of these people have the black hearts you suggest were intended for them!"

Her attendant sighed audibly. "I do not want you to think of me as harsh, so let me put it this way. I know that your task in defeating the Great Evil this time seems nonexistent, but you are the only person who can set the Hero on the beginning of his quest, aren't you?"

She remained silent, and looked up into the gray sky with her knuckles turning white in clenched fists.

"And what would you do to hold this place together? If your theory about the dark world is correct, then the only others who could maintain it are the Hero himself, which we know is not an option, the new Sage of Darkness, which is again not possible because she must be with the Hero, and third is whomever the new holder of the former Evil's power." She stared the princess down firmly. "You know we must discover who that person is. There is a distinct possibility that he or she will be the next great Evil."

"I'm sorry," she said. "You're right. There is no chance for this place. Still, I cannot help but worry about the inhabitants of this place that don't deserve to be destroyed."

They reached the hut, and they both heard a great deal of commotion from the two hags inside, but it only seemed to be at each other; a very common thing between them, as the Princess had recently learned that they were fraternal twin sisters.

She walked in to see that the large hovel was empty of customers, and the two hags immediately locked their unusually large, yellowed eyes on her.

"Oh, Sheik, Sheik!" They addressed the Princess in hysterics, "Something very very very strange is happening! Something big! Something Huge! Something dark and evil!"

"Whoa, whoa, please slow down," she answered. "What are you talking about?"

The two old ladies bounced up and down in a panic and blabbered many different sentences into one; something about a horde of evil soldiers coming in and eating, and overhearing strange things about the castle on Hell Mountain being used again. None of it had any meaning to Shiek until she heard a few phrases that made her spine tingle with fear and urgency.

As she bolted out the door with her eyes fixated on top of the mountain, the words kept repeating in her head: _Sage of Light, Held prisoner, Turtle Rock_.

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Author's comments:

Oooooh... sneaky plot twists andstuff. Hope you all liked it and are excited for more. But come on, making one simple review isn't that hard. I'm desperate here. Once I get a single review, I'll get working on that next chapter.


	17. She Dance

Author's Notes: I hope you all like this one. No cliffhangers this time. Just a nice sweet ending after a (mostly) battle free chapter.

Oh, and I in no way own the rights to the Energizer.

**Chapter 17 – She Dance**

"You've gotten good in just a few days!" X huffed with his weapon in hand. His sword and armor both had black stains resembling burns from where the flaming Red Lotus had brushed past him. Raven grinned with sweat dripping down her face and neck as she stared at him only a few feet away. She held the Lotus with a confidence that had been absent less than a week ago. With a slick spin of her sword, she slashed the almost weightless sword with a blinding streak of fire at Mega Man, who lurched backward to evade it. Raven was already rebounding for a second swipe, but she felt flat, cold steel collapsing her at the knee, and in the next moment, X had stomped Raven's sword arm to the ground and had his own blade nearly an inch away from her chest.

"But you've still got plenty to learn."

Raven sighed between the frustration of having been beaten again and the exhaustion of their practice. She relaxed her grip on the Red Lotus, and its flames vanished.

"You'd think that you might go easy on me every now and then so I can actually win," she huffed.

X laughed with fatigue of his own and pulled the dark sorceress to her feet. "Now what fun would that be?" he said with a teasing smile that Raven returned to him.

An electronic signal from the computer surrounded them inside the holodeck. "_Estimated time until arrival is one hour, zero minutes_."

"Whoa!" Raven exclaimed with a startled urgency, "I've got to go and get ready!"

"So do I!" X returned with a heightened excitement and a smile on his face. "I can't believe how fast the time went!"

They both sheathed their swords and rushed off to the places that they needed to be. They ran together until they reached X's room, which was actually Raven's stopping point. X split off from her and hurried to the science lab, where he took great care in cleaning his armor. Any parts that were removable were taken off so he could clean them better and polish them thoroughly. He took a special, clear liquid in a spray bottle and lined his face with it, let it sit for a moment, then wiped it off with a very clean white cloth which he disposed of afterward. He then stepped into an empty armor capsule that was connected to all of the others, and a dark glass casing slid shut over him. The farthest armor capsule from him, the one that he wouldn't show Raven, began to glow in sync with the one he stood in, and a large display of steam and electricity began to vent from both capsules. After a moment, the noise dimmed to mere hums, whirs, and the occasional sounds of metal clanging gently together, but the capsule that X concealed himself in shone brightly throughout the entire process while he waited patiently inside of it.

Raven, on the opposite end of sanity compared to her reploid date, had stripped herself very quickly to shower off the grime and smoke stains that she had collected while sparring with X and the Red Lotus. She had to remind herself to breathe; the more worked up she got, the more likely she was to pass out in the shower from the strain of the weapon. Besides, she was only getting ready for an incredibly formal event surrounded by everyone X knew where she had to wear a dress and, God forbid, might even have to dance.

"Ugh," she groaned, as she quickly cleansed herself and leapt out of the shower after a quick wrap around of thick towel; a second one turbaned to her hair.

"Hmm?" She felt the length of the dark lavender locks that had begun to pass her shoulders. "I still haven't cut my hair…" she murmured to herself, "but…"

There was no mirror in X's room, so she pulled out a dark, oval shaped hand mirror lined in red. She tossed the towel on her hair aside, and she didn't understand her own feelings. She never let it get this long on purpose, but something inside her simply wouldn't let her cut it off.

Realizing the time, or lack thereof remaining, she ignored the awkward feeling and decided that it would save time if she left her hair at the length it was. Rummaging through her bags, she found a hair drier that she set to the highest setting, worried that she would be late. At the same time, she attempted to jump into her dress with a single hand, and after falling over twice, she cursed herself.

"What the heck am I thinking?" she sighed.

While still maintaining one hand on the hairdryer, she focused her mind on the dress, and as she floated a few inches from the ground, the pure white dress slid on almost effortlessly. She dropped the hairdryer, or rather, she threw it haphazardly toward her suitcases, and she pulled the gown's crossing straps over her head. Using her mind again, she cleared off every bit of dust, dirt, and anything else that contaminated the dress even the slightest amount. Nothing was going to ruin this night. She slipped the silky pearl gloves on up past her elbows and smoothed them free of every wrinkle. She stopped for just a moment, feeling another instance of awkwardness. She started to sway her hips in a somewhat ungraceful manner. First lightly, then much more powerfully.

"Wow… this thing is actually… kind of comfortable," she mused. But she felt something inconsistent on one of her legs. On the inside, very difficult to see to the naked eye, was a tiny line exactly where Gizmo had sewn it up, but there was still no trace on the exterior of the glowing dress.

She shook her head. "I have this dress thanks to a giant woman and a snot-nosed know-it-all midget…… I have strange friends."

She checked her mirror carefully so she could see that the dress was situated alright on her body. She was satisfied enough, so she placed her matching shoes on and then pulled out the white silver clip that the large woman from the store had given her. She gave it a quick glance and began to put it in her hair, but she stopped and pulled it back into her line of sight again. Raven almost couldn't look away from the three silver triangles. They seemed so strangely familiar.

A strange surge of painful memories made Raven feel like her stomach was going to collapse. For a few brief seconds, she saw the strange light that had rescued her from death, X's sword surging with power when she used it, and even the face of the woman from the Black and White Boutique. She gasped for her body to calm down, and slowly, it did. Raven momentarily felt an urgent mind closing in on her.

"_It's alright X, everything's fine_. _Just a few bad memories resurfacing for a second_."

The urgency turned to skepticism, which eventually faded away until the emotion was placid enough so that she couldn't feel it.

"Thanks, though," Raven added quietly to herself. She glared at the ornament, determined not to be offset by whatever the three triangles meant, and she clipped it comfortably into the locks of hair behind her right ear.

The Dreamweaver's speakers sounded gently. "_Estimated time until arrival is fifteen minutes."_

Nervousness still coursed through her, but she knew that X felt it too no matter how little he showed it, and it gave her a meager measure of comfort. To finish out her outfit, she decided that she ought to do something with her hair other than put a clip in it and let it sit straight. It was just too… plain. Her eyes blackened gently with a small bit of her power, and after some dozens of waves of her hand and many hairstyles, she finally settled on a look of gentle waves throughout her hair with the bottoms curled upward just a little so that it didn't merely hang there.

X's voice came to her from outside the room, and it made her panic uncharacteristically.

"Are you all set in there?" he asked with a touch of anxiety himself. "We'll be landing in less than five minutes."

"I, uh… not quite," she made up quickly. "I… still need to, uh… do something…"

Raven could tell that Mega Man saw through it and was smiling. "Alright then," he answered, "meet me outside the Dreamweaver as soon as you're ready."

She let out a shaking sigh. It was already more than out of character for her just to be wearing what she was wearing, let alone going to a formal, high class dance with someone who didn't share either her half human or half demon species. Even more frightening to her, and fright itself wasn't commonplace for Raven, was the way she couldn't help but feel toward him despite their drastic physical differences. She touched her cheeky gently, trying to grasp the feeling of when his lips gently pressed against her that one time. It was the one time; the only time that it had happened. He had fought it since then, and so had she. When you dedicate yourself to protecting the innocent, having a romance in your life only leads to disaster. It was an unspoken rule of those labeled as heroes that Raven knew very well even without thinking on it.

"_A relationship… interferes_," she thought. Still, the urge to take the chance was so strong. She felt as near to him as Robin and Starfire were to each other, but Raven banged her fist on the mattress that she had plopped herself down on when she thought of their relationship. It wasn't what she wanted, and she could feel that X wanted more, too. She felt a deep wound somewhere inside of him that wouldn't heal itself. Whether he couldn't or wouldn't heal it, she didn't know, but she did know that she wanted to help. The dark sorceress looked at herself in white and shut her eyes tightly together trying to stop the tingling in her eyes.

She felt a slight jolt, and assuming that it was the Dreamweaver passing through the atmosphere of X's planet, she shook her contemplations away, letting them become meaningless bits of thought that she hoped would just be forgotten for the time. X would sense the worry, and she was determined to let him feel happy for tonight.

The ship landed. It was time to go. She took a few brief moments to check her mirror to make sure that everything looked just right, and then she headed to the Dreamweaver's exit. She stopped just far enough from the door so that it wouldn't automatically open at her presence, and she took deep, sighing breaths, preparing herself for the new world she was about to enter; the world of Mega Man X.

The doors slid open, and the first natural sunlight that she had seen in almost a week shone into her face as it was setting in the distance, turning the sky a pale red. She stepped down and looked for X. She heard his voice coming from a small crowd of people which kept her from seeing, but the cluster began to part, and Mega Man appeared, donned in magnificent white armor. She stared in awe at the reploid; every bit of his body and face was perfect. He looked very regal, and yet somehow subtly dignified at the same time. She had difficulty looking anywhere but his face. It seemed so gentle in the powerful suit of metal, and the jewel in the forehead of his helmet was no longer red, but almost diamond-like instead. Draping back from his shoulder guards where thick, white lengths of fabric that reminded her of a formal tailcoat, and they swayed with majesty as he approached her. A reddish tint from the sunset shifted itself on his reflective body as he moved, and Raven suddenly realized that a spot of drool was leaking from her open mouth which she quickly sucked back in very obviously.

X did his fair share of staring in return. He stood at the bottom of the flight of stairs, paralyzed with just the sight of Raven. In his mind he tried to imagine what she would wear. He had constantly pictured something dark. Never did he expect this beautiful woman to appear in front of him, and he smiled. He smiled so hard and he couldn't even help it.

"You… I… you look…" X's mouth flung open in a pitiful attempt at speaking as the smile still willed itself to stay on his face, but Raven understood him even though she could barely return the words herself.

"I… you do... too… look handsome, I mean."

A stern, slightly sarcastic and very familiar voice came from the crowd.

"Are you two coming, or are you just going to stare at each other all night?"

The two of them turned to look at a dressed-up Zero, who had his arms crossed and about as strong a grin as his rigid facial features could muster. Raven felt her face heat up with embarrassment, but the sunset prevented it from being noticeable. X was lucky enough to not have such problems, but if he did he would be much redder than the sorceress, for the crowd was all people he knew.

X offered his arm, and Raven took it as they entered the crowd comprised of several people, some of which were clearly reploids, while others looked so human that she wasn't quite sure.

"I didn't expect you to be going to the ball," Raven said to Zero, being it was the only person she recognized. His outfit was hardly different than the bright red armor that he donned normally. In fact, the only change that she noticed at all was that the color of his reploid body was jet black, and his ankle-length hair was a silvery gray.

"I didn't expect me to be going, either," he said, "but I didn't have any other plans, and I figured that if I told the other Hunters I was going, then it would make them shut up about it for a little while."

Another one of the reploids laughed. "Zero, I swear you're the only person I know who would be irritated by hordes of female reploids hitting them."

Raven's eyes bugged out. "So, does this mean you're kind of like the Maverick Hunter's ladies' man?" she asked, giving him the same sarcasm that he gave her.

The whole crowd laughed, excluding Zero, who only snorted.

"It's the hair," X whispered. "Chicks dig the hair."

Raven rolled her eyes as the reploid who had addressed Zero approached her with exuberance that matched Beast Boy's, but he fortunately lacked the immaturity.

"I like this girl already!" he beamed. He was shorter than X, but still just taller than Raven herself, and his body looked less mechanical than X's or Zero's. He had no helmet, showing short black hair, and his green technician jump suit was only partially comprised of metal. The rest of it seemed to be made of something softer and more pliable, which was only present in a few places on Mega Man. His eyes, however, gave him away as a reploid. His eyes themselves seemed to be somehow connected to the goggles that he wore tightly over them.

"Raven, this is Douglas," X introduced them as he they shook hands, "senior technician at Maverick Hunter HQ, and often times the optimism where it doesn't otherwise exist."

"Well, somebody has to be," Douglas jested, "goodness knows I can't count on you or Zero for that."

Another reploid who's facial construction was very cubist, not having the normal contours of a face, approached, but he looked very important. The formal rigidity of his dark colored garb practically exuded 'military', but he smiled warmly, and Raven returned it in kind.

"This is Admiral Signas," he told her, "a good friend and tactical leader of the Hunters."

"In other words," Signas said with what resembled a sort of deep voiced, Australian accent, "I get to do the boring stuff while X and everyone else go out to fight."

"I'm sure you're much more important than that," Raven smiled politely as she shook his sizable metallic hand.

Raven went through several more rounds of introductions with fellow Hunters and other friends of X's before a long, white vehicle momentarily blocked the rays of sun that still hadn't completely dropped below the horizon. It was very fancy, and had a reflective gleam that topped that of the reploids standing in front of her.

"Ah," Signas noticed, "Your sky lira appears to have arrived."

Raven glanced at X, and he immediately answered her unspoken question.

"Think of it as… a flying limo of sorts."

"Do most people ride them there?" she asked as it made a slow vertical landing just past the crowd.

"Oh, not everyone can get one of those reserved!" Douglas answered, giving a sly grin to X. "You see, he's almost like a celebrity here, in his own way. He didn't tell you?"

"No, Doug," Mega Man rolled his eyes embarrassingly, "I generally don't go around and proclaim stardom to everybody."

"Well, if you _did_…"

"Hey!" Zero interjected sharply. "X is a respected Hunter. Let's leave it at that."

"We should be going anyway," added Signas. "We don't want to be late for the great evening!"

Zero had already made a motion toward a wheel-less, one person vehicle much like the one X had aboard the Dreamweaver. After starting the cycle, it hovered a few inches above the ground and then dashed off toward a mountain range in the distance. The rest of the reploids waved their hasty goodbyes, and gathered into a large silver jeep that followed after Zero, with Douglas screeching like an animal in the back while making an overenthusiastic gesture with his arms with the rest of them following suit, save Signas, who was too busy driving.

"Are your friends always like that, or is it just about tonight?" Raven asked amusedly.

X shrugged helplessly. "Well… both, I think."

They approached the sky lira, and the driver, a reploid with an inhuman face stepped out. He had the facial features of an eagle; a sharp beak, and purple, mechanical sets of facial feathers. His eyes were large and also very inhuman, and although he smiled politely, it made Raven somehow uncomfortable. He was dressed in black, contrasting against the lira's white exterior, and he bowed humbly as he opened the door for Raven and X.

Avoiding eye contact, Raven stepped inside with X following behind her. The interior was made primarily of soft leather, and all perfectly white. There was a long stretch of windows at the back, on both sides, and much of the floor was comprised of thick, transparent glass. Raven sat with her back to the driver with X facing her from an opposing seat. Fortunately, a thick, dark tinted glass case separated the two passengers from the driver.

"He bothers you?" X asked.

Raven made an apologetic face, trying to explain the prejudice that she assumed would offend Mega Man, and yet he smiled softly and held up his hand.

"It's alright," he explained. "A lot of humans feel uncomfortable around the reploids that don't look like them at all. It's not like they're any different in any other way, but because most Maverick reploids don't have human faces, the association between the two is usually made."

"Why do most Mavericks have different faces?" Raven asked curiously, trying to sound as accepting and neutral as possible.

The sky lira slowly pulled away from the ground with a very gentle humming sound. The ride was smooth, and she could see the ground passing beneath them. She stared toward the glorious Dreamweaver, and she saw nothing surrounding it aside from grassy plains and small, rocky mountains, and the flat strip of runway that the Dreamweaver sat on. Before X answered, she gave him yet another question.

"Is the Dreamweaver going to be safe just left there?" she asked confused, but when she turned back, there was no trace of Mega Man.

"EEEEK!" She leapt when she felt a squeeze around the waist from something when there was nothing.

"Cloaking," X laughed, as a prismatic flush of color traced his body and he reappeared as he had before. "I can only stay like that for a few minutes. The Dreamweaver can stay like that for days, not to mention that there's actually a tech crew stationed beneath the runway, but I thought you wanted to know why Mavericks don't have human faces?"

"Right, sorry," she answered quickly, her chest expanding and shrinking with her short gasps at breath after having been severely startled.

X grinned happily at the result of his small prank, especially because Raven didn't seem incredibly offended; merely out of breath. He stared out the side of the window; the city he grew up in slowly coming into view as tiny pillars in the distance with more and more lights coming on as darkness and a large, pale blue moon began to rule the skies. The transparent floor had been difficult to look through at first being so close to the ground, but it had become quite nice to spy upon the trees and mountains below. Raven noticed more than just foliage and rock, though. There seemed to be a great number of areas of land beneath them that looked like they had been ravaged by something not many years ago. Everything in those places seemed to be slightly more arid of life.

An audible sigh brought Raven's attention back to the shining green eyes of the white-armored Mega Man.

"The Mavericks…" he began, "more than anything else, despise humans. They think of humans as a hindrance to all reploid kind. In their struggle to be set apart, many Mavericks that are built and many who become Mavericks don't have human faces, or sometimes even human bodies. It's mostly a testament to how much they hate us."

"X, you just referred to yourself as human…"

A moment filled with awkward glances passed between them. Raven was curious. X was confused. They both said nothing.

Raven sat down on the white leather next to him and took his arm while staring into his face. X's shoulders rose up and them slumped down with the weight of a single word; using 'us' when describing humans. He felt anger toward that one word, but he knew there was no point. He had already pushed into this strange territory.

"Mega Man, I'm… I'm here for you."

"Thank you," X answered quietly before continuing. "I guess… it's that I'm not so sure where I belong. I'm certainly not a Maverick, but purely by what I'm made of, I can't be human, either." He watched the moon rise in the distance with Raven still grasping his arm lightly. "I've been told that I'm very much like a human, by Mavericks, Hunters and humans alike, so…"

"I understand," she replied. "I'm half human and half demon by blood. I'm stuck in the middle somewhere, but I still managed to find great friends, like Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, and…"

"Even Beast Boy?"

An amused giggle barely managed to escape her lips. Even though it was miniscule, X knew that she truly found it amusing, and it warmed him in the same way that a caring embrace would.

"I was _going_ to say _you_," Raven answered, "…but I guess Beast Boy too."

"Yeah, I guess it isn't all that bad. Just strange sometimes."

The city was getting closer now, and the sky becoming darker with it. Raven turned and pressed her hands against the window as she looked forward to X's world in front of her. It was almost exactly as she had remembered it from his mind, except there was thankfully no violence or bloodshed. Aerial and non-flying vehicles were scattered sparsely among the streets, with the shining towers colored turquoise and fuchsia on either side of them. It was like the whole city glowed, not just the lights coming from windows like Jump City that she and the Titans protected. It… almost reminded her of home; her real home, when she was just a child. Not the buildings or people, or the flying cars or the shining moon; no, it was something about the feel; the way it could shine for miles in the distance and welcome all who see it.

"Funny," said X softly, "it never looks the same when I come back."

Raven followed his eyes to a spot far from where she had been gazing. Construction seemed to be in progress on a wide scale in many places in the city, not just where X was looking.

"Mavericks?" she asked, not really needing to know the answer as X nodded his head.

"It's a war, isn't it?" she probed him.

X kept staring, pained at the sight of all that was being built and would probably have to rebuilt and rebuilt again. "It's always been a war," he said. "And I don't think it's at all near over..."

He turned at Raven with one side of his mouth twisted up in a content way, puzzling the expression on her face so that it made the sullen mood into a joyous one.

"But for now," he beamed, "we're on the winning side of the war, and I think that's cause for celebration. Oh, and look!" he pointed out the window, "That would be the cruise ship that we're riding on for the evening."

"Cruise ship? You didn't tell me we were riding on a…" Raven's mouth only hung open. They were closing in not on a body of water that would hold a boat, but instead a flying ship that soared over a small hilltop above the height of the city. It wasn't impressive to see a flying ship normally; she had already become accustomed to the Dreamweaver, but this ship was far different. It wasn't built for war or travel. Anyone could recognize that this bird was for pure enjoyment. It resembled something of an old steam liner boat, but much larger and with shining silver archways from port to starboard bows that held curves of cerulean light on their undersides. As they came still nearer to it, she could not believe its size. Four sections of massive panes of glass stood easily a dozen stories high on the ship's side; three at the top half of the ship, and one at the bottom toward the back; showing different mingling people in completely different atmospheres of enjoyment, although they weren't quite close enough to accurately tell what was in each section.

As they circled about to the bow above the liner, Raven and X watched the name "R.S. Luminary" go by in bold white letters.

"We're here," Raven said, trying to take in everything in front of her as they approached the landing strip on top of the ship. Other similar liras were landing or already parked, with many reploids greeting each other jubilantly in their formal armor or suits. A wide transporter pad had Hunter after Hunter landing on it, looking like streams of colored energy until they reformed themselves; just the way that X did it.

They dropped slowly to a glide and landed on the Luminary's bow amongst the rest of the guests. Many eyes made extended glances at their lira as they passed, but when Mega Man X stepped out first, the glaring became far more intense. Raven wasn't sure she wanted to get out; the stares made her itch nervously, but X's hand reached out to hers, and she was compelled to take it. Once she stepped above the guard of the open door, even more stares began to gather, this time accompanied by whispers spreading further and further through the crowd.

_That's commander X! _..._who's that girl?_

Raven flinched, trying to maintain composure. She felt chills traveling through her arms; they weren't shaking, but she felt out of place. X squeezed her hand tightly. She could hear more murmurs coming from the reploids.

_Commander X is so handsome_… _is that a human girl? _…_Is she from another world? _…_Wow, she's gorgeous!_

"What?" Raven said amazed, not believing what she had just heard, but a couple of reploid Hunters dressed in green came to greet them, and both the male and female reploids saluted Mega Man rigidly.

"At ease, cadets," X said with a smile, "this is a party, not a briefing."

"Yes sir," the male responded, and they both dropped their formalism. He had enthusiasm on his face and a very outgoing personality. Coming from behind his helmet, streaks of silvery hair fell down the length of his back, and he had a transparent crystal in both his chest and on the frontal part of his head armor. The woman next to him smiled sweetly with a much calmer disposition than his. She was taller, and had strange engravings along her legs that traveled up along the entire length of her body.

"I just wanted to say that it's a pleasure to meet you Commander X," said the male with a touch of difficulty in speaking. "My name's Rayden Arcane and this is my date," he gestured more confidently, "Janice Ankhs."

He shook both of their hands and bowed gently to Janice. "A pleasure to meet you both, and congratulations on becoming Hunters." He then turned to the dark sorceress in the white gown. "I'd like you to meet Raven," he said, coaxing her forward gently, and Rayden carefully took her palm and Janice bowed.

"I must say," Janice said to Raven, "you look incredible in that dress. Do they make any reploid fashions where you got it?"

"I… thank you," she stumbled, looking at the outfit once more herself and she suddenly felt an urge to stand up straighter and stronger. "I'm actually not from around here."

"Oh, you're from another planet then?" the tall reploid asked with a subtle excitement, and Raven bobbed her head firmly in confirmation. "I hope you enjoy yourself on our planet then. Any friend of Commander X's is surely welcome here."

"Thank you," Raven said again. As the two reploids bowed again and headed toward the party, the racing pulse that had taken over her began to soften, and she started to feel comfortable again with Mega Man standing next to her. "Commander X, is it?" she asked.

"That's my rank. The only ones technically higher than I am are Zero and Signas…" he watched the crowds, many of them still watching him and Raven. "But this isn't the time for that…"

"Oh, I don't think so," she raised an eyebrow teasingly, "you mean to tell me that Zero is higher up than you are? _Better_ than you are?"

"Well, it's not about… I mean… we're both different fighters, and… different skills, and…"

Raven giggled openly at him. X shook his head.

"You're teasing me."

"Of course I am," she said, her confidence coming back to her as the harsh chill of worry and fear washed away and happiness seized her face. "You said we were supposed to be having a good time. Now let's go."

Now it was X who was surprised at Raven leading the way. They passed under a massive archway made of pure white marble as they entered what was the Grand Hall. Refreshments of all kinds were being served amongst the edges of the space that contained hundreds, and yet was still nowhere near being full. Near the ceiling on every wall, golden drapes curved downward in between the window panes, and the walls had an equally stunning shade of ruby red. Halfway between ceiling and floor at fixed intervals around the circumference of the room, extravagant jewels were placed that matched the ones they had seen in Rayden's armor. The floor was a similar gold to that of the drapes, and it was polished smooth so that people's reflections could be seen almost as clearly as if they were looking straight into a mirror. Raven committed everything she saw into a deep place in her heart and mind.

"X, this… this is incredible," she gasped.

The reploid in white walked her out to the center, taking in everything in just as much. "It is something, alright," he added.

A band was situated compactly at one side of the room, and to Raven's slight horror, she saw a wide arrangement of string instruments. She didn't recognize many of them; it was fascinating to look at them, but the high ratio of instruments that resembled violins and violas compared to everything else; well, in simple terms, it worried the dark sorceress. She was already amazed at herself; she had changed so much in such a short time. She was wearing a dress at a formal… no, almost a royal event, and the bond that she had grown together with X was something that she hadn't dared venture into since…

"_Don't think about that_… _this is a night for the two of us_."

"Rae, is this too much for you? Because we can go if…"

"No, no, it's fine," she answered, truly meaning it and cursing herself for allowing the past to interfere and get noticed by X's telepathy. "I'm just wondering… when the music is going to start."

"Probably about ten minutes or so, I would guess," he said back to her, leading once again across the center of the floor, and an excited pair rushed up to them.

"Hey, hey, hey!" shouted a Hunter in a shining red armor and spiky tufts of dark brown hair sharply jutting from the back of his helmet. A giddy looking female reploid followed behind him in pink.

"Axl, how are you, man?" X shouted as he firmly connected knuckles with the red Hunter named Axl.

"Doin' real good," he answered. "Saw you talking with some of the fresh Hunters out at the landing pad."

It didn't take any time for him to recall the names that Raven had already forgot. "Rayden and Janice, right?"

"Yep, best new Hunter we've got goin' there, Rayden is. They're all good kids, though."

"I don't doubt it," he said, and then he gave Raven a squeeze around the shoulder. "Axl, I'd really like to introduce you to Raven. Raven, this is Axl, a Hunter and teacher at Maverick Hunter Academy."

They made a motion to shake hands, but Axl's date seemed to be bouncing for something to say, and sadly she couldn't contain it any longer.

"OhmygoshMr.X, I'msoexitedtomeetyouandyourdateandohmygoshisshehuman? Youtwolooksomarveloustogether, wheredidyougetthatfantasticdress? Don'tyouthinkthat…heylookthere'sSaraBethoverthere!"

She then scurried away, with a touch of satisfaction for all three of them, to another couple where her mouth continued to run.

"What… was that?" The sorceress blurted out.

"Raven!" he grimaced.

Axl looked half apologetic, and half miserable, when he said, "No, it's alright. She's got a point. I waited way too long to ask someone, and I got stuck with the reploid chatterbox. I swear she wins all of her battles by annoying the Mavericks to death."

Raven almost snorted at that remark, but she wasn't sure if it was truly meant to be laughed at, or if it was Axl's way of trying to ask for some tiny ounce of pity for the situation he had managed to bury himself in for the night. If he wanted sympathy, he had Raven's. She couldn't stand the cross between Beast Boy and the Energizer Bunny for more than the ten seconds that her mouth had been open.

"I guess I'd better go back to her," Axl whined shamefully. He turned away to the direction of his date, and then realizing he forgot something of importance and of manners, he turned back to X. "You are so lucky," he told the white reploid standing regally, "and you seem absolutely wonderful," he complimented Raven, and she blushed and thanked him.

A deep chord of tuneful strings surrounded the Great Hall as the orchestra signaled that music was about to start, and the entire room reacted with excitement, all except for Raven directly in the center of the dance floor. A silver orb peeked its way through a gap in the ceiling with an audible whir, catching many's attention. A flicker of brightness, and the hall was surrounded with gentle designs of light that danced across the golden décor and the cherry walls as the orb spun very slowly; ever few seconds the patterns changing to something else that made the room itself come to life.

The music was beginning. The gentle percussion joined the strings, and the brass and wind sections harmonized into an extended summoning chord for all those interested to grace the dance floors with their dancing partners. For Raven, it was her cue to seek any standing place safely away from the center of the room, but X held on to her arm firmly in place as she edged away.

"What are you doing? The music's starting. We should move."

But X persisted, and a fierce grin streaked across his face.

"No. Oh no… you said I didn't have to…"

"I lied."

"X, please," she begged, "I can't dance; I don't dance."

Mega Man gave her a simplistic smile; one that she couldn't fight with in any way, and the onslaught of people gathering around them – some eyeing their every movement – forced both Titan and Maverick Hunter to stay grounded on the dance floor. X took one of her hands and placed it on his shoulder. The other hand he took and slid his fingers through it, squeezing it firmly in response to her own distraught grip.

"Ballroom dancing isn't that hard. We'll start gently. Just follow my lead."

A few couples had begun swaying in rhythm with the music, and Raven, looking terrified and unhappy, gave her reluctant consent.

As the orchestra played a light, smooth piece at a moderate speed, and X began to slide across the floor gracefully using his hand on Raven's waist to help indicate what direction to move. She didn't glide across the golden surface effortlessly like he did. Every direction he went, she slowly stumbled too far or not enough, trying to watch him move with her eyes unsuccessfully. When Mega Man sashayed slowly backward with one leg, Raven used the same leg and nearly fell as she tripped over it.

"X, I can't do this," she protested angrily, and she turned to leave. He clasped a hand on her face, and Raven suddenly felt a twinge of control being exerted on her mind.

"_How about I lead for the both us?_" he spoke inside of her.

Raven let the proposal hesitate her decision to leave. She sensed something different in her body, not just in her consciousness. With a skeptical look, she reluctantly placed her hand back in his, and resumed the dance just as the orchestra came around for a repeat of the main verse.

She heard the strings; the rhythm of it all, and she didn't look at X moving any longer. Raven's eyes had shut themselves, and she could feel her joints loosening until they felt smoother than her dress and more skillful than they had ever known. As the violins carried the melody of a bright and joyous spring day, her foot moved gently across the surface of the floor as it synchronized itself with X's, and her other leg came to meet it.

The control that X was exerting on her began to soften, and yet she could still move side to side, back and forth, and even…

X lifted up her hand, and she spun underneath his outstretched arm, sliding past him as he turned to meet her again.

For Raven, it was more exhilarating than flying ever was. X's control loosened even further, yet it still felt like she was cascading in sync with the reploid in white. She could anticipate the orchestra's gentle shifts in tone and her movements softened with them. Her dancing became smoother than if she were skating on ice; every step, turn and lift that she did with X came so easily. The only anchor keeping her from drifting away in the pure rush of her own grace was Mega Man, who smiled at Raven's progress; at her almost instantly surpassing his own dancing skill.

Raven continued to dance, closing her eyes and feeling the movement as the music began to crescendo toward a climatic ending. Raven could not even tell that her powers were flowing out of her and affecting the entire room, even with X panicking as the two of them slowly lifted off the ground, and the surrounding environment began to slowly tint white, startling everyone.

The two danced with so much fervor at the final chord, that glittering sparks of white shot out from them as they ended in a pose directly in front of one another, with one pair of hands locked together as they had begun.

The sorceress opened her eyes, saw Mega Man smiling, and then saw a white ceiling and the silver display orb much closer than it had been.

A thunderous applause came from the crowd; complete with whistles and excited hollering, forcing Raven's cheeks very red as she buried her face in embarrassment in X's chest. They dropped to the ground rather quickly, and X caught Raven in his arms, then gently set her on her feet as the room began to cleanse itself of the foreign colors and return to the red and gold that it had been before.

It was several awkward minutes later that the orchestra managed to pull itself together enough to start another song and distract the plethora of questions and stares directed at Mega Man and Raven. It was near the end of that waltz that the two finally managed to push to the edge of the room toward the refreshments where they could breathe and let Raven's cheeks go back to normal.

"We… probably shouldn't do that again," raven smiled, embarrassed, yet pleased with herself.

"I just can't believe how fast you picked up on it. It took me months to get that good."

She shook her head. "It's only because you gave me that guiding push."

"No," he denied it, "I think it was always in you. All that fighting and combat training with the Titans isn't much different. You just never dared to put it to use like this."

"No, I guess I didn't," she said. X expected her to seem happy about it, but her eyes welled up with a moment of sadness.

"Raven," he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder as her face turned firmly away from him, "is something…"

Something was wrong, but now for Mega Man X, as he noticed a short haired, blonde reploid woman walking directly toward them. She was not especially curvaceous or outgoing, but her human-like face was both kind and pretty, and the fuchsia dress that curved down around her from one shoulder gave her distinction amongst the crowd even with her fair appearance.

Raven, already feeling her own emotions, now felt such a strong wave of uncontrollable feelings pouring out of X that it almost made her head spasm, but what he felt for this plain looking woman was so undistinguishable that if left Raven feeling very defensive.

"Hello Alia," said X, sounding calmer than he ever had to Raven before. "It's good to see you again."

"And you too, Mega," she answered sweetly, but also with the same calmness, causing Raven's eyes to narrow ever so slightly. "That dance was… well, it was impressive."

"Thanks," he replied simply with mounds of emotional baggage hiding beneath it.

He turned to Raven, looking as though he was going to ask her to jump off a cliff, and when he asked, "Could you give us a few minutes to talk?" it felt that way to Raven, but she gave a nod of 'yes' as politely as she could.

She made her way along the refreshment table toward the other end, careful to keep an eye on the two of them conversing together. It didn't make sense, this unwavering jealousy she felt. X had had relationships in the past; she somehow knew this and it hadn't bothered her, but for some reason, this woman did, even though her intentions didn't seem to include him.

"She bother you?" a voice startled Raven from behind.

"Zero!"

His black armor seemed to taint the sunshine and roses that the Grand Hall emitted, but nonetheless, it wasn't unpleasant to see him even in spite of his typically stern attitude. He dunked a ladle into a sweet smelling, topaz colored liquid, and quickly sucked it out of the cup he dropped it in. He tossed the cup at a distance perfectly into a trash bin at the end of the table as he turned to face her, but kept a distinct watch on X and Alia as he did.

Raven sensed the history between the two, even through the dim sparkle in Zero's eye. Their conversation looked nothing more than friendly, full of 'how have you been's and questions about Maverick hunting, but between the words, an air of… something. Something that smelled delicious for the two that share it and something that was bitter and distasteful for anyone else who intervened with it.

"They've got quite a past…" he said, and then paused at Raven's face growing steadily more aggravated. "Sorry, that sounded much worse that it is."

"I don't understand. What is it about them…?"

"It's called jealousy, Raven," Zero answered.

She growled, more at herself than at Zero or anyone else. "I know that, I just… don't really know why. I'm not really…"

"Experienced," Zero finished it for her very definitely.

"Is it that obvious?"

Zero raised an eye, taking it away from X and Alia. "Yes," he stated with small smile, and he returned his watch back to the two Hunters keeping their conversation close together and private.

"She has something with X that you don't have, and it bothers you. Nothing else to it."

"Oh?" Raven asked Zero of his condescending remark. "And I don't suppose that his all knowing majesty of relationships would grace me with that knowledge?"

Zero almost seriously grinned now.

"They have a past. Things they can talk about that happened years ago. They can reminisce about the good times and the bad. You and X don't have that. At least, not yet."

"But we already know so much about each other's pasts and..."

"Not the same thing," Zero intervened. "I don't know much about that mind connection that the two of you share, but no matter how you look at it, it isn't the same as building the experiences together."

Raven was frustrated. She was more than willing to build experiences of all kinds with X, both joyful and painful ones, but she couldn't stand this feeling like she wasn't close to him at all. It wasn't fair, she thought, having gone through so much together already and yet a simple reploid friend in a pink dress had bested her. The dark sorceress folded her arms crossly, but she tried to sigh away the feeling and ignore it. X had probably already felt the probing of two sets of eyes and an angry temperament while he was talking innocently with Alia.

Zero began to mumble to himself while staring at the two… no, specifically at Alia. Raven swore for a brief moment that she felt something ominous coming from Zero as though he had somehow stolen the bond that she had with X. His face narrowed, confused, then softly twisted with the pain and anger of loss.

"Uh… Zero?"

He immediately snapped out of it, closing whatever thoughts he had been projecting to Raven's mind and he turned his attention back to the sorceress.

"What?" he asked in a small daze.

"Does Alia bother _you_?"

"Oh, no, not at all," he answered with a hurry. "It's just, well… never mind. It's not important on a night like this. I'm going to head down a deck and see if there's anything more interesting going on down there."

Raven wanted to jump on the end of his sentence and find the cause of his strange, telepathic outburst, but he had already turned his back in that 'Zero' way that demanded that no one follow his lead.

"Stubborn little…"

"Hey, was that Zero?" X shocked her, finally finished with his conversation with Alia, who had gone her own way, and now comfortably returned to Raven's side where she felt most contented having him. The emotion that he seemed to have before from the dance and all the excitement had faded considerably. It was like the trip he embarked upon down memory lane had taken his joy, sadness, and everything else with it, exhausting his mind for the night, but Raven wouldn't allow such a thing to take away from the night.

"X, do you want to dance again? Maybe on one of the other decks?"

His mind was blank. It mostly matched his now minimal effort to be happy, so Raven pushed harder.

"We could go find someplace quiet to talk, if you'd rather," she said to him, gently sliding her arm around his again.

"Can I take you somewhere?" X asked her tentatively.

"Of course."

"You don't mind leaving early?"

She smiled. "I don't mind."

Raven started for the lira, contemplating what place of wonder or memory he was going to take her to next. She imagined the glorious sky scrapers of the city, the vastness of the floating island, and the joy of watching the stars on the Dreamweaver cruising through space. His world was so enthralling; she couldn't even imagine anything new. It was almost beyond her comprehension. She envisioned some glorious combination of the gentle glow of her own hometown long ago, mixed with reploids and flying ships. A sight of an old, wooden vessel captured her thoughts; the kind used to first travel across Earth's great oceans set sail above the thick, cloudy sky with a purple sunset dropping beneath its scope of vision. She stood at the solid oak steering wheel and spun it from side to side like a snake slithering across the tops of the patches of violet-tinted grey.

Her vision blurred. Both of them did at the same time, as she felt weightless and dizzy, and only shortly after the sensation realizing what had happened. Expecting to take the lira, she had forgotten X, with all his powers, could take her to certain locations across vast distances in only seconds. Disoriented, she felt the gentle spray of water nipping at her legs through the slits in the side of her white dress, and the echoing splash of columns of water slid into her adjusting sense of hearing.

"Where is this?" she gasped, staring up at a tall but thin waterfall dropping endless fluid into a small water hole that they were at the edge of.

X took her hand with care and led her down to the periphery of the water. "Put your hand in," he said to her.

She slowly did so, and she felt her hand immersed with a strange inner peace.

"Put a little of your energy in the water," he compelled her.

A small tingle passed through the tips of her fingers and into the peaceful body of water, and a design that looked like a rainbow fallen into a stream shone brightly for a few brief seconds. Nearby, a few small stones seemed to be glowing near the bottom of this small pool.

"Is this place special to you?" she asked tentatively as she watched his fragile face slowly shift from expression to expression.

"No, not really," he answered. "At least, not yet."

He seized Raven's shoulders and held them gently as the bottled up feelings began to leak from him. "It's… hard, having a real relationship; you and I."

"I know," she answered. "What are we supposed to do?"

He shook his head and starred up at the stars in the sky glistening across the tops of the cliffside waterfall. He didn't know the answer any better than she did. The path of one who lives by the sword can always be so unclear, he thought. Any attachment you make with another can be exploited, and the loss is so much greater when you become close.

"I think…" he whispered, "that we should make the best of this night we have. Even if we can never truly be with each other… having this night is important."

X stepped away into the water until his knees were submerged. Each of his white-gloved hands snuck away into the crevasses of twin Busters, which he aimed at the center of the water. He gathered tremendous power within his body, progressively glowing stronger and stronger until his body burned hot pink with strength, and he unleashed two successive blasts into the water; one from his right, and one from his left.

The entire waterfall and every drop of glistening life that was sinking down to the pool was a mass of prismatic lights that flickered as the shifting waves of water continuously re-contoured the glow.

"Quick!" he called to the sorceress from the water, "I need your help for this next part."

Hardly caring for the safety of her dress, she kicked of her heels and splashed her way out to where X stood.

"I need you to give me some of your strength for this. Just feel what I'm feeling, focus, and let it happen. Don't try to think about it, just focus."

She nodded, and could start to feel a pulse emanating from Mega Man, and similar runic symbols appearing beneath his feet that she had seen before; this time white, and encircling just wide enough to allow her into its light. She thought she had focused so hard that even sound had pushed itself out of her stream of senses, but something entirely different was happening. When the energy stemmed its flow between both of them, she opened her eyes.

The waterfall had stopped. Everything had stopped. Standing waist deep in the luminous menagerie of lights, everything except the sorceress and Maverick Hunter in white had come to a standstill.

X moved over to the silent waterfall, frozen in place. He took his finger and flicked a small globule of splashing water, and it floated, defying gravity over to Raven, where it split apart into tiny shards and scattered away.

"What… how did we…?" She could feel a tiny bit of the splashed fragment of water still in the palm of her hand, but it didn't pull away from her. It stayed attached to her hand until she slid through the water, which now no longer behaved of felt like water.

"I want the moment to last," he said. "You do too, don't you?"

"Of course, I'm just…"

"I'm afraid, too," he held her damp body close to his. "We come from such different worlds and lead such different lives. I don't know if anything can become of us."

She buried her cheek against his chest, clinging on as strongly as she could to the warmth that came from him. It was unbearable, this night. Meant to be about nothing but happiness and celebration, and yet while other humans and reploids were rejoicing, they had to suffer this pain. They never had spoken about it, even between their minds, but it was so obvious that it was there that they could simply both feel it. Even with the trip back, this was their last night together. The longer they held on to the bond, the worse it would hurt when they separated. He could not stay with the Titans. Raven had no place in his world of reploids and Mavericks.

"There must be some way," she begged.

She could feel his chin rubbing gently across the top of her head as he shook his in denial.

"You know we can't. It would become a disaster."

"It's not fair," she said, mixing the fresh water with the salt of her tears. "It's not fair that we were forced together like this."

"I know."

He gently pushed away from the embrace so he could look her in the eyes with his of emerald irises. His face began to drop to her hers, and small plumes of steamy breath leaked from their lips as they both opened them for each other. When his touched hers in the midst of halted time, Raven felt ecstasy flow through her veins while pain burned in both of their hearts. She opened her eyes and stared into his once more before both X and Raven shut them again, never to open them until daybreak.


	18. The Princess and the Sage

My apologies to those who actually read this story. I know it's been one heck of a while since I last posted a chapter. I've been awfully busy with finals and such. But anyways, enjoy.

**Chapter 18 – The Princess and the Sage**

Standing at the top of Hell Mountain, a massive hunk of black rock had been carved into a house-sized snapping turtle's open beak and face, threatening away those would dare go near it, but as Hell Mountain itself was dangerous enough to drive even some of the bravest hearts back, anyone with the courage to go this far wouldn't be stopped by the reptile's visage. Surrounding the monument of black earth underneath the equally dead sky of hideous clouds and thunder, several strange stumps of rock were leaking a reddened, smoldering substance.

"It's going to get very hot down there," the attendant warned her princess in disguise.

"We have no choice," came her slightly muffled voice from behind the cloth wrapped about her head. "We must not let the Sage of Light perish."

She stepped through the reptile's maw and into the humid climate inside Turtle Rock. Torches lined the walls and ceiling that led at a downward angle just enough so that the intervals between them could barely be seen. If someone small enough wanted to, they could probably crouch down and hide half way between a pair of torches in the darkness without being detected. The stone floors that she stepped on were warm and felt as though they were carved so meticulously that they were as perfectly flat as solid earth could be. Her attendant made no sound or shadow as she passed slowly ahead of the princess.

"There are no guards," she whispered deeply to her corporeal master.

Heeding the indication that there was no threat at all as being exceptionally threatening, the princess pulled a small, curved dagger from beneath her cloak and readied it.

"That doesn't make sense," she whispered back, thankful that the steadily widening rock walls and low ceiling did not seem to echo her voice throughout the dungeon. The walls looked strange, though, maintaining the natural appearance of stone instead of the flat surface that she walked on.

Even when she came to a wide open room where the one path split off into many, not a single soul made its presence clear. The princess became even tenser at the emptiness. Her instincts screamed '_ambush!_' but she and her attendant were well aware that the impending danger was irrelevant when one of the sages were in danger.

"How is it that the Sage of Light has come to be in this terrible place?" she whispered.

"I know not," the spirit woman answered.

"Perhaps it was an attempt by the Sage of Light to aid in the imprisonment of the Dark King?"

Her attendant crossed her vaporous arms as she floated along with the princess through a random pathway. "That would indicate that it was the same sage as the one before we were imprisoned here, my lady. Rauru was very old. I do not believe that he is still the Sage of Light."

"We shall have to wait and see then, I suppose."

The trip through the deepening caverns of Turtle Rock became steadily hotter. For the first time in many weeks, the princess openly removed her facial garb and the bandage cap on her head and discarded them. A thick tress of unkempt, golden blonde hair dropped to her shoulders, and her dry, cracked lips became exposed to the exhausting heat.

"I feel like… we're getting very near the bottom," the princess expressed, her crimson eyes narrowing at the feeling of a strange repetition of what she was doing.

As they descended even further and the heat became almost unbearable, the lighting improved, showing blackened rock that seemed to breathe on the two travelers as they explored with purpose. They eventually came upon a room that was open and had a circular perimeter wall lined with hot burning torches. At the edges of the room, a glowing red light was shining up from the river of lava that swirled and sputtered far beneath where the Princess stood and her attendant hovered.

Something began to pierce through the dimness in the center of the room. A wave of sparks from the room's edges gathered in the shape of a mammoth sized pink crystal that stood effortlessly on its tip with the upper point poking at the room's ceiling. The Princess squeezed her knuckles white and widened her eyes vastly at the prison that she had once been held in years ago. At the center of the crystal, seemingly lifeless, was the sage they were looking for; the Sage of Light, shrouded in a dark, tattered cloak that hung firmly down to his heavy looking, red metal boots… or was it her boots?

Immediately, the princess snapped forward her hand with the fading gold triangles on its back and a topaz beam matching the symbol dug itself into the thick crystal, spawning a web of cracks within its reflective image.

The barrier burst, its fragments absorbed into nothingness, and the Sage of Light dropped with a heavy thud to the ground below him. For a moment, the sage remained crouched on the ground, trying to gather the surroundings and the situation, but as the Princess gave the sage her hand, it was smacked away violently by a hand gloved in metal that didn't quite extend beyond the reach of the dark cloak.

"You fool!" snarled the gruff and clearly male voice of the sage as he lifted his head and stood, revealing a shadowed face with an opaque black plate shielding his eyes. He was clearly distressed, but the Princess had no idea why. Apparently, that was the very problem.

A horrific smash of metal drew their attention to the one exit that was now sealed by a thick wall of iron. The thunder of rocks splitting apart surrounded them on all sides. The dark stone of the wall began to split and snap, dropping piles of earthy chips into the depths of lava below. Slowly, four towering golems void of any distinct features; merely massive hunks of stone put together, stepped over the gap to the pit below and on to the platform where the Princess and the sage stood.

"A trap…" she whispered, cursing herself for not realizing when it was so obvious. She could tell that behind the black shades of the Sage of Light, he was glaring at her angrily when not setting his mind to the stone monsters that were slowly closing in on them.

They took stances with their backs to each other. The Princess's attendant could only watch and point out the things that neither of them saw. The sage reached inside the full body mantle and pulled out a small white object with a handle on it. To the Princess's surprise, metal pieces began to sharply project themselves out of the center of the device, forming in seconds an oval shaped, pearly tinted shield lined with blood red on its edges. It was so large that it stood as tall as the Princess herself, but he wielded it as though it was no heavier than a dinner plate.

As two of the four creatures moved in on them, they both narrowed their stances. The Princess figured that her dagger and the throwing stars concealed around her waist would have little effect on these hunks of stone, so she relied on what power she had left from the mark on her hand. It let out an intense light once again, and a web of light spread itself out into the form of a bow and arrow, which the princess pulled very tightly, waiting for the right moment.

Like a mirror image, each of the golems that approached them from opposite sides made almost identical movements. When each of them came very close and began to raise their arms, the Sage of Light shouted, "NOW!"

The Princess's released the pull on her arrow, striking her enemy in the torso, pushing him back only a step while the sage climbed up the stone arm that had tried to smash him and smashed what was assumed to be the monster's head with his towering shield. The monster fell backwards, and as the Princess backed away from the stone automaton that was now advancing on her, a brilliant volley of small explosions erupted on the golem's face that originated from strange projectiles that expelled from the darkness in the sage's sleeve.

Hoping that the blow had been fatal, the Princess turned to one of the remaining two that was approaching her more quickly and with a fist shape of rocks raised in the air. She felt the sting of gravel scraping her shoulders as she dove and rolled between the beast's legs. Turning to face it, she saw that there was not one, but two. The one she had already knocked down had pulled its pieces back together and rushed at her more fiercely than it had before. Narrowly evading the blow, she rushed to the closed gate where she had entered. The Sage of Light had also backed to that position.

"Create a distraction. Lure them to the edge," the sage commanded her. Even during the heat of battle, the Princess did not take lightly to being ordered around when she believed she should do the ordering. But, she didn't have a plan herself, and the mysterious Sage of Light, although she couldn't see his face in the shadows of the dilapidated, dark cloak he wore, seemed very confident in himself.

The Princess moved forward far enough to keep the sage out of harm's way while waiting for the closest golem to strike again. Its attack was predictable. It raised a single fist and lowered it down with massive deadweight until it crushed the ground, the Princess having easily sidestepped and then somersaulted onto the loosely held together arm that had been swung. Birdlike grace carried her from one head to the other as she gently struck each one of them in what she could best interpret as their faces. The sluggish, flailing arms probably would've broken her in two had they made contact, but for the stone golems, hitting the Princess was harder than trying to hit a fly with a toothpick.

Successfully gaining their undivided and exceedingly irritated attention, the Princess backed away to the platform's edge where the floor gave way to waves of heat and the fiery glow of a sea of lava deep below. Amid the tiny gaps of space that the hulking rocks created as they surrounded her, she could not see the sage making any move to save her, nor did she think that she was going to get past them this time. She thought of the irony. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, except this time a pit of churning magma was thrown into the equation. Her worked and beaten hands trembled as her crimson eyes widened. Was the sage going to let her die? Was this the sage at all or just another part of the trap that she so stupidly fell for?

A gentle hum hidden in the crashing sounds of rock became a screeching blast that crushed two of the golems to the Princess's side. She, along with the remaining two enemies, was amazed at the shattered pieces of rock that dropped into the lava with a splash of sunny orange liquid. They faced the Sage of Light, who had a jettison of smoke trailing from his sleeve. In a small matter of time before any of them dared to react, the sage had glowed with a bright yellow hue and a second blast of energy struck one golem, nearly shattering it in two and sending it to the same fate as the others. The remaining stone beast, although lacking in any and all facial features, reacted as though it was willing to leap into the chasm on its own, but the Sage of Light rushed at the creature with a swing of his shield so monstrous that it hung on the imprint in the wall that its impact made before also falling to a fiery oblivion.

"Pathetic," the sage snarled, and the Princess wondered whether he was referring to the golems, or her.

He cocked his head very slightly, noticing the numerous beads of sweat doting the Princess's forehead. The presence of his gaze pierced through the unusual, dark guard that surrounded his eyes.

The Princess's attendant returned to her side without change, having been useless in the physical battle. She still had the same crossed arms, but her expression also hinted a great deal of curiosity toward the new Sage of Light.

"Let us leave this place," he commanded, extending his hand in a manner that was not especially inviting to the Princess, but she was exhausted and dirty and took it without complaint. Within seconds, she felt complete weightlessness, and every image of the fire and rock blurred into a plethora of other colors. Just as soon as the sensation had began, it halted sharply and the Princess found herself staring at the sage's boots; blood red and made of solid metal from what her dizzied gaze could perceive. The difference between his tattered rags and the body that hid underneath somehow made her quiver.

Dead grass was swaying between her grounded fingers and the sky was only mildly overcast. There was no sign of Turtle Rock or even Hell Mountain at all as she stood and surveyed the plains and withered trees nearby

"We should go," verbalized the sage as he turned to walk away. The lack of compassion that he emanated made the rest of the Dark World seem much more pleasant to the Princess, but it also drove her to a furious anger how he could simply neglect the fact that she had rescued him from his prison. Her attendant had a matched glare on her face, but could do nothing about it.

"Wait!" the girl with crimson eyes ordered him, and he did halt. "Who do you think you are to treat the Princess of Hyrule with such disrespect? I came to save you and I don't receive so much as an inkling of courtesy! Who are you," she yelled, with her temper rising, "and how in the goddess's names did someone so arrogant become Sage of Light?"

He spun about with his head tilted down so that his cloak shadowed even his mouth and chin. "Princess Zelda," he addressed her like a tenured teacher disciplining an insolent student, "You don't know anything about the situation, do you? You know of the new Hero of Time, as well as one of the other sages, but you don't know why the old Hero vanished or even what has become of your kingdom, do you?"

Princess Zelda didn't know the answers after having spent over a half dozen years in the Dark World.

"In fact," the sage went on, "I'm willing to wager that you don't even know the circumstances of this place that you've resided in for so long."

She pursed her lips and shook her head, her already reddened cheeks flushing an even deeper and much less pleasant shade as the sage humiliated her.

"Allow me to enlighten you, then, but let me ask one more question, first. How many years have you been in this place, Zelda?"

Her eyes burned angrily at the condescending glare that she knew hid behind his mask. "Almost seven."

"Correct, and not correct at the very same time," he said, making the Princess and her attendant both quite quizzical. "This place doesn't operate with the same time flow as your former land of Hyrule," he went on. "Although you've experienced seven years here, the rest of time has proceeded much more quickly."

Her stomach lurched at his words. Her lips barely managed to keep from trembling as she asked, "How long?"

"Over a century," he responded with little tone.

"A… a century? I see…"

Zelda bit the corner of her mouth hard. She barely knew this person, but she hated him already for bringing such painful news, and she didn't want to cry in front of him.

"Why… why have you even come here?" she said bitterly, her anger causing just as little movement in him as everything else.

"For Impa, of course," he answered, staring directly into the eyes of the ghost.

"You can see me?" she asked, startled and angry that he hadn't said anything before. She tried to console the Princess, but without her ability to touch, it was a feeble effort. Impa turned to glare at the Sage of Light. He now had his arms crossed impatiently.

"Have you no compassion?" Impa yelled into his masked face with her transparent fists raised at him. "How can you come here to get me and then torture this poor girl with such horrible tidings? You're behavior is a disgrace to Rauru and the rest of the sages before you!"

"Silence!" he snapped at the mention of Rauru. An arm emerged from the depths of his dark cloak and pressed against Impa's chest, somehow penetrating her phantasmal realm. She was driven to the ground and for a moment felt the touch of grass and dirt as she skidded across the plain from the strike. Zelda lunged at him instinctively, and she saw the sky spin across her eyes as she landed on her back so quickly that she could not perceive what had happened. A throbbing pain pulsated through her lower back, and she felt her body's urge to get up dwindle as the pain stung hard.

"You will both listen and listen well," the sage demanded of them. "The last Sage of Light before me was Rauru himself. I have served in his place for nearly the century that you have been imprisoned here, but I have borne the torture of having to live through that hundred years, while time has been much more accommodating to you."

His commanding age had already drawn the pointed ears of the Impa and Zelda to attention.

"For much of that time, I have been the only sage left. All of the others eventually died. Impa, the Sage of Darkness; you stand before me in the form of only an apparition; still bearing the task that should have left you long ago. Rauru, my predecessor, died first of the ones in the past. He passed his powers and responsibilities onto me, but none of the other sages were able to do so."

"Not a single one?" Zelda said, more to herself; more and more pained by what happened in their isolation in the Dark World.

"Not until very recently," he answered. "Not long ago, the seal of Spirit was released again, signaling that Nabooru must have passed on her powers."

"To whom?" Impa asked importantly of him.

His lips frowned, and she could tell that his shielded eyes were looking downward with irritation. Suddenly his visage was less threatening. He didn't know the answer.

"There has been no trace of the new Sage of Spirit," he growled, "but that is the only seal that has been activated. Every other sage has died, their ghosts lingering painfully elsewhere with the burden to pass their power festering inside."

"I can't believe…… even Saria…" the princess shook her head in confusion and sadness that welled up in her eyes. "Why?" she asked. "Why has all of this happened?"

"We should make haste," he said, staring south into the endless grey sky.

He lowered his arm, and Zelda reached out for it only to be hoisted up effortlessly with a jolt that wrenched on her sore back. Impa simply floated back to her position above ground as the Sage of Light passed by them in a hurry.

"Wait, I don't understand any of this," Zelda complained as the spraining pain made her hobble like a hag, "who are you, what happened to the old Hero, and where are we going?"

"My name is irrelevant, you will address me as the Sage of Light," he said sternly as he moved at a swift pace. "The old Hero of Time has been relieved of his responsibilities permanently and been replaced by the new Hero, whom I believe you and Impa are already partially aware of, and we are headed for the Golden Temple in the very center of this Dark World."

Impa, being much more able to keep up with the Sage of Light as she floated backwards to face him while keeping pace, probed him in the Princess's stead. "You say that the old Hero, bearer of the Mark of Courage, was not seen as worthy for the task?"

She swore that she could see his eyebrow rise skeptically behind the reflective black guard over his eyes. His desire to tell this story was fueled only by its necessity. He cared nothing for it, nor for the two of them, it seemed.

"I do not know everything in regards to it," he said, changing his step to accommodate the steep hill that they began to descend, "but I know that four people back in the time when I first became Sage of Light played very key roles in the rise of the new Hero of Time. It is a long story, and I would rather not speak of it…"

"Please, Sage of Light," the Princess interrupted him, "I must know what happened to him…"

He huffed in disdain at Impa's constant gaze and the equally consistent pair of eyes aimed at his back from the Princess, but refusing to tell the story would have gotten him nowhere, and he sensed that he would be continually pestered for it until all was known. He loosened his jaw and stared at Impa, and he knew that she needed to hear it as well.

"The first two people existed many years ago on a world far away from this one, back when I was still young and oblivious to all that I know now. They had the knowledge and ability to create life out of metal."

"Unbelievable," Zelda gasped.

The Sage of Light turned his head slightly sideways at her, making a brief, but indirect glance. "Yes, I suppose it is," he answered blandly, but in deep contemplation of the past. "The beings known as 'robots' were revered for their incredible uses in the society in which they, at first, coexisted peacefully with the humans that created them."

"Something went very wrong," Impa surmised. She and Zelda both heard a slow grinding muffled by the sage's cloak on either side of him. A light bulge came out on both sides. The bulge then disappeared and the grinding sound reverberated in a similar way in which it had come.

"I am sorry," Impa apologized, "if it's too painful to discuss…"

"No, it is fine," he said sharply, and then he returned to his toneless, stone faced demeanor. "One of the two men was halted from his production of robots because they were deemed as too dangerous. Jealous and angry, he decided to create his own robots in secret to reap havoc against those who stopped him, as well as the other man whom he once worked alongside."

"These… robots," Zelda began as she tied her golden hair up tightly beneath her bandage cap, "were they much stronger than the humans?"

"Most of the ones that were created by the good doctor weren't, unless they were designed to work in very threatening conditions," he answered, "but the ones created by the outcast man were sometimes powerful enough to slaughter thousands before being stopped."

Zelda finally noticed that their pace had slowed. She met Impa's gaze, marveling at the story but still confused in how it related to the old Hero being removed; the Hero of Time that she had known and cared so much for. In the busyness of keeping speed, fighting the soreness in her muscles and trying to perceive the mystery of this strange sage, she hadn't taken the time to think about the man who had undoubtedly passed away long ago. She had just realized that she had forgotten about him. Seven long years had passed since she had been with him, clinging tightly to his back as he rode along on horseback across the beautiful fields of Hyrule. The image of his bright blonde hair hanging out of the green cap on his head blocked out the bleak land around her. Now that her release from this place was coming soon, it was not so painful to think of him and the majestic way that he held the legendary sword that was now in another's hands. Even though she knew that she would never again see the old hero's caring, courageous gaze, Zelda had a hope in this new hero; that somehow maybe his spirit was the same as the one she had known. But then she remembered the dark sorceress girl and her closeness to the new hero. It made her stomach lurch.

"Sage of Light," Impa said firmly enough to draw Zelda back to the story, "I do not see the connection from over a century ago to the new hero."

"I am getting to that," he scoffed at her impatience. Before he continued, he lifted his head to the distant stone monument in the distance that was just peeking above the horizon. Although it appeared close, the immense, golden yellow pyramid was still a long walk away with a fast flowing river surrounding it.

"In order to protect the innocent, one of the good doctor's household robots named Rock did something remarkable," said the Sage of Light. "He elected to be transformed into a fighting machine to stop the evil doctor's robots."

"Why is that so amazing?" Zelda asked.

"Simple," he responded. "No robot had ever made a decision as sentient and selfless as this one. Robots were not even supposed to be able to perform any action beyond what they were ordered, save for a few additional details involved with what their tasks."

"So that is how the new Hero emerged…" Zelda reflected, but the Sage of Light cleared his throat pointedly at her.

"Perhaps you should wait until I have finished?" he snapped at her. "There is still much more to the story, and it involves you, too."

"Me?" she said unbelievingly, "How could this have anything to do with me while I was far away in Hyrule and sealed away in this place?"

"If you listen," he snarled, "then you will know."

Zelda bit her lip and tried to ignore what she felt was absolute disrespect. It made her angry to look at him. She stared at her feet that trampled along the browned grass and dirt, hoping that she could tolerate just listening to him as he continued.

"Rock defeated the many robots that the evil doctor created, but couldn't capture the doctor himself. Many years passed and Rock crushed the rogue machines again and again, but although the robots hardly showed any signs of aging, both of the doctors who had created these machines were growing very old. In a final attempt to try and destroy Rock and all those who opposed him, the evil doctor sealed himself away into hiding until he could develop an evil machine far more powerful than had ever been known."

Zelda swallowed deeply. "He was successful…"

"Yes," the sage nodded with a dark tone, "he was indeed. This new robot was different from the rest, not only in its incredible power, but also in the sense that it was completely able to think for itself."

"Then its evil knows no bounds?" Impa asked of him courteously, knowing the answer already. The sage didn't respond at all. He stopped instead, piquing the curiosity of the baffled woman and her ghostly guard.

A small gap split the clouds, revealing a momentary blotch of sky in the endless gray. "Two small meteors hit the planet. They caused little damaged and went mostly unnoticed, but the two doctors knew better. Each contained a small source of something more powerful than had ever been known. One contained incredible evil and destructive power, while the other housed justice and righteousness. The evil doctor fused some of the power from the dark meteor into his machines, making them exceed the powers that they had before, but Rock still defeated them narrowly."

He moved on with an audible sigh and a quickened pace toward the pyramid in the south as the blue sky vanished.

"Near the point of his death, the evil doctor was still trying to find a way to create the ultimate evil power. He soon found out that the dark meteor was not just a source of energy. It was an actual life form that was in stasis, and he somehow found a way to resurrect it inside his ultimate creation, which he called and android. The only reason that this machine did not destroy the world is because it had to be sealed for thirty years before it would be ready."

"Sage of Light, what did the good doctor do?" Impa asked for Zelda, who still would not acknowledge him.

"He sensed that the world might need a new champion," the sage said with what sounded like a sense of pride. "So he designed an android himself with the life form in the opposing meteor. Like the evil android, though, it had to be sealed away for several decades."

Zelda began to speak, but hid once again behind her dislike for the Sage of Light.

"You have a question?" he asked condescendingly.

"I was… wondering what exactly the life forms in the meteors were."

He began to answer, but his mouth snapped shut, and he turned about with his arm raised threateningly at nothing. Feeling a sense of complete alarm, all three of them searched around for the source of their instinctive panic.

"I feel it, too!" said Impa, watching the resonating glow of the back of her transparent hand. The three golden triangles on all three of them were reacting to something, but the Sage of Light relaxed his stance. He held out his palm to clam them.

"The danger isn't here," he stated. "The tale will have to wait; we need to get to the top of the pyramid, now!"

"Wait," Zelda demanded, "What's going on?"

"It's the Hero of Time," he answered. "He is in danger, and so is the Sage of Darkness."


	19. Climhazzard

**Chapter 19 – Climhazzard**

Feeling the sun on her back, Raven slowly pulled her cheek off her hand that was resting on the soft metal of Mega Man X's chest. He was still sleeping comfortably on the ground with a smile on his face. The majestic white armor that he still wore seemed to reflect the staining green of the grass, leaving it perfectly smooth and reflective. Her gown, although dry, hadn't been as well preserved as X's armor, but she didn't care. The night was one that she would never forget.

Raven stroked his forehead before rising and staring into the clear sky. As she finished waking, she could hear the waterfall in the distance rushing as it had last night before they had stopped the time around them. Her lips felt curious to her; strange and new. She didn't know how many times her lips had met his above or under the water.

But then night had ended. Soon, they would board the Dreamweaver and return to her world with the Titans. '_Would he stay?'_ she wondered. Still, even if he didn't, a place in her heart felt filled. She knew that she would see his face again. Raven felt how true his care for her was every time he kissed her; every time she felt his warmth. And the way their minds connected during it all… oh, Raven felt herself almost melt just thinking about it. Her still gloved hand slid sensually across her lips and down her neck.

Her legs moved along without thinking underneath the cloudless warmth of the star that held the planet in close, and she thought back to all the events that led up to this wonderful point. What would have normally been an ordinary day of fighting bad guys with the other Titans had turned into a day when they nearly all died, her in particular. The feeling of being smashed into the ground and all of the blood she lost from that menace, Vile, hardly fazed her. That day, when she nearly died, was when they had been bound to each other so tightly, she and Mega Man X. After that had been a nightmare; all the pain and the torture inside her mind from both her demons and the reploids that threatened those who X so diligently protected, and it was he again that came to destroy the darkness inside at such a risk to his own life.

Raven laughed. _And then he fed me golden bird eggs and showed me his elemental magic, _she thought.

Not long after that, she recalled, were the marvelous relics and stories that he had told her in the memoriam aboard the Dreamweaver. She had studied more of the Book of Blades on the trip, but her eye was still fixated on the fascinating red materia that sat well guarded on the top floor. She knew that in due time, he would share even that with her.

Raven rolled her eyes at the next thought: her being reduced to an emotional basket case and deemed unfit to fight until healing the rest of the way. She admitted to herself, though, that the King Kong sized banana split that she shared with Beast Boy and Starfire had been very nice.

_Wow_, she thought, realizing that her friends had probably noticed her changing much sooner than she had. _I must have looked really_ _pathetic_.

That had also been just after Cyborg had been taken control of by Vile and the other Mavericks, and it became up to her and the newly met Zero (whom she recalled had whooped her pretty badly), to save X and the Titans. That memory did make her cringe slightly. When they sliced up Cy so badly…

And then when she had almost died, and had been restored by that unknown force…

She shook it off. It had all been to save X and the Titans, and it worked. It took time to heal all the wounds that everyone had suffered, especially for Cyborg, but it eventually happened.

Then the unthinkable happened. X asked her to a dance. And she had said yes. She still couldn't believe herself. Raven looked at the outfit that covered her; at the white gown that showed her powerful legs and nearly all of her back. She had become something so different. She was happy. X was so… perfect, it seemed.

A sharp jolt touched her senses. The Hunter was awake, and he had awoken very suddenly. He was rushing toward her, panicked at something. She could feel a deep terror resonating in her head painfully. In only a few seconds, he had dashed up next to her, bearing a face that crushed her reminiscence.

_No_… _it can't be ruined like this_... _please not like this_…

"I just got a signal from Hunter Headquarters."

She knew it was bad. X's mind was distressed more than she had ever known it to be. He was panicked; almost trembling.

"Mega Man, calm down, what happened?"

"I… I don't know how, but Mavericks somehow just... appeared in the middle of the place. I have to go. It sounded like people are getting hurt badly."

He created distance between himself and Raven. She realized that he was going to transport there without her.

"Wait X!" she begged, "I'm coming with you. I can help!"

"No, this isn't your fight," he said fearfully, "It's my responsibility."

Raven reached out to touch him, but only felt the tingle of a small portion of bright colored matter sliding across her hand and into the distance.

"No," raven clenched her fist with resolve. "No X, I won't let you do this alone."

Her feet glided up against each other off the ground, and the front and back of her dress draped down and nipped the ground.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos," she chanted heatedly. "Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!"

One of her palms opened and shook violently as a small globule of fire swirled about her fingers. It began to encircle her hand faster and faster, until a solid metal shaft sparked from it and landed in her grip. The dark red flame of the Lotus Blade shot out from the petal base, and Raven's eyes burned nearly as deeply as it did.

She leapt into the sky and headed in the direction of battle.

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Many solar systems away on the small planet that the Teen Titans called home, Beast Boy was taking a walk that had become fairly routine for him. Things had been peaceful, thankfully, in the week that Raven and X had been gone. Most of the Titans weren't ready for another conflict, and the city didn't seem ready for it either. Fortunately, Cinderblock hadn't lifted a stony finger since he was crushed by X, and there hadn't been a single report of a Maverick after Vile's defeat. Plasmus had never been found, but traces of his gelatinous form were discovered at the ruined Maverick base up north. It was assumed that he was destroyed along with the rest of the technology there, much to the military's dismay, but the Titans couldn't have been happier knowing that the Mavericks had decided to call off the search for a still unknown power source and leave their planet alone.

And yet, Beast Boy still had a heavy burden on his heart as he made his way through the depths of a dimly lit cave. There were many splits in the path, but he knew well the route that he had followed so many times. At the bottom, on a pedestal of rock stood the stone statue of Terra, both their former comrade and former enemy, but she was no longer the latter.

"Hey Terra," said Beast Boy as he blushed at the unmoving rock as if it could still hear him. For a moment, he stood and stared at her, frozen in the act of redeeming justice that she had performed to save the city. "I thought this was gonna get easier," he whispered, echoing gently in the cave, "but it's not. I miss you every day, Terra."

He sat down next to her and leaned his head against the stone surface that was now her leg. "I thought that, maybe X could somehow save you. He's got all those cool powers and amazing machines." He stared up into her face, which was suspended in absolute determination. "I guess I got my hopes up."

A thick, burden filled sigh escaped his lips. He ruffled his hand through the thick locks of dark green hair on his head and tried to relax himself. Somehow it was always so much more difficult when sitting next to the petrified friend who he felt miserable without.

"Well, I guess I should get going," he said awkwardly as he picked himself up. "See you soon."

Downtrodden and unhappy at the very brief visit, he walked with his head hung as he began to leave. A small loose stone was lying in the path of his stride, and feeling that it was perfect for kicking, Beast Boy gave it an angry boot.

The sound that it made startled him almost enough to fall backward. What should have been a light smashing of rock on rock instead sounded almost like a small earthquake, and he spun about to find the source of it. Nothing was moving. Terra stood exactly where she had before. Then it came again; stronger than before, and Beast Boy knew that he saw a small green light zip across his face.

"Terra… is that… you?"

Another green flash; this time much brighter, encircled the statue and then vanished.

What? A movement? He rubbed his eyes, swearing that he saw Terra's stone body twitch. Life sprang up around the cave and erratic dancing lights were everywhere. Some of them even passed right through his body, jumping him terribly but only leaving an invigorating tingle behind. The lights began to converge on the spot where Terra stood, but they almost looked like they were struggling to get there, as if it was painfully difficult.

He saw it again, this time more distinct. Terra's arms had moved very slightly, he was sure of it.

"Nngh!" he heard echo from seemingly nowhere, but it sounded female. It had to be her.

"Beast… Boy…"

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Terra, still encased in stone, was inching her way off the platform where she stood as the green lights encircled her. She looked in pain, and she reached out agonizingly toward the green changeling.

"Terra, I'm here! What is it? What's happening?" he said in distress and confusion.

She inched closer, lifting her other foot off the platform and down to Beast Boy's height. "Beast Boy… only have… few moments… you must find… the power source…"

"Power source? What power source? Terra!"

She looked to be falling, and Beast Boy slipped his arm swiftly underneath her shoulder. "Not… sure," she whispered desperately in his ear, "but it is… not far, and Beast Boy…"

He watched her intently, and the shining trails of lights began to flicker. "Beast Boy… the Titans must… protect… the… h-hero."

The panicked changeling's mouth hung open without any words to come from it. Her body was slowing, solidifying. The brief moment was slowing and the jade rays that somehow brought her to life were slowly dropping off and vanishing, but before she froze, she made on final gesture. She clenched her teeth made of stone and raised her arm, showing him the back of her hand. With her fist squeezed tightly, the faint symbol of three golden triangles forming a pyramid began to shine for a brief second before the rest of the green lights faded, and Terra had been immobilized again with Beast Boy's arms around her.

"Terra… no, stay with me!" he pleaded, eyes filling with tears. "Terra, I don't understand what you're talking about! What power? What's the symbol on your hand? Terra, speak to me!"

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As her spirit form of an enormous, black bird passed through the walls of Maverick Hunter headquarters, Raven reformed herself into the young girl still wearing a dress of white and with a flaming sword held tightly in her fist. But she wasn't prepared for what she had just entered into. Almost immediately after regaining back her physical senses, a burst of energy nicked her across the shoulder and burnt her, allowing tiny drops of burnt flesh and blood to trickle down her arm.

Instinct took over; she immediately surrounded herself with a telekinetic wall. There was no way of telling who had shot her. There was fighting everywhere; no more than a few feet between every reploid and human present, and that was not counting those laying dead on the ground or the broken fragments of reploid limbs.

There was no telling who the enemy was and who her allies were. Energy bullets were flying everywhere, sabers were clashing together sending sparks into the sky and some titanic reploids were even smashing others with their massive fists. Raven knew full well how to fight and had taken out hordes of enemies with the Titans, but she didn't know who to attack this time. She was isolated and alone, and some of the fighters in this small war were beginning to take notice of her.

_Wait! Their faces! X told me that the Mavericks almost never have human faces!_

A reploid with a female humanoid face came crashing toward her barrier, and she opened a gap for her to pass through. She struggled on a broken ankle and pointed a single finger at the mass of black metal with an ox shaped head building enough momentum to topple a freight train. Raven narrowed her eyes as it trampled everything in its way, and just as the reploid girl backed away in terror, the spirit energy sparkled into nothingness. Unable to slow itself down, the giant steel ox slid directly into the piercing flames of the Lotus, turning its chest into a smoldering hole as Raven phased through the back of his body. She turned quickly to reach down to the girl, but it was too late. In the moments when she had taken her eyes off the Hunter, someone had taken her life. Her head was just a smoldering, unrecognizable mass.

'_Can't look at it, have to find X_,' she told herself firmly, and she began to cut through the crowd with the blaze of her sword. She fought the need that had been ingrained so deeply from fighting with the Titans to help everyone else around her; it would have taken too much time. The only reploids she protected or destroyed were the ones within her weapon's reach and many of them had not even known who it was who had rushed through with a column of flame in their hand.

A scent! The scent of X's mind, hidden beneath the stench of chaos and war in this cramped building managed to touch her consciousness. So eager to have it closer to her, she crashed into a reploid with the black red face of a dragon and a pair of matching wings. Its eyes, nothing more than shining, horizontal slits in its face flared and a gust of steaming hot air jettisoned across Raven's cheek from its nostrils. Blinding speed and agility gripped around Raven's neck and threw her down a narrow hallway, causing her to drop the Lotus several feet further. The Maverick used elongated, stain covered talons on its fingers to slice a terrified Hunter across the face, spraying blood into the rest of the chaos and dropping the fighter dead to the ground as it approached Raven. She felt it coming, and barely avoided a wave of fire from its mouth that deformed steel panels on the floor and walls. The sorceress held out her hands and threw panicked bursts of energy at him, but he only jerked back weakly with each blow; he wasn't stopping.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!" she screamed, encasing her balled up form in the densest shield she could manage. The claws of the dragon Maverick stabbed into the barrier, and Raven's lay astonished with her eyes wide at the thick blades of metal somehow piercing through. Her arms and eyes rippled with burning sensations, struggling desperately to keep the razor sharp weapons from closing in on her face as her cover was concurrently surrounded in his flaming breath.

The Maverick's roar sounded like towers of metal being twisted in knots, but the screeching noise felt more like sweet relief to Raven as the dragon faced machine was shot in the chest so many times that a small explosion erupted from its neck and it collapsed backward.

"Axl? Is that you?" Raven said with relief, seeing the guns in either hand and the short spikes of brown hair behind his head.

"Raven? What the Hell are you doing here?" he said in the heat of the battle and while shooting other Mavericks that he could get a clear aim at in the room that Raven had just passed through. He lifted her up swiftly while keeping his other hand firmly attached to his gun. "Where is X?" he asked.

She was about to answer, but Axl tackled her to the ground as a weapon that resembled an axe and a set of teeth flew over their heads.

"I… I don't know. Somewhere that way," she pointed down the hall that Axl had come from. "Please, Axl, I need to find him!"

"Fine, I've got your back!" he shouted over the clashing battle in front of their eyes.

Raven picked herself up, and she and Axl went to search for the reploid with the bright green eyes before anything happened to him…

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Several corridors away, Mega Man X was doing what he had always done. Fighting had become second nature, and every slice or burn that struck him was dulled by the same senses that took over in combat. Without the aid of his sword, he relied on his X-buster which was firing so fast that a white cloud of smoke was spreading out from it. Many of the Mavericks deliberately avoided him, instead focusing on the human faces of the other reploids, but some of the braver rogue machines intentionally went after X. Every one of them lay destroyed at his feet, save for the ones that were blasted so hard that they had flown across the room.

"There's no end to this!" shouted Colonel Signas with his back leaned up against X's.

X fired a round of shots into the legs of a particularly tall, black Maverick with two heads, dropping it to its knees. His leg rounded so fast that the neck of the left head shot out sparks after a gruesome crackling sound. The other head couldn't seem to function without its twin, and the enemy collapsed. "These are all just cronies," roared X as an energy weapon grazed his hand, but caused no reaction. "We need to find a leader!"

"Any suggestions on how to do that?" Signas bellowed back.

No, he didn't really have any ideas, but he knew that once he saw one, he… would…

A familiar sight emerged in a new cluster of Mavericks, all shaped like various animals.

_Alia_… "Alia! Get out of there!" The thrusters on his boots burnt the ground, taking him past the hordes of varying allies and Mavericks until he was just a few feet away and he sensed a sudden difference. X leaned back and tried to stop himself, but he hadn't noticed it quickly enough. Looking down, the blood of his reploid life was dripping across a pair of pink reploid hands. Even with all the surrounding chaos, the drips of maroon liquid echoed as they splattered on the metal tile.

_SHLINKT._

Two thick spurts of blood covered the forearms of Alia, and it sizzled on the pair of glowing energy daggers as it dripped down from her arms. X fell to his knees and clutched the bleeding wounds at his sides.

"_Still_ far too trusting, Mega Man X," she jeered, pacing slowly around his huddled body.

He looked up at Alia and the foreign face of rage and anger that took her expression. It hurt, looking at this monster. "Alia… not you… please not you…"

"Aw… what's the matter X? Does it hurt to see someone you care about so deeply turn on you?"

The rest of the Mavericks that had come in with her were keeping Signas and the other hunters completely cut off from her and X. He was alone, facing one of the closest hearts to his own, suddenly turned away from the goodness that had once graced her smile; her laugh. He stared up into the hateful eyes, wanting so hard just to let her end the pain, but even as she laughed at him to his face, he was compelled to get up. The compulsion forced him to his feet, and he let go of his blood encrusted wounds, slowly dripping down like the tears on his face.

"Alia, I'm so sorry… first Gate, and now you…"

"Gate?" she laughed, "My brother? I had almost forgot, you killed him too. You just kill everyone don't you? You're more of a murderer than any of us so called Mavericks!"

He squeezed his fists in an effort to fight the memories that she was conjuring. Alia's pain when she found out that her brother, Gate, had been killed several years ago.

"_But this isn't Alia anymore, is it?"_ he asked himself. "Just a Maverick, now."

"What did you call me?" she glowered at him. "Well if that's all I am, then kill me like Gate, Double, Mac, Dragoon, and every other friend you've retired!"

She grabbed him by the helmet and screamed into his face, spitting with hate and blood turning her pupils red. "Go ahead! Do it! Blast me to pieces, run me through!"

He tried to pull away. She held him tight and forced his eyes open. Their eyes were right next to each other, emerald and blood fire, but X's began to burn.

"Alia…please stop it, I don't want to hurt you!"

She released his face with brute force and he stumbled backward; the perfect opportunity to drive the daggers into his chest, and she took it. With years of pent up rage being forced out of her, she lunged at him, screaming in hate. In the tiny moment he had to react, X planted his feet backward and began to swing a fist at her, hoping that it might be just long enough to outreach her weapons.

A strange, familiar surge shocked through X's mind, and everything seemed to slow down. So slow that he could count each individual spark that flew between their faces from the other reploids nearby.

"_Wha…? My hand… the mark…"_

Glowing in a time of its own, the small distortion of color on the back of his right hand surged with life, showing three golden triangles with the bottom left one illuminated far brighter than the rest. Then, he was given a gift. With the same glowing symbol on its base, the shining blade of his cherished sword appeared in his hand. His face glimmered with satisfaction and amazement at this incredible sword that protected him at any cost, but the gift turned into a nightmare. X watched the blade, somehow unable to control it, connect with Alia's chest and then instantly penetrate it.

His fingers were touching her chest; his sword having passed entirely through her body up to the hilt. It was now her blood that was upon X. Terror rushed through his hands. They trembled and let go of the handle, and Alia fell backward. She screamed in a wrathful pain as the blade slid back out once it pressed against the floor. X was frozen. His wide eyes raced up and down her body, and when she finally stopped struggling with the sharp sheet of metal that had been lunged through her, a single tear dropped down either side of her face.

"A…Alia…I…" he saw her lips tremble as her hand gently slid across the blood that was coming from her breast. She reached out to him, breaking the fearful paralysis for just a moment, and he knelt down next to her. Her tears started to pour out.

"I'm… so sorry, X… I couldn't fight it..."

"Alia, please, don't talk, you're gonna be ok!"

"No, X…" she coughed, spattering bits of blood from her lips. "I… I wish I was strong like you… maybe then… I wouldn't have… been taken like Gate, and all the others…"

X clamped tightly onto her hand as she began to seize in agony, and then her hand went limp. Her face became void of any life, good or evil, and X knew it. His face went as blank as hers until he acknowledged a presence that had been there since the moment Alia's blood had been spilled. Raven, only a few feet away, had seen everything. The massacre seemed to spill all around them with dozens of machines still fighting desperately to kill one another, but the greatest pain lay between their eyes, and at the reploid woman lying motionless with her gaze lost in space.

"_Don't think X, just don't think_…" Raven spoke telepathically to him, but she wasn't sure that the message even got through the wall of anger that was compiling itself inside him.

His head turned downward and his eyes narrowed. No, not narrowed; blackened, as if there was nothing there but empty hollows.

"I… have had enough of this…" he whispered with gritted teeth, but Raven swore that it had somehow echoed throughout the room, drawing the attention of everyone, halting the killing that both sides were so intent upon. Raven's head seared with a migraine that dropped her to her knees, but she forced her stinging eyes to watch X as his armor began to follow suit with his eyes; turning into empty, but furious shadows.

"You want death so badly…" glimmering streams of red that resembled strands of blood emanated from him as the tips of his toes lifted off the ground. The only thing that remained as it had been was the skin on his face, shaped into hate that Raven had sensed only twice before; once in her father Trigon, and the other… had to have been Vile.

"Very well!" his voice began to rise almost to a scream, "Then _death_ is what I shall bring to anyone who stands in my way!"

"X, _no_! STOP!"

But a Maverick had already been foolish enough to challenge the enraged Hunter. Grabbed from behind, X clamped onto the hands gripping his shoulders and flipped the Maverick, easily thrice his size, forward and twisted his neck violently, showering a thick spray of sparks in his own face. It stopped moving after it had fallen head first with a sickening crack. The dark X turned as a clanging of metal sounded in his right arm. A terrified looking reploid was still holding on to the saber that was stuck in X's circuits. Mega Man ripped it out and ambled without any need for hurry at the retreating Maverick. Another rogue reploid much like a spider stood in between them and all eight of his hands began to glow with energy. X's form flickered in a flash of red two times, his stance completely different without anyone having seen any real movement, and the spider reeled in pain at the stumps that remained of every single arm. The owner of the sword was hiding in a corner, to X's delight. He raised the sword high, ready to slice her human-looking face in two, but he couldn't seem to drop the weapon and kill her like he wanted. He gritted his teeth in anger.

"Mega Man X!" Raven screamed at him, and he realized that she was using her mind to hold the blade in place. "Stop it, X, you don't even realize that she's your ally!"

"Anyone who opposes me is my enemy! Do you oppose me too, Raven?"

"X, look at yourself," she yelled, trying to hold the weapon still while fighting the agony in her head. The more X killed and hated, the more it pulsated. "Please X, don't you remember? Don't you remember when you were inside your mind and I showed you this happening? You swore to me… you swore that you would never become this!"

His face shook violently, and the weapon dropped from his hands of his own accord, and the young reploid girl who was not a Maverick at all crawled to her feet and ran.

Mega Man fell on his knees, trying to spit out the writhing that would not subside.

"I… I can't… fight it!"

"Yes you can Mega Man, you can fight anything! I know your heart, I've felt it, and I know it can overcome this darkness!"

He looked into her eyes, and the empty hollows fought for the shining green that rightfully belonged to them. "Raven… I have to… release it all. One huge burst… it's… the only way."

"It's ok, we can do it together."

"No… you… grrahh!"

"X, hang on," she reached out to him, but even through the white dress gloves, touching him burnt her hands and stained the white thoroughly red.

"Raven, go… take Alia…"

He stood to his feet and tapped the jewel hidden beneath the shadows on his chest.

"All Hunters… evacuate immediately!"

As soon as the signal finished, fighters all around dissolved into energy and rose out through the ceiling, leaving little but Mavericks.

"Raven, go now!"

She had begun to refuse, but somehow, X forced her to transform into the phantasmal black bird that swooped down and took Alia's body along with the weapon that killed her and fly through the ceiling to safety.

X crossed his arms across his chest and began to chant. "Chaos is power, enriched by the heart… a good heart cannot be controlled by evil…"

Every Maverick that had a buster was firing at Mega Man's dark image, but the energy deflected and dissolved without even a though from X.

"Chaos is power… enriched by the heart…"

His green eyes shined through, and the layer of shadows lifted from him and created a bubble of glowing red energy as X lifted off the ground once more.

"I'm sorry… that you all have to end like this," X cried to the dozens of Mavericks still shooting at him.

The wall of energy encasing him surged. He gritted his teeth, sucking in every last bit of strength to repel this evil.

"_Chaos_…"

Raven could feel it, even flying high above Maverick Hunter Headquarters. It was raw emotion; raw anger, hate and pain, so dense and suffered for so long. It was more powerful than anything she had ever felt or seen, and it was finally about to be released.

"…_BLAST_!"

Even at her high vantage point, the shockwave sent her careening even higher, and she struggled to keep a hold of what was left of poor Alia.

She looked down. Almost half of Maverick Hunter Headquarters was nothing more than a calamitous crater. The boundary between the nearby river and the once elevated building was no more, and lake water began to pour into the hole. Racing down into the smoke, Raven searched for the lost reploid. She conjured a gust of wind to clear the smoke, and there he was. With the water beginning to raise over his legs, Mega Man X lay untouched and unconscious, still in the white of his dress uniform.


	20. Fury Brand

Chapter 20 – Fury Brand

_I_ _look at the man who has captured my heart and my mind. This man, not a man at all, showed me life that I never thought I could have felt before. I felt… like I had found perfection, but now this… Now the man who I admired so much is imprisoned; hidden away from all those who he might hurt. Everyone is afraid of him now. I think… I am afraid of him too. Even though he is kept from waking, I know that he can feel it. I think he feels… sad._

Raven slid her hand against the fogged, cold glass between her and Mega Man X. His eyes were shut, and frost layered his face. He was frozen, sealed inside a thickly reinforced receptacle where tests could be done on him to find out what had happened in the many hours. Raven had asked when they would be finished with him. 'When we find something' they told her. Night had fallen, and they had found nothing, leaving Raven alone in a foreign part of a foreign world that had been torn to pieces. All she had to comfort her was his sword, sheathed away so that the thought of it piercing through Alia wouldn't arise as easily. She held it tightly to her chest while keeping the Lotus strapped to her back.

"Ma'am, the evening shift is coming shortly, and I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave."

She turned away to look at one of the many reploid guards that had been stationed around X, should anything go wrong with him.

"But, I don't have anywhere to go."

"I'm afraid that isn't my problem, miss," he said sternly.

"Please, may I talk to Signas or Axl, or even Zero?" she asked as politely as her tired mind could manage.

The guard raised an eyebrow, and with reluctance he approached a panel on the wall.

"Admiral Signas?" he said, holding down a particular button, "I'm sorry to bother you, but there's a human girl here who wants to speak with you…"

Raven heard a muffled voice, and the guard continued.

"White dress and red jewel on her forehead...? Yes, that's her… alright, I'll let her know." He released his finger from the panel and turned to her sternly. "Captain Axl will be here shortly to escort you."

Raven nodded with a tiny breath of relief. She had felt the guards staring at the back of her head every time she approached X's frozen form. Even in spite of having to distance herself with the blue armored reploid, the feeling of liberation from this cramped, unpleasant room couldn't be ignored.

Axl entered, and the tired and hungry sorceress could see the look on his face matching the facial portraits of most everyone else; tired, sore, and with a sour anger quelled beneath them. Maybe leaving X's temporary research prison wasn't that joyous after all?

"C'mon, follow me," Axl said without any of the excitement or bounce as he had first spoken to her merely a night ago. Reploids and humans both were trying to repair the walls that had been completely exposed to the cold, night air that made Raven shiver with nothing more than the white dress to shield her pale skin.

"We can arrange to have you stay at a residence building in the city," Axl told her. "Unfortunately, the attacks hit many places out there, too, before we could drive them out. A lot Hunters have been set up there, and even though I don't think there are any vacancies left after what happened earlier, I'm sure there's some way that we can…"

"No, that… I mean, thank you, but… I'd much rather stay here."

A small cough of 'that's a terrible idea' escaped from his lips as he stopped and crossed his arms, looking at her only though his peripheral sight.

"…if that's ok with you, of course," Raven added tentatively.

"Well…"

He wanted to say no. Raven could tell without even probing his mind, but for some reason, he nodded to her. It made a weak smile rise in her cheeks.

"I have to warn you, though," he added strictly, "it's going to be cramped. Whatever X did destroyed half of the living quarters, and the rest aren't suitable to stay in for the night. A lot of other Hunters elected to stay here and many of them simply don't have any other place to go, so you won't be getting your own spot or most likely even anything soft to sleep on. Understand?"

"I understand," she answered him.

"You won't be likely to get a shower or have anything to eat, either. The back up water system is all we have left, and every reploid and human here will want to clean off the mess from the fight this morning. As for food, emergency supplies are being brought in, to the city first, and then here, but our food storage was next to the living quarters, so…"

"…There isn't much left of it either."

"Right. So if you want to stay here, you're going to be on your own."

They came to a set of hydraulic doors, and instead of the expected swooshing of them opening, it sounded more like a whimpering dog and rusted metal grinding together. They had only opened a few inches before Axl had to pry them the rest of the way open with his bare hands. Inside this room, one of only few that she had seen in tact so far, the dark sorceress was being stared at in all directions. Signas, Axl, Douglas, and a few others she didn't know. She looked for Zero, but there was no sign of his ruby armor or the golden ponytail that normally swayed at his ankles.

"What?" she asked, feeling as though this were some sort of jury about to interrogate her.

"We were hoping you could give us some insight as to what went wrong with X."

"Why ask me?" she defended herself. "Don't you all know him better than anyone else does?"

They looked around at each other in speechless embarrassment, now looking like they were the ones on trial.

"We… don't see much of X these days," Signas explained to her rigid face. "When he is home, he's pleasant enough, but we suspect that… well…"

"Suspect that he what?"

No answer. Only the scrutiny of these reploids' faces. Signas came nearer to her. He stopped when she instinctively back stepped.

"We aren't accusing him of anything, nor of you either," he said unconvincingly with a scowl and a sharp slant to his words, "But we know that there are things that he isn't telling us. We can, very literally, see it in his eyes. And when X, supposed leader of the Hunters and perhaps even the entire reploid race begins to hide things, we get a little… worried."

Raven had fixed her dagger eyes on him angrily, but even with the distaste that had suddenly developed inside of her for these machines, the sorceress in dirtied white couldn't ignore their logic. X had shown her things that the other Titans knew nothing about, and she suspected that there were few others that did, but why hide it from his friends and comrades?

She held her expression tight. There must've been a good reason for it, and Raven wasn't about to be taken advantage of in this game of staring down one another.

"If you have a problem with X, then ask him yourself. It's not my business."

Signas narrowed his face, as did many of the others in the room. He turned away, and exchanged facial conversations with some of his peers. She saw Axl shake his head lightly with a softer expression than the rest as he took control of the conversation; a welcome gesture to the dark sorceress.

"Raven…" he began, "…we still want to find out what happened to X earlier today. By our standards, we can't call him a Maverick, and we can't for the life of us find anything wrong."

He approached her with a welcoming familiarity, and Raven felt that she could trust him more than the others. Cautiously, he turned her shoulder forward, noticing the palm-sized area of burnt flesh that had been left untreated. Axl turned to Signas, then turned back.

"Come on, we can talk about this while we get your arm patched up," he said. "Just you and I. Ok?"

Raven could feel the tension from the other high ranked Hunters. They were clearly opposed to this, but Axl seemed willing to take the lashes from their tongues rather than see her suffer them. She bowed her head gently at him and whispered into his mind "_yes_, _thank you Axl_."

"Axl, you should be here, helping to sort out the important issues that we need to undertake."

"Why sort out the important issues when I can take care of one right now?" he replied simply.

Signas's bitter reply was nothing more than a grinding of his teeth, giving a slight rounding to the normally flat surfaces of his machine face. Raven and Axl left without looking back at him.

"I'm sorry about that Raven," Axl said once they were out of earshot. "I wasn't expecting things to be like that. I'm really surprised that Colonel Signas was so ugly about it."

Raven looked back, noticing a slight worry tilting his eyes downward. He walked at a hurried pace and Raven followed, not knowing where he was taking her.

"Thanks for getting me out of there. I'm sorry if you're in trouble now."

"Normally I would have been, but in all the chaos there's no point in administering discipline. He'll probably just drop it. Still, Signas shouldn't have treated you like that."

The sounds getting nearer were unpleasantly jarring. Moans of pain, and the occasional scream accompanied by professional voices holding desperately to their sanity. It was the infirmary.

Axl led her in and sat her on the only available bed, and he reached for a small device on a silver steel table nearby. Raven saw the wounded, wishing she could do something for them, but none of them looked human. She didn't think that she could mend the inorganic parts of the Hunters, so her eyes stayed with Axl, trying to brush out the rest of the noise that taxed her mind far harder than her ears.

"Hold still," he said as a tiny pink ray from the slender device of tickled the burn on her arm. It felt cool and soothing, and Raven swore that it was picking off pieces of stress just as well as it was taking off the dead flesh. After a minute, the black imperfection on her arm was instead a reddened, slightly disfigured patch of normal skin that looked like it would heal just fine. Axl bandaged her arm, and they quickly left the scene.

"There would have been a lot more casualties if X hadn't done what he did, you know," she suggested to Axl.

"You're probably right," he said, "but he almost killed one of his own comrades without even realizing it. It was a dark side of X that no one's ever seen before, and if he can't control that power…"

"I know Axl…"

They both stopped, and Axl tried politely with his expression to exhume the information that he needed. It pained her even to think about what X had… become, at that moment.

"It was… not exactly him speaking, but at the same time it was. It was something that had been deep inside of him for a long time, and for the first time, it came out."

"Raven, the Mavericks want to destroy all humans and lead a race of their own," he said. "Was he thinking or feeling anything like that?"

"No, nothing like that," she answered in assurance. "I could feel from him pure anger, pure hate, and something else foreign that just wanted nothing else to destroy anyone that might cause him any pain. It wasn't about conquering or superiority."

"That doesn't sound like a Maverick," he spoke quietly, and then paused, "but it almost sounds worse."

"I know," she sighed pensively. "I wish I could tell you more, but I don't know anything else. I've sensed a lot of hateful minds in battle before, but whatever was inside of X was very different. It took almost everything I had just to get him to listen to me. I'm sorry I couldn't do more."

"Hey, don't blame yourself, it isn't your fault."

The conversation stopped dead until they came to a particular door that seemed to have significance to Axl. It was also one of the places that managed to stay in tact more than the rest of the massive facility. Raven assumed she would be staying here in cramped quarters.

"This is my room," he said. "You'll be sleeping with several of the cadets. Don't worry, they're good people. Is there anything else I can do for you before I head back?"

Raven thought. She didn't feel like it was the time to make requests when half of the Hunters were injured and the rest were busy trying to salvage and repair what little they could of the ruins of Maverick Hunter HQ. Her eyes glanced to X's sword, the reflective blade still hiding in the gold and purple sheath.

"If you could just let me know if anything happens with X…"

"Of course," he nodded courteously, and he turned back the way they had come.

A small twinge of thought almost jumped Raven, and she had the urge to take the clip of her hair and stare at silver triangles on its design. Somehow, it made her mind flash through images of bright red armor and long locks of blonde hair.

"Axl, wait!" she shouted, and she rushed back to him. "Where is Zero? Did something happen to him?"

Axl raised an eyebrow and approached her swiftly with a sudden change in his temperament. It sent a chill through Raven's spine.

"Raven, don't repeat this to anyone, especially the cadets. I don't want to cause a panic."

"Axl… is he…?" she braced herself for the impact. She was sure that the simple word 'yes' was going to mean another needless casualty, maybe even at the hands of Mega Man X, his own best friend.

"No, he isn't dead, if that's what you're thinking."

And the mountains of burden piling on her shoulders lightened again, ecstatic that the first thing that she would tell X would not be about Zero's death. Still, realizing the seriousness on Axle's face, she wiped off the grin of relief and listened.

"Zero has been missing since he left the party last night," he whispered, trying to attract the attention of the few reploids who were passing through. "There was no record of his transport into or out of the battle this morning either. We can't even pick up his communicator signal."

Raven was speechless. "What does it mean?"

"Damned if I know," he shrugged. "But here's the real kicker: During the attack, none of the security cameras picked anyone unusual at our interstellar launch sites at the edge of the city, but somehow a shuttlecraft managed to escape in the chaos without anyone discovering who was responsible. And guess who the last person was to use it?"

"It was the shuttle that Zero visited us in," she knew.

"It seems like whenever something happens to Zero or X, the other one gets dragged along and caught up in it too," Axl said to her. "But if Zero is out in space, no one knows what it is he's searching for. As long is X is cleared for duty again, he'll probably be sent out to find him, after he takes you home."

Zero was pushed out of her mind just as suddenly as he had managed to work his way in. Raven instead thought strangely at the word 'home'. It sounded different, like the meaning had changed. What would 'home' be like without Mega Man X? The place in her heart that had felt whole now seemed empty. She didn't feel alright about X leaving anymore. Not yet.

Axl was staring at her. She bowed gently to him, and he returned the gesture, signaling that he had to leave.

The dark sorceress entered his quarters, greeted by several awkward glances from a half dozen reploids who were there. One large red reploid sitting in the corner with the frowning face of a tiger looked at her with loneliness in his eyes before staring back at his armored feet. He was holding tightly to the thick tail that swerved around his lap. Two smaller occupants of the room only briefly acknowledged her presence with squinted eyes before curling back underneath a blanket in the fetal position on the couch to try and rest. Another very human looking reploid was dressed in a black robe that buttoned along one side, and he appeared to be watching the news in disdain. The entire left half of his face was bandaged. His eye swiveled away for a moment from the bright screen reflecting off the anger in whatever face he had left, but he chose to ignore Raven. It was obvious that no one was in the spirit to be courteous, but Raven wasn't offended. Had this happened to the Titans' city, she was doubtful that she would've acted much different. Probably worse.

It was the last reploid she noticed who seemed to be giving her a mild smile. Though she was sitting with her back against a wall next to a bookshelf, Raven could tell that she was exceptionally tall; probably about Cyborg's height with the tall orange helmet that jutted backwards from her temples.

"Raven, wasn't it?" she asked beneath her voice to avoid disrupting the others.

"That's right, and you're… Janice?"

"Yes, I'm glad you remembered after all the introductions you must've gone though last night. Come sit," she patted the thick blanket that she was laying on. "It's probably going to get chilly tonight with minimal power and half of the walls broken, so you can wrap yourself up here."

"Thanks," Raven smiled at her. The intricate hieroglyphics running along her legs and arms were fascinating. Raven herself remembered when her body was covered in them as a result of her Father's actions. These ones were much prettier.

The sorceress carefully sat down and positioned the front flap of her dress to maintain her decency. She rolled the blanket up over her shoulders and shivered in realization of the cold that had actually been bothering her while trying to maintain a discretely polite distance.

"Don't worry," she smirked, "I won't tell anyone if you snuggle up."

"Good, I'm freezing," and she sidled up to the orange clad reploid. She let off a surprisingly perfect amount of heat, and it helped to soothe the tight knots in Raven's shoulders and back.

"What are you even doing here?" Janice asked. "Shouldn't you have been put up in the city for the night? I know it's crowded, what with the attacks reaching there too, but I'm sure we could have found something more comfortable than this."

"I chose to stay," Raven answered simply.

Janice looked at her quizzically, and when she didn't return the glance; only stared down at the floor, Janice gave a deep, knowing "Oh. I see."

"See what?" Raven said, a little annoyed that she was the one whose mind seemed to have been invaded when normally it was she who did the invading.

Janice smiled back again, implying that she meant the young sorceress no harm or insult. "You stayed here for X, didn't you?"

"I can fight, too," Raven said, "but… yes, I came for X. I wish I had gotten there sooner."

"From what I hear, we're lucky that you weren't any later, either."

Raven held tighter to the blanket, cocooning herself in the warmth that wasn't enough. She craved a different sort of heat; one that she couldn't find. Every accusation, worry, and even mention of X right now took her further from it. It was all she could do to hold tight and keep warm the skin that failed to keep out the rest of the bitter cold.

"Just be with him."

Raven stared at her. Looking up at her face, she seemed to be thinking of a man of her own.

"Be with him, if he matters that much to you."

"That sounds way too easy," Raven smiled.

"I know," she snickered, "You'll probably have to deal with him feeling miserable and refusing to talk at all until you pressure him to the point of anger to let it out."

"You make it sound like he's just a typical guy," Raven said lightly, then turned very serious. "It's going to be much worse than that."

"I know," she responded softly.

"Thanks, though. I appreciate you trying to make me feel better."

"Don't mention it," she said, as she reached around her other side and pulled out something that looked like a flattened brownie in plastic wrap. "Have you had anything to eat?"

Raven shook her head, not sure if she wanted to eat what was being held in front of her, but her stomach disagreed.

"It's not much. Just emergency rations, full of nutrition for either reploids or humans."

Raven took the opened the package and split it in two, offering one half to Janice, which she took. Raven sunk her teeth in and grimaced.

"Sorry… humans tell me it tastes like chalk."

"I was thinking grass, actually," the dark sorceress said laughing, but she ate the rest of it anyway.

The two sat there, enjoying each other's company. Raven began to sort out her thoughts. She hadn't been ready for the interrogation of Signas. Thankfully her combative verbal skills had protected her. It was dreadful to think of what might have happened should she have stumbled. Thankfully, Axl had more compassion than the others. And what was X keeping from everyone?

"_I've got the answers inside my own head! I just have to search for them_…"

Her eyes faded into orbs of onyx, and she dove into a stream of memories. Separating her past from X's had become easier, and she could now divide them into distinct trails of consciousness without one interfering with the other. She started back from the oldest ones she could remember; faded in color, blurred from age, they were hard to see. X's child-like eyes led her through the faint distance of nearly twenty years ago. Bits of an old man, not the same as Dr. Light, X's creator. The image then flashed to a later time. It was a young Zero, far stronger than X was at the time, protecting the blue armored boy from Vile.

Raven skimmed ahead until things cleared enough so that she could see more. Her intellect told her that this problem she was searching for wasn't something that he was born with or experienced early on. She was searching for something more recent. The visions that she flipped through like pages of a book were staring to un-fog. It was Signas. He looked younger, too. Not in his appearance, of course. He was almost exactly the same as he was in the present day. His armor still resembled a military garb, and his face was rigid, but the expression on his face was kinder, and he seemed to be laughing heartily with X. About what, she wasn't sure. It sounded like a muffled boar moaning. Only fragments of words made sense, but this reflection of joyous camaraderie wasn't close to the answer, she was certain.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Janice asked, backing away from Raven's hollow eyes.

"Oh, I, uh… I can… I was searching for something… in my memory."

Janice stared at her quizzically as the black eyes reverted to a much more pleasant blue. "You're… not human…"

"Well, I am and I'm not."

Janice's expression grew even more curious. "What does that mean?"

"My mother was human. My father… well, he wasn't human at all. But I did inherit some nice gifts from him, including psychic and telekinetic abilities, as well as the control to sift through my thoughts."

"Wow, you weren't lying when you said you could fight, then."

Raven smirked with eyebrow raised. "No, I wasn't."

She went back to meditating with a smile, and Janice watched intently as Raven's blackened eyes flickered through the different images. She tried to focus on an emotion; on a powerful feeling that had existed in X's thoughts that must hold the key to what he's hiding. The dark sorceress started over again and stopped whenever she felt strong sensations. The first was when X was very young, and she felt bewilderment; confusion and helpless anger. The smoking X-Buster was directly before her vision and it had just destroyed a Maverick. X's first kill? She wondered. But this was not what she was looking for. She jumped ahead and saw the body of Zero, lying bloody on the floor.

_I've already seen this_…

She moved on much further to a memory that paralleled the last one. It was once again a dying Zero. The second time it occurred, and X was holding the top half; the only half left, of the blonde haired Hunter.

Raven cringed, but this still wasn't the solution. She lingered at the image a moment longer, and then skipped ahead just as X's eyes had shifted to something else in the distance. Janice's voice interrupted her once again, but this time she stayed in her meditative state while listening.

"If you're searching for something about X," she said, "then I think you should look at something recent, within the past six or seven years, at the latest. That's when I hear he began to grow different."

"I'll try that," Raven thanked her.

Raven remembered the relics that X had collected over his time in space. When they had gone through the very realistic jaunt through his mind together, he had said that he had been on the planet with Materia about 5 years ago. Raven realized she was still holding his sword tightly to her. Hadn't he found that not long after? And the planet Mobius with the Floating Island he had been at just over a year ago.

"_That must be it_... _those places were so important to him_…"

She pooled together all three of those memories; the sword, the materia, and the planet Mobius. It was strange, the visions that she received. Raven saw static. No different from the static that Beast Boy and Cyborg stared at after their late night movies had long since been finished for the evening. Something was blocking her telepathy. She snarled and pressed harder. There was still nothing but static, but she could feel a strange collision of emotions. A dark anger surged through, shocking the other emotions and tearing Raven from the search. Her head pulsed, but she fought harder, and the hateful force fought back. The harder she tried to perceive these lost thoughts, the more the pain and dizziness crippled her. Her stomach lurched, and she pressed one more time, purging the shielding force from inside X's mind within her.

The dark sorceress felt so dizzy; so ill from pressing against it so hard that she could barely get a glimpse of what she was looking at. She was seeing X, but not through his eyes anymore. She was seeing him very separately. He was on all fours, in an environment that she couldn't seem to discern between it and him. His arms looked to be shaking, and he was wearing armor the blue, birdlike falcon armor that she had seen him in on the Floating Island.

His eyes rose up, and they were bleeding a bright emerald green. He spit from his mouth a tiny, clotted hunk of similarly green substance. A sizzle began to plume up from his arms, and green orbs that were all too familiar to Raven suddenly slid out from the depths of his armored upper limbs. With a series of small thumps, over half a dozen green pieces of materia, two yellow, one blue and one red dropped to ground, leaving X's past figure crumpled up.

X's memories faded to black, and Raven was looking at nothing inside her mind. A sharp screeching throbbed in her head, and she heard someone bellow hatefully at her.

"Get out, get out, _get out_!" it tore into her heart, and she felt herself being spewed away from her meditation with the force of a kick to her chest.

"Uhn!" Raven shouted as the pain climaxed, and she felt the Lotus on her back pressing against her shoulder blades up uncomfortably. She was lying on the floor, and Janice and the others were staring at her; the sleeping Mavericks having been awakened and the one with the crippled eye glaring angrily. She could tell that she had been laying there for more than a few seconds before Janice's voice woke her from her stupor.

"Raven? Raven, are you alright?"

"I, I'm fine," she mumbled, and she fell over into Janice's clutches after trying to stand up.

"No you aren't, you should sit," the tall Hunter in orange told her.

"I can't. Not now, X is…"

Axl rushed in, pulling the rigid attention of all those in the room, except Raven.

"I know, Axl," she said before a noise could escape his lips. "X is already awake. He's very angry. Angry at me."

_What have I done? Instead of leaving him to his sadness, I have made him burn with rage. I was told to be with him, and yet I chose to try and steal the answers from his mind. I_..._ cannot believe myself._

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	21. What Lies Beneath the Heart and Mind

I want to thank all those who have read my story in its entirety so far, even if you haven't reviewed. I'm estimating that I'm about half way through with this story, and every bit of constructive criticism as well as compliments will really help motivate me to finish this story with the most enthusiasm possible. Thanks for reading, and enjoy chapter twenty one, where we take a trip back to Titan's Island!

And don't forget! The review button is right below you! I'll read and review yours too, no matter what the genre! Special thanks to Chargone and Evilsangel for their ever consistent reviews.

**Chapter 21 – What Lies Beneath the Heart and Mind**

On a day when the rain dropped so lightly that it was really much more of a mist than rain, the Teen Titans were thoroughly occupied with the non-combative tasks of the day, which seemed to be huge in number. In the main room, Cyborg and Aqualad stared intently at computer screens while the changeling Beast Boy paced back and forth between them, tugging at his dark green hair every few seconds.

"Haven't you found _anything_ yet?" he whined pointedly.

"Dude, stop asking!" Cyborg said. "I've been looking over the readouts on Terra for the past two days, and I haven't found a single thing. Give it a rest, man. When I find something, I'll let you know."

Beast Boy stormed out of the room in frustration, making an audible trampling sound after morphing into a gorilla.

"He really ought to lighten up," Aqualad smiled sideways at Cyborg.

"Yeah, everyone else is doin' great, and it's not like Terra's goin' anywhere anytime soon. Well… we hope not anyway. You find anything waterboy?"

"Nah, not really," Aqualad responded. "The dust we scraped off of Terra's statue doesn't show a thing."

A deep squealing sound of glass being scrubbed turned both of their heads. Outside the main room, Starfire was flying in a nonsensical pattern wearing her usual purple tube top and miniskirt, wiping away the stains and condensation that blocked the slightly foggy view of the day. She stopped, seeing the two Titans working hard on the inside and waived ecstatically at them with a cloth in hand.

They both waived back with grins of their own, but her attention was soon drawn to something else that she stared at with her face pressed against the windows and her hands cupped to her temples. The sight she saw made her squeal with joy, and Cyborg was thankful to have the soundproof transparent plate in between it and her. As Star rushed out of view, Cy and Aqualad spun in their chairs to see Robin, beaded with sweat and wearing a desperately exhausted smirk on his face.

"Rob, you look beat, man!" Cyborg said excitedly. "First workout in a long time, huh? How'd it go?"

"I'm… dog-tired," he wheezed, "but I feel like a new man!"

"Hey, that makes two of us!" he put Robin into a friendly headlock as he laughed.

"I think that's three, actually," Aqualad added, lifting up the shirt part of his dark outfit to reveal a dark pink, mangled looking patch of skin that covered most of his side. It had finished healing, and he moved it from side to side with ease.

Suddenly the sound of a screeching Starfire grew louder and louder. The eyes of all three of them widened, knowing the unintentional danger that was about to hit their leader, and Cyborg made sure to hold Robin in front of him where he would be struck deftly by it. Sure enough, as the joyous screeching came to its loudest, Starfire tackled the Boy Wonder across the room in the way that only she could.

"Oh, friend Robin I am so happy to see that your legs and arms are free of the immobilization from the cutting off of the brain! Such a glorious occasion requires the twenty-three hour Tamaranian song of rebirth of which I know all musical movements!"

"Star… my elbows… aren't supposed to be… touching each other!"

"Oh!" she gasped, and she dropped him on to the ground as the others sighed in relief, praying that she had forgotten about her musical interlude. "I am sorry to have squeezed you so hard friend Robin. I am just so happy that you are back to your old self again!"

"I've still got a ways to go," he admitted with wiggling knees. "But I'll be back in business in no time."

He glanced over longingly at the king sized fridge, and he saw the massive stacks of dishes piled on either side of the nearby sink. They were starting to grow blue mold again in the places where the leftover food was still stuck on.

"Cy, why don't you let me take over for you on the computer," Robin suggested, "'cause I think it's your turn to wash dishes."

"Pssh, I got a better idea," he grinned. "Hey, Gizmo! Get down here and was the dishes, pronto!"

A few moments later, like music to his ears, the tiny stomping shoes of the three-foot hive member came echoing into the main room.

"I'm not you're stinkin' janitorial service, you know!" he bellowed, purple in the face.

"You are if you want to stay out of trouble!" Cyborg retorted with a sarcastic smirk that made Gizmo's head fume. The Titans were sure that they heard a few curses throughout the mumbling of his breath, but he did as he was told and grabbed a stool to prop himself up in front of the sink.

"You know," Aqualad slid his chair over to Cyborg and Robin as his voice fell to a whisper, "I still don't think it's a good idea to keep him around. He was a former Hive member, after all."

"I'm pretty skittish about this whole situation too, Cy," Robin said, turning to his mechanical friend. "You sure we can trust him after one act of pseudo kindness toward Raven?"

"Hey, it's not like we had much of a choice when the police dropped him off at our doorstep after what Rae said to them about reforming Giz. If we told them otherwise, then we'd make Raven look bad, or even worse, the Titans could have lost a bit of credibility altogether."

"Yeah, I agree," Robin still breathed heavily. "There's not much we can do about it right now, but I'm still worried about our security."

Cy just shrugged. "He hasn't caused any problems, and he has been pretty nice as our little maid boy."

"But how can we just assume that he isn't still working for the rest of his Hive buddies?" Aqualad murmured.

Cyborg rubbed the mechanical side of his head thoughtfully. "I'm betting word has gotten out about how he's here and about how were supposedly 'reforming' him."

"If that's the case," said Robin, glancing backward at him over at the sink, "then he probably doesn't have anywhere else to go but here. His Hive friends have probably ostracized him."

Starfire plowed her head into the three quietly gossiping boys and said with an unnecessarily loud intonation, "Ooh, I like to whisper too! Please tell me friends, what is the discussion that we are keeping so entertainingly silent?"

Gizmo scoffed and chucked the bowl he was washing into the sink as he stormed off. Watching the midget child storm off was normally quite humorous, but the bitter expressions pointed at Starfire told her that this was not such a situation.

"As much as I hate to say it," spoke the Titan leader, "If he's going to be staying with us, we shouldn't treat him like dirt. After all, if he did help Raven, then there is the slightest chance that he could become our ally."

"I'm not letting down _my_ guard," Aqualad huffed skeptically.

"Nobody's saying you should," Robin retorted. He looked out at the pale sky, crossed arms helping him to ponder the difficult decision of whether or not to harbor this known criminal. He had always believed that people deserved second chances, so he turned back to his fellow Titans, all of them awaiting the words of wisdom that he always had to come up with. "He is still a human being, and we should treat him like one as long as he keeps up the good behavior."

"Aw, maaaan. You're no fun at all," Cyborg whimpered, the childish voice not matching his massive frame.

Gloomily, he vacated Robin's seat and went for the dishes.

The Boy Wonder plunked down into the accommodating seat in relief. "Now then, have we found out anything about Terra?" he asked.

"As we were just telling Beast Boy… no."

"Great, not even on that symbol that showed up on her hand?"

Aqualad shook his head slightly and rubbed his small, black eyes. "It's a simple design, two triangles with a third sitting on top to make a little pyramid shape. There are plenty of similar looking designs and logos on everything from baby food to chemical waste barrels, but nothing that actually matches."

"Perhaps," Starfire slipped in, "if friend X and fellow Titan Raven were here, we would be having more success in the search for Terra's plight."

"Yeah, it's been about eight days since they left," Cyborg said from the kitchen area. "I wonder if they're havin' a good time?"

Starfire bounced giddily. "I am sure they are having a most glorious time! Raven seems to have been so happy since she and friend X met each other."

"No kidding," said the aquatic Titan, who was enjoying the break from staring at pointless symbols through the computer screen, "I've don't know Raven that well, but she's totally changed from the first time I met her."

"I know," Robin added. "We normally couldn't even get her to come out for Pizza, and now she's going to a royal ball, or something like that. It's still kinda weird for all of us who've been with her for so long."

Robin was now looking at the slicked down black hair on the back of his comrade's head.

"Aqualad…? Aqualad, what is it?"

His eyes seemed to be pointing down to the keyboard as he tapped at it furiously, and he then drew his eyes back to the screen. He cocked his head and Robin slid over to see what was so interesting.

"I know Titans East isn't quite as high-tech as you guys up here, but… isn't this power consumption level unusually high?"

Robin narrowed his masked face at the readout. "Yeah, that's really high. More than twice the normal rate! Where's it all going to?"

Aqualad tapped a few keys, bringing up a holographic display of the energy grid. Toward the top of the T-shaped building, one section was glowing white. Aqualad made no reaction, but Robin face twisted with a mixture of suspicion and confusion.

"Over half of the energy is going straight into Cyborg's room!"

A hunk of porcelain shattered at the other side of the room.

"Say whaaaat?" The metallic man bellowed. Smashing through the hallways, he and the other Titans dropped everything that they had been doing and rushed for Cyborg's invaded abode.

When the door smashed open, Cyborg snarled with rage.

"Gizmo!" he screeched, making the goggled child shriek back in shock. "You little rat bag, I knew you were up to no good!"

"No, no, it's not what you think, I was just…!"

"Just, my ass!" he chucked Gizmo single handedly into the fiercely angry grips of Starfire and Aqualad while Robin went to survey the damage that had been done.

"What the hell is this?" Cyborg said, looking at what was being displayed on his several-foot-wide computer screen. In a luminescent green, there were a number of square and rectangle shapes, and a streaming trail of something else going through the middle.

"I think," Robin began, "this is a topographical map of the city. Gizmo… what were you doing with this?"

He didn't answer. His face held peculiar features that the Boy Wonder hadn't seen in him before. They were not that of a bratty, immature child, but rather of one who was more discouraged with the fact that he had done something wrong and wanted simply to conceal it. Robin turned his back, showing Gizmo only the black cape and matching ruffled hairstyle while he communicated with a simple look to Cyborg.

"Gizmo, if you really want to make something of yourself, then lying to us isn't going to help. If you can't go back to your old Hive friends, and you can't live with us, then what will you do?"

The young inventor stared down, avoiding Robin's gaze even though it wasn't resting upon him at all. It was enough for him to even think about staring down at the green pants of the one person who had the power to keep him here or send him onto the streets where he would never be accepted by anyone.

"It's…" he sighed, "a complex energy wave tracking program that I had installed back when I was living with Hive. I can access the program there and make it run through the systems here."

The Titans all exchanged glances. Gizmo kept his head down.

"I believe that only tells us the 'what' and not the 'why'," Starfire observed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," snapped Gizmo, sounding a bit more the way they knew him. "Back when I was with the Hive five, I had tried out the program to see if I could detect any unusually strong readings. Figured it might give us all the heads up on anything new and powerful in town that we could get our hands on. Then I noticed some strange things going on."

"What sort of strange things?" Aqualad probed, still with an arm on him.

"Energy signatures where there shouldn't have been any and strange waves of power that the scans were picking up that weren't of any kind ever heard of before."

"Explain," Robin demanded. The leather gloves he wore made that special crunching sound when one squeezes them hard enough with arms crossed.

"Well, one of the things I noticed that shouldn't have happened was some freaky form of energy that was in the exact shape of a human. The program couldn't even tell me what it was, and when I looked for e-news on the street where it happened, I found out that there was a bad car accident."

"I heard about that on TV," Aqualad said, loosening his grip.

"Well, the exact spot where the energy was, I guess an old lady with osteoporosis and arthritis managed to lift up a car and save her trapped grandson."

"So?" Cyborg sneered. "There have been lots of times when people are in dire situations and suddenly get what looks like super human strength."

"I know that, rust bucket!" Gizmo said in his irritated, shrieking voice. "But this lady didn't just pick up the car a couple of feet. Eye witnesses said that she _tossed_ the car aside! I don't care what people say about adrenaline and endorphins and all that crap, no seventy year old bag with her bones falling apart could do that without help."

Robin and Cyborg shifted their gazes between their mostly unwanted houseguest and the peculiar looking screen, different glowing shapes constantly flickering on and off in this grid of chaos. It was hard to tell if Gizmo was telling the truth from the lack of understanding that they had for it.

"Why the power drain?" Robin asked, not knowing what else to press him with.

"The program takes up tons of memory to detect every single source of energy; electrical, nuclear, radio waves, combustion engines; everything and anything! And it catalogs most of the data, which I have to store at an external site because it's so huge."

The dark skinned, hulking man who had become suddenly enthralled with this new device tried to navigate the system himself, his one human eye moving separately from the red mechanical one.

"What is it Cy?"

A tiny section on the outskirts of the grid magnified itself into closer view. The scanner then seemed to burrow through the solid stone ground at a waste disposal center near the docks. There, little flickers of energy that the program had detected were vanishing and reappearing.

"Look guys," he said. The fleeting anger turned into pure curiosity. "This is Terra's cave. Hey Giz, is this the same type of energy that you picked up in that old lady?"

"Oh, now you want my help…" he shrugged off Starfire's and Aqualad's already loosened grip and hopped on the stool that he had been on before, yet he still remained a head shorter than Cyborg, and just barely stood above Batman's young protégée.

"No, this is totally different, but it's still nothing I've ever seen or heard of before." Gizmo turned to the others, his eyes pointing accusation at the others. "What the hell has that watchamacallhim… Hunter, X, Mega-moron thingy been doing since he got here? None of this showed up before he came."

A scattered chorus of "_What_?" came from everyone in the room; even Beast Boy, but his was because he had just entered. The

"I do not understand," the orange haired Tamaranian said with confusion. "Why would friend X want to give old ladies the 'super powers' and make things very strange in the cave of Terra?"

"What? Who's making things weird in Terra's…"

"Not now Beast Boy!" Robin silenced him, which he obeyed amidst the confusion. "Star, as for your question, I haven't got a clue."

"Maybe he doesn't…" Gizmo whispered before silencing his own tongue.

"Maybe he doesn't what?" Cy stared him down into his stool.

Gizmo swallowed hard. "Maybe he doesn't know that he's doing it, or that he brought it here. And maybe… just maybe… it might be the reason that all the other robots came here in the first place."


	22. When All You Can do is Run

**Chapter 22 – When All You Can do is Run**

A dozen busters, sabers and other weapons were pointed straight at him. He looked at them, seeing the display of the other Hunters' bravado as nothing more than a nuisance that he should ignore. He had his eyes focused on one person and one alone. Though in the pit of his mind there were so many bitter sentiments burning, he only wanted to deal with one. The pair of deep blue eyes and flowing amethyst hair that made his heart leap before was now making every nerve in his body seethe.

"How… _dare_ you."

"X… I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? Sorry for forcing your way into my mind while it was most fragile?"

X still couldn't focus on any thought other than how angry he was. He felt violated, robbed; no different from when the Mavericks were going to drill the information they wanted from his head.

"X, I…"

"Never have I gone in your mind without asking except when it was to save your life, and so now while I sleep, frozen in a cage with no way to defend myself while I can still sense the whispers and accusations about me flying past my ears, you think you have the right to barge into every private place inside of me?"

"I was just trying to help!" she screamed, and the guards parallel with her backed off as a piece of the ceiling and floor sharply bent themselves from Raven's anger.

"I don't need help," he snarled.

"You liar! I might not have had the right to go in your mind, but I did see that something was wrong, and after yesterday, when you destroyed…"

"Shut up!" X yelled into her eyes, forcing angry tears out of Raven and himself.

"I can't believe you, X," she said, half crying, half screaming; her fingers tearing at her dress while her face burned almost white. "After what we shared, you won't even let me help you when I know you're in need!"

"Enough of this!" Signas pushed through the crowd of guards. "Back off, stupid girl, this isn't any of your business. X, I want answers and I want them now. Where are the missing logs from the Dreamweaver? What is your explanation for your actions during battle? What is the chemical residue that we found in your body?"

X breathed solidly and stared forward, refusing an answer.

"X," Raven said, trying to force a coaxing edge to her angered tone, "please tell me. You can't just…"

"Quiet!" Signas ordered. He shoved her aside effortlessly and with force enough that sent her crashing into the arms of a very startled guard, knocking both of them down. Raven picked herself up, sore, to the sound of a high pitched humming, and several clicks that she recognized as gun weapons being readied.

"You take that out of my face right now!" Signas spat at X. The soldier in blue wore a face of flat anger, and his Buster was pointed at Signas' head, only inches away from it.

"Fall in line, soldier!"

But X's face only narrowed with blood fury even more. He turned his buster around to Signas's neck, and his arm began to heighten with a bright, luminescent glow as he brought his face almost nose to nose with his own commander.

"Don't."

He could feel the tingling sensation of a light saber almost touching his body.

"Don't ever touch her like that again."

The guns came closer. Some were pressing at his back.

"If you do, I _will_ kill you."

His Buster dropped, and the glow rescinded from his arm as he backed away. He looked to Raven, who had been helped to her feet and then back to his commander. A pathetic, untrusting reploid. Yes, that felt like a good description. To Hell with him.

"Mega Man X," Signas suddenly turned very formal, "There is a funeral service in the morning. After that, you are to take a shuttle and return this girl home," he glared at Raven. "Once you return, you will thereby be indefinitely excommunicated and held for further questioning and examination."

X's lip twisted to the side, and he bit it back into place. "Fine."

Signas began to leave without a word, but before he did, he stopped to glare at Raven. He looked her up and down, like she was a disgusting piece of trash. Between the burns, scrapes, disheveled blue hair and horribly battle stained white dress, she almost looked as though she had been through a garbage bin.

As she watched his spiteful grin glide by, Mega Man's profile moved past a short distance behind.

"X, wait…"

"No Raven. Leave me alone. I don't want to talk to you."

He headed for the exit, and stopped once more. From the corner of his eye, he could see two swords strapped behind her. The Lotus, and his own. It was the first and only feeling that he decided he would let her mind feel; the pain of knowing that behind the sheath, a close friend's blood lay. Without looking at her emotionally wrought face, he said, "I'm going to the service in the morning. Then I'm taking you home."

She heard his footsteps stop outside of the room, and the familiar sound of his body teleporting away. Raven's body slid through the ceiling and flew off in the opposite direction of the ex-Hunter.

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Behind a browned and dirtied cloak, a face was dropping with utter disappointment. A sudden slump of his shoulders and a lull in his pace was noticed.

"Sage of Light… is something wrong?"

He stopped. Through his cloak, Princess Zelda could tell that his arms drooped. She guessed that his face did the same, but why? Why the sudden change in the emotions that had been either ruthless or completely absent? The sadness that his whole body showed in the span of only seconds soon stopped him dead, only a short distance from the towering steps of the pyramid that they had been after.

"Don't you feel it?" he asked. "A split down the middle between waning strength and complete rage."

The ghostly figure of Impa trailing slightly behind the other two shut her eyes. "I do feel it," she said. "What's happened to the Hero?"

"I don't know," said the sage, not knowing whether he should be angry or miserable. He hadn't foreseen anything like this. Ever since he gained the powers of Rauru, the former Sage of Light, he had been given the gift of partial foresight for many major events, and it had been his duty to steer the dark paths to the light, and the unsure paths to the same. But this; this he would never have seen with all the wisdom in the galaxy, and his spirit sank with regret, feeling that it was his own self-stupidity that was to blame.

"It feels like… an unnatural divide between two powerful feelings," said Impa, while the sage stood with his head down, and Zelda, with her hair no longer fastened under the bandaged cap, listened perplexed and unhappy.

"I can't feel anything," she mumbled under her breath. She played with the dirty blonde locks at her side, trying to look as occupied with anything other than the misery. She tried to sense whatever these two were feeling, but felt nothing but a void of her own frustration.

"I sense…" Impa continued, "Anger and hatred on one end, and a deep sadness on the other. You say that it comes from the Hero, Sage of Light?"

"Yes," he returned bluntly. "I don't understand what it means. The two emotions tugging at each other are so, separate; distinguishable. Something is wrong."

"What can we do?" Impa asked.

The red, metal boots of the sage could be seen beneath the swaggering cloak as he moved forward again. The sudden change in mood had been stifled back to his stone cold state of being. "Right now, we can only wait," said the Sage of Light. "The Hero will be here either way with a sage in tow. Still," he said, not looking back, "this is strange. It will need to be tended to."

"What do you plan to do once we are freed from this dark world?" Impa probed him once again.

"I don't plan to do anything, and once you pass your powers on to the next Sage of Darkness, well…" he paused, indicating a small ounce of respect for the apparition with still rigid muscles and white hair, "you won't be able to deal with the matter either. Zelda, you will do something about it."

"Me?" she snapped from behind the other two. "Why me? What will _you_ be doing? And I thought I had no part in this! Why do you suddenly care now?"

The stern sage still refused to show her anything but his back and the sleeved arms hanging motionless at his side. "I've offered you a chance to help the Hero. Are you saying you refuse?"

"…well, I… no…"

"Good, then be quiet. And as for what I will be doing, you remember I told both of you to make no mention of me to the Hero, don't you?"

Impa nodded. Zelda just glared.

"And that is what you will continue to do."

The massive stones steps required some effort from Zelda to climb, while the Sage of Light leapt twice the height of her body to land three blocks higher than her. Impa found the whole matter tedious, and she floated up to the very top faster than the other two. In the vast distance, a deep orange sunset burned across the horizon, and the faded shapes of a massive castle and the monstrous peaks on Death Mountain stood watch over them; spying, sneaking, and spreading a discomfort through Zelda that she couldn't recognize.

At the very top of this ancient testament to the Dark World's twisted form of real life, a gaping hole shaped like a winged creature of unusual size dropped down into depths so black that none of the three would look at it. The Sage of Light ignored it entirely, picked a corner and sat down, choosing a cross-legged position as he stared off in a direction that they couldn't see behind the covering on his eyes.

Impa sympathetically stared into her Princess's pained watch. There was nothing she could do to ease the pain. A century passed, a fading mark, a lost loved one; they were all things that she could not heal for the one she had served for so long, so she merely bowed to her unkempt master and chose a second corner to stare off into the distance.

Zelda watched the hole suspiciously, expecting something to come out of it, but after several minutes, nothing did, and she too ignored it despite the prodding that it made at her memory. Her face had seldom seen the evening light like this. Hidden away from those who would have previously tried to do her harm, it felt both freeing, and yet more like a prisoner than ever before. She longed to see this new Hero of Time, praying that he would be like the one she knew in her own time. The green tunic and hair that matched her own in color wouldn't stray from her heart's mind.

But for all of their thoughts, none of the three would find answers or relief until the Hero came for them.

"The old Hero," Zelda began, "never lost his way."

The sage reacted poignantly. "No, he didn't. I'm sorry that this one has."

"Why do you apologize?" Impa consoled him. "You speak as if it is your fault."

"I suppose..." he started a reply, and for the first time his eyes were visible, the reflective black covering having vanished somewhere up into his hood. They were a brilliant green, almost glowing, and the sharp features of his worn, yet youthful looking face held the jade pupils with indomitable stature. "I suppose that I may very well be responsible."

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The precession was the last place that Raven wanted to be. Sitting at the very back, deprived of any sleep and hair beginning to glisten with the oils that hadn't had a chance to be cleaned, she sat hunched with her limbs drawn closely to her.

The noise around her was unbearable. Some sat with their heads bowed like her, but most were sobbing or moaning uncontrollably. Worse yet, coming from the front of the service near the body of water that had spilled into the crater were several reploids playing a funeral hymn with what she could only identify as their form of bagpipes. She felt her insides lurch with every cry and when a massive line of coffins came down the center of the crowd, she had to bury her face in her hands. She heard a quartet of feet pass by her, and then another, and another, and another. The march would not end, and with desperation Raven tried to stop herself from counting every single coffin that she knew was moving by her.

She knew that one of them contained Alia. An instinct pulled at Raven, and she looked up as one of the last coffins went over her head. It was well decorated, more so than the others, with a pink sash laying over it. And the sword that killed her was sitting right on her back. A moment later, her seat was vacant.

At a much greater distance away, camouflaged from sight using the powers of his buster, Mega Man X could see it too. Unlike Raven, and even though he was all but completely invisible, his face was vacant, lifeless; only allowing remorse on the inside which he also fought to contain. But his eyes still couldn't move from the intricate, wooden coffin with the pink sash lying on it. Only a small splotch of pink in the precession at the distance he kept, but it was unmistakable. It had been a present; a scarf, actually, that he had given her himself after returning home from one of his travels.

He remembered it as clear as day. It was in a small village set in a rocky mountainside on the planet where he had first learned about materia. A simple shop where a tailor made all his own goods with some of the finest materials, most of which he crafted himself. He remembered the smell. It smelled of dyes and fresh, human laundry, inviting his customers in from outside, whether it be rain or shine. Being built into a rock face, the walls and floor consisted of smoothed out stone with incredible tapestries and rugs that the man living there had woven himself. Some were for sale, some were not, but one piece immediately caught the blue armored reploid's attention. Sitting on top of a pile of finished works lay the scarf, glimmering like silk, warming like wool, and softer than the tip of a gull's feather.

'_Have a pretty girl in mind?'_ had said the man of slim build with a gentle smile and a foot that continued to pedal away at a contraption that was sewing smooth fibers together.

'_Well… something like that_,' X had remembered stumbling over his words.

He had asked how much it would be to buy it, hoping he had enough of their currency, or at least something valuable to trade.

'_For you, free_,' he had shocked Mega Man.

'_But, it must've taken you_…'

'_Only about six hours_. _Besides, you're a first time customer. I know you'll come back this way,_' he smiled with bony cheeks.

X returned to the present, with his head bowed.

"I can see you, you know."

X's stance flickered with surprise, and a touch of anger. He couldn't even see himself.

"You want to leave," Raven said, looking into his eyes that no one else could see.

A dark prism of colors slowly formed themselves back into his whole figure. It hadn't made any difference to Raven. He looked the same either way to her.

X sucked in a deep breath through his nose. He held it tight for a moment before letting it slide back out the same way it had come. "Yes," he responded simply. "There's a hover cycle ready for us to leave at any time. Do you have anything else you need to here?"

"No… do you, Mega Man?"

"I have no place here anymore," he said with a cold shoulder.

Raven looked down, and X watched her grow awkward. She reached for her back hesitantly with a deliberate intent to avoid X from seeing it.

"Don't you dare show me that sword. I don't want to look at," he pursed his lips. "I don't wanna talk about it, either. Don't say anything."

Raven stayed quiet and kept the blade out of his sight.

The trip to the hover cycle and the subsequent trip leading out to where he and Raven had first landed on the planet seemed to pass by in a timeless manner. They didn't speak or communicate with each other's minds. The dark sorceress leaned back while on the hover cycle, trying to stay from touching him in any manner. She felt disgusting, her hair dangling weakly in the wind, her skin scarred and greasy, and her Mega Man not wanting to even be touched by her or to touch her.

They arrived where the Dreamweaver was parked, and Raven silently walked behind X as his metal boots clanged against hot tar.

"Uh, Commander X?" said a tired, distraught and unhappy guard. "May I ask what you're doing here?"

He shot a brief glance back at Raven. "I'm taking her home."

"But I was under the impression that you'd be taking a shuttle on the…"

"You were told incorrectly," X replied indistinctly.

"Well, just to make sure I'd like to call Signas and…"

"Soldier, do you want to cause a delay?" Mega Man snapped. To Raven, his blue armor didn't seem so regal anymore, and the callousness in his voice made her bite her lip.

"Uh, no sir, I mean Commander. Go right ahead," the soldier spoke with little confidence; probably about the most that he could muster.

With a bit of a rush, the two headed for the metal stair case coming from within the Dreamweaver, and Raven sidled up closer to him.

"What are you doing?" she whispered. "We were supposed to take a shuttle."

X didn't give her an answer as he glared at her heatedly with eyebrow raised, and she didn't press him any further.

As soon as they were inside with the hatch safely shut, X said mechanically, "Computer, plot a return course to our previous location, same route, maximum speed. Run on autopilot and notify me of anything unusual… and see if you can increase the speed of our passage through this planet's atmosphere."

"_Route confirmed. Autopilot engaged_."

He turned to Raven. "I'm going to my room."

"And what am I going to do?" she asked.

"Do whatever you want. Just leave me alone."

Raven stood and watched him leave, and even as the ship lightly jolted into the sky and rumbled as they passed through the burning atmosphere, she remained expressionless but with a swarm of wounded feelings inside. She had already lost the sound of his furiously stomping metal boots down the long corridors, but she still stood there with time unkindly passing her by.

Eventually Raven forced herself to push through the apathy and amble through the ship to one of the quarters separate from X's. She tossed both swords on a nearby bunk, and finally, she was able to peel off the now worn dress with its accompanying shoes. What a tearing at her mind, seeing the dress lying on a bed while she stood almost naked next to it. Such wonderful memories, and such hateful ones at the very same time.

The dress suddenly turned an opaque shade of darkness as Raven eyes lit up similarly. She suspended the gown in front of her with her hand clenched into a claw. Her teeth grained together, and the top of the dress was pulled tight in opposite directions.

She pulled it harder, expecting the fibers to split any minute. Raven wanted it so badly; to tear the dress into pieces and then burn them into dust. So much helpless anger, so much bloodshed, all because of this. Her eyes streamed with tears down her cheeks even as her eyes still shone black, and her jaw shook as she pulled just a little harder.

The blemished gown floated to the floor, and Raven fell on it, crying.

"I can't…" she sobbed. "I just can't…"

As she balled herself up, a gentle warmth began to soothe the palm of her hand and she could see something golden shining off from her hand that was clenching her knees together. She slid her hand up her leg and saw on the back of it something that hadn't shown through the white gloves that she had been wearing for the past two days. She had an instinctual memory stir into her thoughts as she pulled X's sword off his bed.

On both her hand and the base of X's blade, there were matching symbols of three connected golden triangles.

"_Do not lose heart_," a whispering voice spoke to her.

"Who… are you?" she asked the shining symbol through her tears. "Was it you who saved me before? What's so special about this sword?"

It was as if the golden triangles were smiling at her. "_Do not lose heart_," it repeated.

The glow faded, and that tattoo-like imprint of the golden triangles still remained on the back of her pale-skinned hand. Raven stared in awe at the mark that was no different from her skin when she touched it.

"Don't lose heart…"

"_Be_ with him…" she remembered Janice's words.

"I think… I understand what you're trying to tell me."

Raven reached for her dress and held it up to her body. It was laden with burns, stained spots, and even blood in some places. She hugged it tightly.

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With his legs dangling from the top floor in his hall of ancient relics, Mega Man X sat. His metallic boots seemed to wave back and forth only for the sake of movement, and a mild frown had ingrained its way into his otherwise blank stare. He could sense the materia glowing behind him in its well kept case.

He perceived Raven coming well before she entered the room. He watched as her body slowly passed through the false wall, then turned his gaze quickly away toward nothing. Still, he could see out of the corner of his eye that she had been cleaned of the blood and dirt that she had been stained in for nearly two days, and she had returned to her traditional Titans outfit with hood draped carefully over her head.

With the sound of wind being pushed aside by a light breeze, Raven rose up to his level and softly seated herself next to him, not at a great distance, but not especially close to him either.

"I said I don't want to talk. I want to be alone."

Her eyes bored into the side of his head, even though they were soft, and neutral in demeanor. It was much the way he remembered her initial personality.

"I know what you want. You've already told me that," she whispered, and it echoed through the room audibly. "But I know that you keep pushing yourself further and further from what you need."

"How would you know what I need?" he said, still looking straight ahead as her eyes never wavered from him.

"Look at what hiding it so far has brought. You've been kicked out of the Hunters, suffered incredible pain, almost become a monster, and nearly killed innocent reploids because you've kept it all to yourself."

He turned his head further away from her. "Shut up," his voice trembled with tears hiding in them.

"No. Talk to me, Mega Man X. Tell me something. Let me take even just a little bit of this pain for you."

"I won't. I can't…" he breathed in, shaking with water that leaked from his face. "The more people who know about… what I know, the more lives will be at stake. I can't… I can't risk it."

"You're hiding it to protect others," Raven stated to herself, feeling that she was getting somewhere, but she still maintained her firm gaze. "This thing that you know about, X… is it about the materia? Is it about what happened to you at the Hunter Base? Or something else?"

He didn't answer, and kept on trying to calm the unending shakes of sorrow.

"Is it about your sword? Does it have something to do with… Alia?"

"Don't, Raven," he gritted his teeth through stifled sobs.

He was looking at her face to face, eye to eye, and Raven had trouble keeping the same sturdy countenance that she had been pressing on him the whole time.

"X… Alia made a choice, and that's not your…"

"No she didn't!" he screamed. "She didn't have any God damned choice! Hardly any of them do!"

"Mega Man, I…"

"Do you know how most Mavericks _become_ Mavericks?" he snarled with rage and bitter sorrow reddening his face. "It's a virus. A God damn virus!"

"A… virus?" she whispered. The shock hat gone straight to her insides. She wanted to throw up. "That's what happened to Cyborg?"

"Yes." He paused. He turned back away from her before continuing on in a whisper. "I know more about the Maverick virus than anyone. I should, since I've been infected with it so many times."

He turned to Raven, whose stared agape. "Don't worry," he went on. "I'm immune to it. I'm the only one. Ever. Axl and many of the reploids created in his fashion were supposed to be special; invulnerable to it, but the virus still found a way. As soon as it could find an emotion strong enough to latch onto, it magnified, just like it has with everyone else, and it spread across their minds until it was consumed by hate."

"Cyborg was… jealous?"

"Yes. He's lucky. If he wasn't half human, than I would have had to kill him too."

"So what I saw while helping you find the places to stab him… that was the virus?"

X nodded.

"I'm so sorry about Alia," Raven consoled him, inching slightly closer.

The reploid shrugged his armored shoulders and shook his head apathetically. "I don't want to kill any more friends."

Raven didn't know how to answer, so she just kept watch over his sullen features, until a realization came that brought back the ache in her stomach.

"X… you said any… _more_?"

She could sense the agony sting against his mind, and in turn it pricked hers sharply as well, filling it with fractional pictures of death. Her hands shook.

"How many? How many, X?" she asked again.

His armor scraped against the metal seat as he shoved himself down to the bottom floor with a heavy banging against his armor boots. He continued to walk forward rigidly without saying a word until Raven's shadowed spirit form coalesced in front of his path.

"Stop it!" he snapped, and the sheer force of his yelling blew her hood back.

"No, X. Tell me."

"Fine!" he screamed. "You want to know how many friends I've killed with my own hands? Alia makes twenty-two! Twenty-two!" He glared at her, his anger breaking down into misery. "There, are you happy now? Now you know I'm just a killer. All my life, I've tried to protect, but all I do is destroy. I've killed countless dozens of other reploids that I haven't befriended, and it never ends." X plunked onto the floor facing away from Raven, and his bright blue armor seemed to lack any luster that it used to have. "All I seem to know how to do is kill, and now I'm even losing control and giving in to the chaos inside of me, so I can't even really choose who I retire anymore."

Raven listened to his exhausted breaths slowing down as he buried his face into his knees.

"It's ironic, really."

Raven stirred. "What is?"

"The last friend I killed… number twenty-one… that was Gate, Alia's younger brother."

"Mega Man…" she whispered his name in vain, hopeless and without anything to say to help. "I'm so sorry."

"So am I," he stated, with his voice turning to a quiet, neutral feeling that seemed to stop dead in the normally echoing room.

A long silence passed over them. Neither would look at each other. Neither wanted to touch the other. X, for whatever reason, stood up and headed for the exit without a word to Raven.

"Wait, you haven't…"

"No, and I'm not going to tell you what happened to me in battle, or about the vision that you forced out of me." Then he said, as more of a command than a suggestion, "I'm going to go to sleep. You should too. You already know it's a week long trip."

The dark sorceress watched him leave, listening to his footsteps until they were away from earshot. Even when they were gone, she could feel his heart pound and his mind reel with the thoughts that stuck to him as strongly as if they had been fastened to his chest since birth.

"_I'm still angry at you_," she thought to herself. "_But I'm glad you at least told me something_. _Sleep well Mega Man_, _tomorrow is a new day for both of us_."

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End of chapter 22. Please, please, please review, whether it's flames, praise, or constructive criticism. It will get you a review from me on your work! And as usual, I apologize to those who have been keeping up with this for my sluggishly slow updates. Things are nuts. In a week or two, chapter 23, A Link to the Past. Oooh, who recognizes that title?


	23. A Link to the Past

**Chapter 23 – A Link to the Past**

A blur of sight. Something… wet?

The dark girl wiped off a spot of drool from the corner of her mouth and sat up, and in moments was bashed back into the cushioned chair after smacking her head quite firmly on the protective glass casing on the sleep capsule. It opened up automatically just seconds after.

"Damn it," she swore, touching a sensitive part of her forehead that was starting to swell. "Best technology in the galaxy and I manage to crack my skull anyway."

She struggled out of the capsule and after a long yawn, summoned her cloak from nearby and wrapped it around her shoulders. After running her fingers through her steadily growing hair, she noticed something off. Everything in the room was the same as the way she had left it; her suitcase with a few things unpacked on the human-style bed nearby, and a fairly plain and dull décor making up the rest of the quarters.

Everything seemed quiet.

But that, the dark mage soon realized, was exactly the problem. The gentle hum of the Dreamweaver's engines was absent, as were the occasional footsteps of the mechaniloid repair drones. The ship had already landed.

"Computer, what is our current location?"

"_The Dreamweaver is currently landed on an unregistered, class-M habitable planet in an unregistered star system_," the voice responded.

"How long was the trip?" she probed.

"_Approximately three days, eleven hours_."

This didn't make any sense. How could she have slept for so long? And there was no way they could have made a week long journey in three and a half days. She thought of one more important question.

"Computer…" it made the signal acknowledging that it was being spoken to, "has the Dreamweaver ever been on this planet before?

"_Affirmative_."

"When?"

"_Approximately 11 years, 1 month, 3 days ago_."

"When he first started journeying… why come back now, X?" she whispered, and neither the computer nor the silent ship took notice of her. "What makes it so special?"

She reached for the Lotus, sitting in the same spot it had been in, and suddenly she panicked. X's sword was gone. There was no sign off a fight. Raven surmised that he simply had come in and taken it while she was sleeping for a strangely long time, but what reasons he would have for taking it, especially after not wanting to even _see_ it a few days prior, stumped the dark sorceress as her alarm increased. She quickly strapped the weapon around herself and phased through the ground in her astral raven form.

The ground beneath the propped up Dreamweaver was covered with filthy brown grass; a sign that once life had flourished in whatever place this was, but for some reason it no longer did.

With the spanning shadow of the Dreamweaver's massive shape blocking the sky, Raven was treated in small doses the dread that this dying planet gave off. With every step, she could see more thickly clouded, stormy sky, and despite the cold rainfall prickling at her cheeks, Raven could see no health in the vast fields beyond her, and the trees that seemed intentionally planted at a long, fixed distance in this grass plain bore very few leaves. Her chest started pounding at this sickly looking land.

"AH!" Raven yelped at a horridly loud sound piercing her ears, and the sight of fire and sparks not far off. She had already ripped chunks of the ground out telekinetically, waiting to hurl them at the nearest foe, but all she saw was a shattered, burning tree stump. The pounding feeling spread down to her stomach and up through her throat.

"What… the Hell is this place?"

Another burst of lightning struck down not far away, and Raven cupped her hands over her ears just in time to null out the thunder clap that rumbled across the dying plain. Looking down into the muck afterward, she saw an indentation of an oval shaped figure that came to a point at the front, while the back half was rounded off. X's boot prints. They pointed in a very clear direction, though Raven couldn't see past the hills or the dense sheet of rain far enough to tell where. The pouring rains started to splash up the ground and make the print mix in with the mud again. He hadn't been gone long.

Raven waved her hand above her head and created an umbrella cloak against the rain and hovered forward at a hurried pace so to not lose X's trail. She could see his pace quickening, and the widening steps turned into a straight streak of his boots carrying him much faster. Did he already know she was coming, or was something urging him to go faster?

Her black shoes pulled back behind her and her hands reached forward to grab at the dark sky ahead. Her cape fluttered wildly as the glowing rain guard contoured to her broke apart unlike the unending sheet of water and clouds, and she focused more on the speed with which she gave chase, growing more worried that storm had consumed him somehow. She still saw nothing but the desert of life that had all but given up on surviving, rolling up and down the hills of this foreign land.

An outlined appeared from the fogged panorama right ahead of her, and the trails from the tips of X's boots led straight up to them. As she drew nearer, she saw dark stone walls with a towering gap intentionally set in it. A broken-down bridge sat in the moat that provided meager protection against this dank place, which Raven could soon see had begun to rot aggressively, leaving it even more vulnerable and in tune with the dead earth around it.

Mossy, skeletal plants had pushed through the stone walkway, but she could tell that the signs of life seemed to have deserted long ago, as the old, pre-industrial wood buildings had crumbled. There was a broken statue that had lost any semblance of shape or design, and a puddle of water sat at the bottom. This place used to be the center of town commerce, she guessed.

"_There isn't any damage, aside from years and years of weathering… so where did everyone go_?"

Through the continuing pattering of the rain, she struggled to find any trace of Mega Man's path, but with the ground covered in a primitive brick, she couldn't find any trail.

"Hmm? Who's there?" Raven raised her voice, hearing the sound of feet; not metal ones like X's, but a skulking, lazy foot drag around the corner of one of the broken buildings.

"I'm looking for someone," she called gently as she neared the edge of the building that the steps had originated from. "Could you help me? He was wearing blue armor and…"

The flesh that stepped out was dark brown and smelled like a corpse. So wrought with famine was this creature that its skin barely managed to stay together around the bones that it so clearly outlined. It was hairless; almost featureless aside from the bony appendages and the empty gaps that existed where the whites of sight and life should have been.

Raven reached for the Lotus on her back as the ghoul let out a moan that meant one thing to her: it was hungry.

But the dark girl, ready to slash the sight before her in two, stopped dead. The pierce of blood lights from the creature's hollow sockets held her eyes, her arms, her legs; her everything, in place.

Feeling like a terrified statue, Raven couldn't explain or understand why she couldn't just reach for her blade, but as she tried to find the solution, the crimson light-eyes only came closer. The beast's sluggish, but ravenous craving for flesh stretched beyond its gaze as the bony arms reached for her.

A flash of lightning blinded her, and the next thing she knew, her hand had grasped the Lotus and set the creature in such a blaze that even the relentless downpour couldn't douse it from moaning into ashes.

It was only seconds later that she caught a faint sign of X's thoughts. They felt desperate; unsure, and afraid. Raven soared above and let her mind guide her eyes to the spot, at a large stone building that stood out clearly in the wasteland. As she flew nearer to it, she could see how incredibly it clashed with the surrounding dreariness. An orchard, or at least what was left of the lines of trees, was adjacent to one half of this temple-like building, and one the closer side was a graveyard with tombstones as degraded as the fountain. And yet, the carefully set stones of this sanctuary fought hard against the rain and decay where all else had fallen.

X was inside. She could feel it.

The carved double wooden doors creaked open, and they echoed along with her footsteps as they closed from behind. The dark, now damp sorceress didn't have time to look at the quality of the temple, the untouched red carpet down the middle, or the unusually large amount of light puncturing through the windows, because she could see X's back-to frame through a passage at the distant, opposite end of where she stood.

Her soaking cape flapped as she leapt through the air and was only feet behind him in seconds. Mega Man's arm dragged the shining sword, although it was still dulled and tainted from Alia's blood.

"X," she spoke softly to him, every sound repeating itself against the lofted ceiling. "Why have you come here?"

He turned his head, but didn't look at her. "I didn't want you to come."

"That's obvious," she said back, with no change in the care of her tone. Raven could sense the fragility of his spirit, but she withheld the urge to pry in and find out what caused it. "But you haven't told me why you're here, at a place that you visited almost a dozen years ago."

"I'm tired, Raven. And I'm sick of all the fighting. I don't want to do this anymore."

"X, none of us want to fight, but…"

"But what?" he turned to her with melancholy eyes. "We have the responsibility to? I used to tell myself that when the going got tough. I told myself that for every Maverick I destroyed, that could be two, or three, or a dozen more innocent reploids that were saved. But the tradeoff, after a while, didn't seem to look so even anymore. A lot of the people I fought to save ended up dying at the hands of new Mavericks, or even turned Mavericks themselves thanks to the virus that we will never find a cure for."

She cautiously approached his saddened face, stepping up on a stone altar with a delicately carved pedestal that she couldn't entirely see past X, but it was his fragile temperament that she was most worried about.

"I've felt like this before, X. I know it's hard, but there are too many people out there counting on you."

He raised a sad eyebrow with a weak grin. "You're wonderful, Raven, you really are, but you don't know how I feel. You've endangered the lives of your friends and innocents a few times, but you've never actually taken one." He turned back away from her. "I've killed friends," he said to her. "Close friends, more than one for every year of my life, face to face, and sometimes watched them die in my arms as the virus leaves them. Almost every criminal you've fought is behind bars, but the Mavericks I've dealt with are dead. All of them. Don't you remember how it felt when you destroyed Vile?"

"I do," she answered. She had felt relief at first, that it had been ended; that the symbol of fear that it had forced into her was gone, but the realization that followed hadn't been as warming. Raven took in her hands the life of another and ended it. It was a curious power, but not a welcome one, and the dark girl bowed her head as she couldn't fathom what it would be like to repeat it hundreds of times.

"But how will coming here change things?"

X took his sword and grasped it tightly, letting the blade delicately slide down the palm of his hand.

"I can get rid of this," he said, disgusted at it.

Mega Man X approached the center of the altar, and Raven saw the symbol at the base of the small pedestal. Etched in the gray marble was the same symbol that appeared on both his sword and on the back of her hand. It was the place where the estranged and angry Hunter had pulled out the blade many years ago, and he was going to place it back, never to be found by anyone again.

"X, wait…"

"No Raven, I'm through. This damn thing is going back where it belongs!"

Ignoring Raven's cautiousness, he took the blade high above his head and dropped down to his knee as he thrust it in the dais with all his might, and there it stuck, firmly and upright.

X and Raven both felt an unnatural pull from above, and as everything around them faded into nothing, only the altar remained with the sword inside of it. A tower of streaming liquid light surrounded them as their feet began to lift off the stone floors. X clung on to the weapon that he had just dug into the solid marble, with Raven hanging on for dear life from one of his legs that dangled in the sky. The force yanked harder at them, and a vortex of intense wind was making their eyes water and their grips on each other weaken, but the sword that had just been replaced didn't budge an inch when it should have come right out.

Mega Man felt the tearing on his leg subside as Raven's fingers slid off of him. He turned upward with squinted eyes and watched her body vanish into a sun-bright radiance above, and he let go, diving through the current after her.

The blinding aura consumed him, and he felt his senses dulling into sleep. He reached out for the dark girl. Her arm, her cape, her anything, but his hands drifted helplessly through the light before he lost consciousness.

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A sickening nausea joined with a throbbing pulse on the side of her head brought Raven awake.

"Ungh... what the Hell... twice in one day?" she rubbed the tender lump that was aggravated again from the fall, or whatever it was. Her palms pressed up on a chilly stone floor, and as her eyes cleared, she could see the blue armored reploid only a few feet away, just as disoriented as she.

"Are you ok, X?" she asked, crawling over to him.

He groaned. "I'm alright."

Mega Man picked himself up from the dusty floor, and saw that it was the same one he had just left. The sword that he despised so much was sitting exactly where he had placed it. Everything looked unchanged, but he and Raven both eyed the massive temple room oddly. Something felt very off. X soon shrugged it off.

"I'm heading back to the ship," he said very definitively, and headed down the long corridor that had brought them through to the sword's chamber.

"X, wait," the dark sorceress called behind him. "What just happened?"

"I don't know, or care for that matter as long as we're both fine," he sighed rudely, and Raven was taken aback.

She scoffed at his attitude. "I know that you're tired of fighting, but that doesn't mean you can ignore what just... just..."

No, Mega Man couldn't ignore it even as much as he longed to. As they went out the temple doors, they didn't see the same vast village and castle void of life as they had seen it before. They rain had stopped, the clouds entirely gone. There wasn't even a remnant of the storm in the first place. What shocked the two even further were the gravestones and the dead trees on the opposite side of the temple. The trees were now richly green with leaves and fruit, while the tombstones looked to be much more recent and completely legible, but they were placed exactly where the old, crumbling ones had been planted.

Even more shocking was the sound that replaced the thunder and the never ending patter of the raindrops. A large group of people sounded as if they were going about their business, chatting away as Raven and X stood out of eyeshot, dumbstruck at the realization.

"We're in the past!" The sorceress gasped.

"Yes," X said quietly back to her. "And I'm guessing... about a hundred years in the past."


	24. The Legacy of Time

Chapter 24 - The Legacy of Time

"I'm telling you, it would be a lot safer if I just hid you inside a small rift of dark energy, because people can still see your feet moving the grass and you can still bump into things."

"Well I disagree," the invisible reploid shot back. "Besides, most of the area around here is paved. No one will see me."

Raven exhaled with subdued irritation and walked on, careful not to look in his direction at what others would see as either nothing or an imaginary friend for a full grown adult; an embarrassment she wasn't ready to deal with, but they didn't have much of a choice. They had to find out something about this large village and the majestic castle on the hill top surrounded by it, and Raven stuck out badly enough as is. X, on the other hand, would probably bring terror to these medieval, yet friendly looking people. He looked like he could start a war all by himself if he wanted to.

A robust woman suddenly rushed in front of them (but only in front of Raven to her) with a large chicken under each arm, both of which were squawking uncontrollably. They were coming to the busiest part of town, where people were tending to their business; buying eggs and produce, trading supplies, selling animals, chatting about the trivial matters of the day, and so on. It was a lively bunch of joyous, positive looking people. Raven couldn't understand what could have happened to this land in the near future, and she couldn't ask either, because both she and X knew very well that time was not to be tampered with. If they went around spreading panic, they might just make the situation worse, whatever it was.

Another person, this time a skinny old man making a swift pace with a carved walking stick, rushed by, and Raven had the urge to stop and stare at the long set of ears on the side of his head. They were like her own, but they stretched back very far and came to a sharp, triangular point. In fact, everyone in the marketplace here had the same lengthy ears. Raven stopped, remembering that she had seen them on the muscular woman that had given her the white dress... Her mind raced to piece together the few pieces of the Black and White Boutique vanishing, the symbol on her clip, X's sword, and now on her hand, until a blunt jab poked both her shoulder and her shin.

"Somethin' wrong with me face, missy?" the old man with the cane was prodding her out of her daze. The second poke had obviously come from X, whom she only could hear and see acting very cross with her.

"Oh, no, there's nothing wrong at all," she said at his unclean, toothy grin.

"Nothin' wrong, eh? Then what you be doin' staring at me?" he said with an accent that was a mix of sluggish hillbilly with sophisticated undertones.

She made up a quick answer, coincidentally being the truthful one. "I was just... um... admiring your ears?"

"Oh!" the old man looked surprised. "Well, thank ye, young lass, I try to keep ma'self lookin' nice. I've got to say, though, I think you've got a fine set of lobes yourself! They're all… roundy!" he chortled before nodding his head briefly and moving on.

"Nice work," X whispered snidely.

"Shut up," she snapped back.

They walked bitterly as the liveliness of the town pushed on without any care for Raven's glum appearance. In fact, most people that had business requiring them to pass by where Raven walked simply smiled at the darkly clothed girl despite her bewildered appearance. She looked to X, still seeing him though no on else did, and he lacked any kind of suggestion that she hoped he would have for this land. Then again, this world of elated and prospering folks was not the one that X knew, and the shattered, rotting plains of the distant future were nearly as foreign, as far as her mind could perceive from his.

"We ought to find some place to get information," was the only advice she got from the invisible figure that lightly walked behind her. "Maybe one of the local stores that isn't quite as busy."

Raven looked around, but every stand in the bazaar was kept busy by the frequent customers.

She decided to poke her head around the large oaken door with the symbol of a bulls-eye above it. It gave her the idea that it could perhaps be a shooting range or a shop for guns or a bows and arrows. Regardless, she hadn't noticed the shoppers going either in or out of this tavern-style structure, so it would give the quiet atmosphere that they were looking for with less of a crowd to eye them suspiciously. Hopefully, anyway.

Lit only by dim lanterns and the small amount of sunlight that passed through two very small, box-shaped windows, Raven was now very sure that the two of them were alone, but perhaps in a place that they didn't want to be. A severely neglected set of twisted, plaque encrusted teeth were set inside the pointy ear to pointy ear grin that greeted Raven. She tried to look at something else, only to be exposed to the curly black hairs on this hulking man's huge chest.

"Welcome to the Hyrule market armory!" the gruff voice bellowed from him, but he quickly stopped at the sight of the robed girl easily only a quarter his size. "Erhm, what… can I help you with?"

"I'm actually a bit… well, no, I'm really lost."

"I'll say!" the hairy man chuckled back loudly. "I wouldn't think a tiny girl like you would be comin' in to buy a weapon!"

Raven narrowed her eyes at the insult, but Mega Man's sharp nudge to her spine held her tongue in place. It wasn't necessary, though. Raven was already busy trying not to inhale the musty stink of this man's breath to say anything else.

"Well!" shouted the overgrown mammoth of a man, "You're in Hyrule, most pleasant town in all the land! Lots o' people live here, buy and sell goods, do whate'er pleases them. Myself, I'm the local blacksmith and arms dealer for the adventurin' types." He sized up Raven with a business driven glare. "Even though you're just a lass, you sorta seem like someone who's got a craving for excitement." He looked over his wares carefully. "Well, I think you'd be a might bit small for the swords or shields, but can I interest you in a deku wood bow? I've got one just your size!"

He picked up a sturdy looking bow that fit easily in one of his huge hands. Raven resisted the ever growing urge to roll her eyes and growl.

"I'm… just trying to find out about some of the surrounding areas," she said, and she forced a very uneasy smile at the large man.

"Not a problem at all!" he bellowed yet again, and X could sense the dark sorceress' temperature rising at the annoyingly boisterous voice. Mega Man was beginning to realize why he didn't have much business, and he took the opportunity to look around the faintly lit room. As the lumbering colossus explained some of the nearby towns and villages, the concealed reploid went through some of his wares.

Raven suddenly went paler than she already was as a jar with a strange pink light in it lifted off the shelf by itself and began shaking up and down. The little pink glow suddenly bounced erratically from edge to edge before being plopped down on the hand crafted shelves where the invisible hand had picked it up. The dark sorceress continued to try to leave her focus on the large store dealer as other objects floated around the room, but beyond the shelves, Raven's stood agape, and X's undetectable face followed her eyes to a long cloth that hung from the back wall.

It was like looking into a child's vision. The hanging canvas was sloppily painted, stained with colors by accident in some places, but several shapes were clear. At the top, three golden triangles shined out across the rest of the tapestry. On the left, a person wearing a green tunic with a matching, pointed cap that hung down beneath his blonde hair and a very clear depiction of a sword was in his hand, pointed at a black mass with two pointed streams that looked like bloody eyes. Raven walked closer, ignoring anything that the hairy man was telling her while she stared at the details.

The sword… the same sword that X and she had both laid hands on was held by the green clothed man.

Her heartbeat was so excessive in its pounding that Raven could hear it through her own ears. She almost wanted to use her powers to stop its tremendous hammering.

"Eh?" the shopkeeper grunted. "Oh… you like that? I, uh… made it myself."

Ignoring the fact that she had originally thought that a child had painted it as well as the blushed red that glowed across his bulbous cheeks, she jumped straight into interrogation, startling even the large man back onto a counter.

"What is that symbol? Who is that person in the green, and what is so special about that sword?" she drilled the owner. His powerful visage shriveled in the presence of Raven's commanding voice, and his own tones were startled and weak.

"Whoa, hold on there missy. I can only answer one at a time."

Raven bowed gently, but with a slight rush to it. "Sorry," she spoke more softly, "but I'm far away from home and I think that this mural might be important to me."

"Hrm…" he groaned skeptically. "Never heard of someone who didn't know the legend of the Hero of Time. You _really_ aren't from around here at all. I thought you might be one of those nasty Gerudo folk what with that little jewel on your head, but other than that you don't have a single thing in common with them, so…"

Her eyes stared intently at him, begging for the story.

"Alright then, where should I start?"

"The beginning would work," Raven suggested.

He laughed back gruffly in return. "I suppose it would now, wouldn't it? Well, then…"

Raven settled in for the story. X, unbeknownst to the large man, was sitting right next to him on the old wooden counter gearing himself for the story as well. Raven glanced at his invisible face, some of the tension between them fading as the stir of wide eyed excitement took over.

"A long time ago, when this world was barren, it was said that three great goddesses shaped the land. Din, with her great and powerful arms, shaped the land. Nayru, with her great wisdom, gave order and balance to the land, and Farore, with all her kindness and courage, began life here. At the very place where the three goddesses left, three golden triangles known as the Triforce came down from the sky."

"The Triforce…" Raven whispered as she clenched her right hand into a fist, almost unable to take her gaze off of the gloved part of her outfit that covered most of it.

"The Triforce was sealed away in a golden land to protect it from those who might try to abuse its incredible power, because anyone who holds it has the right to grant any one wish in addition to incredible powers. No one knows how long ago this was," the shopkeeper continued, getting so into the story himself that his voice had become deep, passionate, and far more articulate than he had managed before. "Some people say thousands of years. Others say it's even longer than that."

"What about the person in green, and the sword?" Raven asked with a fresh zeal brushing off the worry that she had harbored about the mark on her hand.

"I was just gettin' to that," he said sloppily before producing his story telling voice again. "Once, after a long time of peaceful life, an evil being called Ganon came to take away the Triforce so that he could rule the whole world, but when he finally reached the golden land and made his wish, the Triforce split into three separate pieces leaving him with only the Triforce of Power, and his wish to rule the whole world turned the golden land into the Dark World instead. To try and make his wish come completely true, Ganon tried to find the other two pieces of the Triforce."

"So… that person in green had one of them?" Raven deduced.

The bulky owner nodded with a grin and pointed toward at the shabbily painted person wielding the sword, and X had to tilt backward to avoid being smacked in the face. Raven almost panicked, but it came out as more of a giggle.

"That there is the person who came to stop Ganon from ruling long ago. He defeated Ganon, won back the Triforce and brought peace to the land. It's said that only the Royal Family of Hyrule know his real name, but we all know him as the Hero of Time."

Before Raven spouted out another question, the storyteller already had anticipated it. "He's called that because he's come many times to save Hyrule, sometimes decades apart, either in the form of a boy or a young man."

"But the sword…" Raven spoke, enthralled with all the knowledge flowing in. "Tell me about that sword."

He answered with a calm and humble pride that lit up the dim atmosphere. "Ah, that there is the prized possession of all of Hyrule. Its name… is the Master Sword."

He stared at it with an almost childish glee on the tapestry that barely did the great sword, the sword of evil's bane, even the remotest of justice.

"It's a holy blade that evil ones may never touch. No one knows how it was forged or where it came from, but it now stands as a barrier between the Dark World and this one, and when the Hero emerges to protect the land, only he can be the one to pull or replace the Master Sword from its resting place in the Temple of Time."

"Incredible," the dark sorceress answered back, staring at X who was doing everything in his power to ignore Raven's seeking eyes and mind while he remained under the shadow of concealment.

"But where does this Hero of Time come from? Who or what is he really?" She stared at Mega Man while she asked the question, feeling in the depths of her spirit that she was really asking about him. X denied it with a shake of his head.

"I dunno," shrugged the keeper of the weapons store. "Some people say he's an angel, descended from the goddesses. Others say that he's a spirit from another world who comes to us in times of need. I believe that he comes from the Lost Woods, where the fairies and the forest children live."

The first beats of skepticism passed between the reploid and the darkly robed girl. A great evil and a youthful hero to stop it through the ages was one thing, but children from the forest, faeries and angels? Raven watched X try to rationalize it to something that made sense on his world while she continued to listen.

"What makes you think that?" Raven asked him.

"Well… strange things go on in the Lost Woods. People who venture near say they've seen little children appear out of nowhere and then vanish, but here's the strange thing: they all wear similar green outfits to the Hero. Even scarier is the way that no person who's ever gone deep into the Lost Woods has ever come out. No one's dared to go in there for years."

There was a brief moment of silence before the prismatic shift was noticed by both Raven and the shopkeeper, and the dark girl barely noticed since she could already see X through his disguise. It was an awkward moment, Raven realizing that he was visible shortly after he had realized himself, and the hairy arms dealer's eyes almost popping out of his bulgingly large head at a man in bright blue armor glowing into vision only a foot away from him.

Both of them stared at Mega Man, looking for different explanations. He almost seemed amused.

"Hmm… well… shit," said X.

In a flash of Raven's dusky cloak, both of them were gone, leaving a bewildered mammoth of a man behind. He let out a grunting laugh.

"No one's gonna believe this."

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"Way to go, X," Raven snapped in the open plains of the old land of Hyrule. "Who knows what kind of problems this is going to bring?"

He snorted, walking off in no particular direction, as long as it was away from where they were. "The story was interesting at first, but little children of the forest and faeries? That's a little too out there for me. Sounds like a more advanced civilization is hiding in those woods, either that or a really sophisticated prank. Nothing more."

"X, it's real," she tried to convince him as she followed behind. "I know it sounds far fetched, but he was telling the truth."

He stared at her condescendingly, trying to push her opinion in the dirt. "I can't believe you're so gullible."

"And I can't believe that you're being such a jerk," she shot back. "You already know that the Master Sword is special, but you deny it just because…"

"Because it killed Alia?" he furiously finished the sentence. "Yeah, I do. I think it's a good reason, too. And to be honest, I don't give a damn about what it can do, or whatever land it's saved in this stupid fairy tale. I just want to get the hell out of here!"

X stormed on through the green grassy fields of Hyrule for a moment before Raven's figure soaked up through the ground with her arms crossed, putting them face to face again.

"I don't have time for this," X snarled.

Raven glared at him, not letting X move an inch past her this time. "…You're afraid."

"What!"

"You heard me," she said, turning her back on him with silence. Her cape flapped in the wind tauntingly at Mega Man, as if it was slandering him straight to his face. "You're afraid, and you're trying to run away. And now you're upset because you can't."

"I've had enough of standing strong and fighting! I shouldn't have to keep on doing this; killing people I care about!"

"But you can't run away."

"And why not?" he screamed. "What makes you think that I have to keep on fighting?"

Raven stared at her feet, and then lifted up her right hand. Slipping off the loop that went around her middle finger, she ungloved the partially concealed part of her hand and showed it very close; very still in front of Mega Man so he could see it clearly and understand. He didn't want to look at it; the responsibility that he could sense going down to the depths of her bones in that symbol. He fought every though of the damned sword that bore the same emblem, and the dying of Alia in his arms.

"It can't be true…" stammered X. "I'm not a hero."

"I don't know what all of this is about, either," she whispered down to him, re-gloving her hand and the mark of the Triforce, "but whatever choice you make, we have to find out what it all means. Ever since seeing this mark on me a few days ago, I know that I have to find out at least for myself. I think you should come with me, X."

He shook his head and looked to the sky.

"Where?" he said simply.

"To the Lost Woods."

A weak sigh gently slid from his lips. It made Raven smile enough to make him return it. "Let's go find the faeries, then," he said. "Of course, we don't know where to start."

"Oh, but we do," Raven pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment from within her robes and held it out like a trophy. She unrolled it, and X scanned a thoroughly composed map that laid out the castle, the surrounding city, and even at the opposite end the Lost Woods!

"You…" A stuttering but impressed silence came over him, "…little thief!"

"I didn't think he's going to calm down enough anytime soon to notice it's missing," she grinned. "So let's get going."

Raven once again extended her cloak out into vines of darkness that brought the two together as she flew across the sky as a great, winged creature of raw power. It was an odd sensation; like being wrapped around by someone else's entire being, like a spiritual womb of sorts, but it was hardly foremost on X's mind. Even though he agreed to go with Raven and help her discover what all of this about the Triforce and the weapon called the Master Sword meant for them, he still wanted badly to just leave, but being a hundred years in the past with no Dreamweaver made things difficult.

He felt a deep sigh echo through his mind, since he had no body to speak of that he could feel or discern in this form, and Raven's hold on him began to grow slightly warmer over him as he thought, as if it were a tighter embrace.

After a time, X dropped dizzily onto a patch of slightly damp grass near a busily flowing river, and he found it very hard to see straight. He could tell that the sun on this world was over halfway beneath the shield of the horizon, suggesting that he had been held by the dark girl's spirit for much longer than he had thought. She helped pull him to his feet.

"Sorry about that," she apologized. "Some times I forget that it can be pretty bumpy for others after a few hours. But anyway, I think we're here."

"What gives you that impression?" he asked while he rubbed his eyes.

"Hmm, mostly just the warning signs and the ominously creepy and dense forest with two guards at the only visible entrance."

Mega Man saw the warning sign (although it was in another language, it was pretty obvious), the foliage that was so tall and thick that one couldn't navigate though it at all, and two flimsy looking, apparently bored soldiers with spears.

"Oh…" X said, feeling stupid. "Well, then. I suppose this is probably the place. But why didn't we just fly over the forest? That would've been a lot easier than dealing with those two guards."

"That's the confusing part," Raven admitted quietly, out of earshot of the guards. "I _did_ try to fly over the forest, but there's dense fog across a lot of it, and every time I tried to descend, I got a strange feeling like the forest was pushing me away."

"...Weird," X said with an eyebrow raised at the impossibly dense forest.

"What's even weirder," Raven added, "was that one time I fought the pressure and went down lower, almost into the fog, and I could've sworn that a tree top swung at me."

"But nothing that has physical presence can even affect you in your spiritual form."

"I _know_," Raven said with concern.

It was strange, such a peaceful and simple place harboring a forest like this. Looking at the densely packed trees gave the impression that nature itself didn't want them there, but Raven felt a need every time she looked at the Triforce on her hand to dive deep into the woods, almost like a lost friend was calling her from beyond. It gave her a tingling shiver and goose bumps down her back and arms that she could feel even through her clothed arms. X finally came out of his trance and noticed them on her legs.

"Are you scared?"

Raven glared at him, as if to say '_you know better than to ask me that_'.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think I am too."

Shock. He freely admitted it.

"Really?"

"Yeah," he repeated. "I've learned to block out fear pretty easily, but this isn't like going into battle."

"I know what you mean," she said. "It feels like... something far more important. Something far too delicate to screw up. Like so much hinges on it..."

X snorted a brief laugh that didn't succeed in masking the discomfort of the impact that the entrance to the woods alone had caused. "And we don't even know what it is we're after."

"Let's find out then," Raven said, approaching the guards with what appeared to be a plan holding tight in her lips and eyes.

Upon seeing the unusually clothed girl followed by a walking suit of incredible armor, both of the fairly skinny soldiers shouted a cliché "Halt! Who goes there?"

"Stand aside," Raven commanded. "We have business here."

X stood behind her with a blank, but unimpressed look on his face at the two.

"And what business is that?" one asked, somewhat shakily at X's appearance while the other one made a cautious move between Mega Man and the path that led into the forest.

"I'm a distant member of the Royal Family." She turned back to the stern reploid. "This is my bodyguard."

"We're going to have to see some proof, ma'am," the soldier dared to challenge her.

With scrutiny bearing an otherwise empty expression, Raven ungloved her hand and waved the mark in their faces. "Is this the proof you're looking for?"

"My goodness!" both of them jumped and panicked. "So sorry your royal grace, please go right ahead, but do be warned..."

"I need be warned of nothing!" the dark sorceress snapped with disgust that was far beyond convincing. "You will not speak of my entrance to anyone except the highest of authorities, and only if specifically questioned about it. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" They saluted with their free arms angled on their chests and a deep waist bow.

"Good. Come, X."

Until passing far along a narrow, forested path, they maintained the charade with X following faithfully behind Raven.

"That was impressive. How did you know it would work?"

"I didn't," she said back, smirking mildly in the way that she often did with him. "But I like to try to legitimately get my way by in situations like that if I can. Causes less problems."

"And if it didn't work?" he asked.

"Well, there's always hanging them from a tree by their underwear or going into their minds and making them think that they're pretty ballerinas."

X just shook his head, almost managing to smile at the thought of the two soldiers in pink tutus doing pirouettes and leaps across the fields of Hyrule. The feeling was quickly taken from him.

The forest began to grow denser and the path more narrow, and Raven suddenly clasped onto her forehead. X felt it, too; both a push and a pull at the same time. They looked at each other and both nodded, signaling that they were alright before moving even further. It was so thick on either side of them that trying to take any other path would warrant leveling a great number of trees, and the ominous tugging that the forest pressed on them made both too afraid to dare harm a single branch. A gentle creaking of wood followed behind them, but seeing what and how anything was moving toward them was impossible with the dense layers of... _something_ that made it more difficult to see. It looked like a gentle mist. It was cold, though, and it almost bore a tint of green. Raven used her mind to elongate her cloak and wrap it tightly about her. As the strange presence began to grown stronger and the crackling woods more intense, the light began to block out from above between the chilling fog and the towering trees that stretched above their sight. A horrid cringe of frigid air breathed across both of them as a moaning sound came from deeper within. Twisted human cries for pain.

"Come on," Raven shook, "Let's keep on moving."

Two glowing slits opened inches from her face as she turned back forward, but the rest of the face she stared at was empty and black. It leapt away swiftly, and the two lights of its eyes darted through the forest.

"Quick, follow it!" the shivering girl shouted as she dashed into high speed just above the ground.

The towering stalks of plant life streaked by them as they focused on the creature, blindingly leaping from perch to perch, constantly keeping ahead of both of them. Raven pushed her mind out, and a squirming worm of an arm flapped out its energy straight from her forehead. She batted at the pair of eyes with the palm that she formed at the edge of her column of spiritual power, but the being leapt over each swing with ease.

Mega Man slowed for a moment, and his azure blue armor dissolved into a faint purple. From his buster came a sound much like rapidly sliding cables as they raged through the forest, and a three-pronged claw zinged out, snapping at the being even further.

Finally, the pair of floating eyes dropped to the ground and a powerful echo thudded against the forest. The staring glows abruptly stopped dead, and the orange, tattered hat of a young… thing… appeared in front of both of them through the dense vapors of the forest. The thick lines of trees had opened up, and as they approached, they saw it standing on a moss covered, thick bridge.

"Hee hee hee!" it squealed. "Normally we don't let grown-ups in here… but you're special! You'd better appreciate that!"

It snapped its arms backward and flipped away, vanishing entirely. X and Raven walked out to the bridge, breathing heavy from the chase and their shocked senses. The fog was less dense beneath them, and the mossy cliffs went down far. Not far enough to kill, Mega Man thought. Not him, anyway. The crevasse between the forest they had come from and the strangely more peaceful looking woods ahead of them looked like it stretched very far ahead of them; farther than their eyes could see. This inner wood, they realized, was meant to be protected from outsiders of any kind, and whatever civilization that lived within it solely decided if anyone was to be allowed in. They guessed from the little person that had given chase that they were… welcomed in a manner of sorts.

"It's warmer," Raven noted.

"I noticed," he said back, still cautious of everything around them. "Too bad we still can't see the sky."

A tiny light shined in front of Raven's eyes and she yelped.

"What is it?" X said, aiming his buster.

Raven simply pointed at the tiny specimen that was floating up and down through the air. It somehow looked like a fuzzy caterpillar mixed with the light of a firefly. A series of circular floating links of light were bobbing up and down, making up the entirety of the little animal, and it hovered about in a curious manner at the two newcomers. Stopping to rest on Raven's outstretched hand, the creature seemed to be smelling her. Raven held her breath as she felt a gentle warmth all over the places the little creature touched. After a few seconds, it slid right through her hands as though they were nothing but air and began to float on, up and down into the mist.

"What on Earth is this place?" she whispered to herself.

"Not sure," X replied blandly, still not freed from his depressing attitude. "Let's just hurry and find out."

His boots clunked across the bridge and into the hollowed out tunnel of a massive tree trunk with even more trees growing around and on top of it. It was so tall that neither Raven nor Mega Man needed to duck down inside of it as the fog slowly began to lift on the light at the other side. At the end of the tunnel, a small village, far different from the castle town of Hyrule, expanded around them, and the sights and sounds of free roaming children laughing and playing were all around. There were houses formed from the trees themselves, creating both a multi-floored playground and living space for dozens.

"Look at them," X said, noticing that every single child was wearing slight deviations of the very same green tunic-like garb, some with little hats to match. They were all remarkably clean from what he could see, although many of them had unkempt hair.

"I feel like I'm staring at dozens of little Peter Pan clones," Raven said sarcastically as a tiny, waist high representative scurried up to them. Some of the others were starting to take notice of the two intruders, but they didn't seem to care at all, save the red-haired, haughty one that was now crossing his arms at them both.

"Hey there, little one," Raven said, kneeling down to him. "Did you run away from your parents in Hyrule?"

"Pssh!" he snorted haughtily. "I've always lived here, unlike _you_! What're you two _grown-ups_ doing here anyway?" he griped. "This place is for us Kokiri. No one else!"

"Now, there must be an adult around here somewhere…"

Raven earned a dense spatter all over her face from the fat raspberry that the 'Kokiri' boy had given her. The almost forgotten urge to strangle sense into a person started to beat into the veins on Raven's forehead as she wiped off with her cloak and watched the child run away, laughing hard.

"Great, here comes another one," she gritted her teeth. "Guard your shins."

But this child, a girl with nicely brushed hair that was only a slightly darker shade than the outfit she wore, was far more polite. Her presence, although barely taller than the other boy, stood out with remarkable zeal and wisdom in her youthful eyes. Was she the leader of these children? Or perhaps something even more than she seemed… It made Raven's spine tingle. X glanced at her, thinking the same thing she was.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" she panted. She twisted the band that was keeping her hair so orderly compared with the others and finished catching her breath. "Mido's like that a lot," she smiled brightly. "Don't mind him at all!"

Raven brow creased suspiciously. "You… get visitors often?"

"Oh, um… no, not really," she realized, giggling happily. "But when we do, he's kind of like that."

"Ah ha," Raven finished that conversation. X was just staring at her with a unique sense of familiarity. This girl seemed to notice and even strongly acknowledge him. Raven didn't like it, especially when the reploid, switching back to his traditional blue, bent down to her.

"What's… your name?" he asked.

"It's Saria!" she said, and the joyous smile never left her.

"Saria, my name is Mega Man X, and this is Raven," he quickly introduced, "do you know why we're supposed to be here?"

She giggled again. "You came all the way through the woods and ask _me_ why _you're_ supposed to be here? Hee hee, that's kind of funny!"

"Sorry I asked," he scowled.

"Oh, now that's no way to be," she kept on smiling. "Come on, walk with me! You sound like you could use some cheering up. We can go deeper into the forest to my special spot. I'm sure it'll cheer you up!"

"I don't need cheering up," his arms tightly crossed with the sounds of lightly grinding metal. "I need answers."

"Well, if you don't want to walk with me, that's fine," Saria shrugged with an unusually adult sense of reverse psychology coming from her mouth. She turned her back and started walking along a path that led toward an even darker looking hollowed out tree trunk than the one they had come from. "But you really ought to stay. It might do you good to learn why the mark hasn't appeared on _your_ hand yet."

Their eyes went wide. X's fist squeezed tightly, not seeing any trace of the Triforce on it.

"Tell me!" the command came from his mouth.

"Walk with me, then!" she smiled and vanished into the tunnel, but her voice echoed through it once more. "Bring your friend. She's part of this, too!"

They raced after the girl of the forest without a thought, amazed at the absurdity that everyone here seemed to be able to keep pace with both of them. In only seconds, a rumbling sensation rippled beneath their feet, and as they emerged out the other side of the tunnel, Saria blew them a teasing kiss while the vines and trees formed a steeple of foliage to carry her high above the mist. X and Raven followed up each in their own ascending way, unsure how far they were traveling above, and soon they saw the column twist off to the side where an unlikely platform existed. They didn't see Saria, but instead ancient stone walls rising even further beyond into the sky.

"This looks like some kind of temple," Raven whispered, and her voice rebounded back to her.

"Look similar to the one in Hyrule village?"

Raven looked at him. "It… feels a lot the same."

It actually didn't resemble the resting place of the Master Sword much at all. The tiny creatures that roamed through the atmosphere of the mist were more abundant, and the floors of this temple were perfectly lined with a thin and even layer of healthy looking grass. Still, the way that Raven's hand felt filled with power and the constant conviction that plagued X's thoughts were so much stronger here.

Only a short way in, the main room was shaped in an octagonal fashion, with eight towering pillars at each corner, and a raised platform also with eight sides in the middle. On top of it were inscribed unfamiliar symbols at each corner, and a massive engraving of the Triforce on the stage's gray rock face.

"Glad you could make it!" was Saria's call from a leveled stump where her little legs dangled just above the ground.

"Make it… where?" Raven posed as she took it all in. "What is this place?"

A wave of her hand made the thicker roots of the stump stand up, brining Saria more up to their eye level.

"A special place. My special place to be more specific, but I'm probably not the only one who feels like that."

"How do you know about us?" X asked in a much edgier tone.

"I'm empathic," she smiled. "I can't tell exactly what you're thinking, but I can feel it whenever anyone feels strongly about something else."

She paused for a moment, still grinning happily. "I suppose this kind of helps, too."

Saria held up the back of her hand, and she bore the same symbol that Raven did, and that X was supposedly lacking. She could sense Mega Man's candid annoyance and Raven's curiosity, but her happy demeanor stayed the same.

"Saria," Raven began, "the Triforce, the Master Sword, and the Hero of Time… what does it all mean for us? Why have X and I been brought back in time, and why do we have the same mark as you?"

"Brought back in time?" Saria repeated, perplexed, but seemingly content. "That _does_ explain why you two feel a little… different. I'd say you've come to my time either to learn from it or to change something that went wrong somewhere in my future and your past. I'm guessing… that things don't look so good in the future of this place?"

Raven nodded while X paced with his arms folded over each other.

"I see," Saria stated, and for the first time, for only a brief moment, did the pleasant expression leave her. "Walk with me."

She hopped off the stump and began to ascend up a large stone stair case that had numerous cracks and chips from old age. Both the dark girl and the cross reploid followed reluctantly into a beautiful garden within the temple. Plants of all kinds abounded everywhere, and a small, hand crafted canal gave way to the waters that flowed through to give everything life. It was a special place indeed.

"You're different from the rest of your kind," Raven quickly judged.

"I try to be just as happy and carefree when I'm around the rest of the Kokiri," she said, "But I have responsibilities, too. I just don't want to burden them with my problems."

"What exactly are the Kokiri? Are you all the children who ran away from your parents in Hyrule?"

Saria quickly turned to them and shot that notion down. "No no no," she said. "We're not Hylians like them. The boy in the orange who didn't have a face; he was one of the children from outside. We're our own people, prospering in the forest for centuries. When people do come in to the forest even with all the warnings… well, they either get consumed by the forest or turned into one of the lost boys like the one you saw."

_Lost boys_… _Raven desperately fought against making another Peter Pan joke_.

"Awfully wise for a child," X jabbed. "But you aren't a child at all, are you?"

She smiled warmly at him in spite of his harsh tone.

"No, none of us are. None of us grow old like others. Unfortunately, most never mature either."

"How old are you, then?" Raven asked the inevitable question.

"I'm not really sure," Saria said. "We don't sense time or keep track of it the same way everybody else does, but I'm going to guess… about four hundred years."

"Well," gasped the dark sorceress, "I feel small now, knowing that I'm talking to someone over twenty times my age."

"Can we _please_ get to the reason why we're here?" X asked as he kicked his foot into one of the concrete walls of the temple gardens.

Raven jaw made a small popping sound as she twisted it angrily at Mega Man. She wanted to know just as much as he did, but he couldn't for even a moment be polite. He had hardly been anything but unkind since they arrived in the past, and she began to feel in aggravating pound in her temples at it. She felt his anger, and every time he had to hold in a geyser of fury, she had to try and hold it in just the same, as well as try to hold it in for him too. It was beginning to feel like trying to contain a soda bottle that had been shaken too much, that no matter how hard you try, it's eventually going to explode, and just near the breaking point, Saria stepped in and calmed what Raven thought an inevitable storm.

"Calm… down…" Saria said into Mega Man's eyes with a gentle understanding. Raven felt a cold and refreshing freeze and then pure warmth in the center of her body as soon as X had felt it himself. X closed his eyes; Raven couldn't help but do so too.

"There's too much pain… too much desire to abandon in your heart," Saria whispered to them. "Mega Man X… that's why you don't have the mark. You don't wear it because you so badly don't want it. I know you're still not sure what the Triforce means for the two of you, but I can sense that you both know that it means a lot more fighting, and a lot more sacrifice until things can truly be fulfilled."

"Then tell me," X said, clasping the gentleness that was touching his chest. "What does it mean? What is the Hero of Time?"

The youthful girl in green thought hard. "That's a tough question… I don't know if anyone's able to totally answer that, but…"

Raven's eyes begged her for whatever she could give, and even X seemed to want to genuinely know.

"Alright, I'll do my best," she breathed very deeply. "The Hero of Time… isn't exactly a person. It's more of… an essence, and those who are worthy enough wear the title, and the mark of the Triforce."

"How is the person chosen?" Raven asked.

"Three simple things," Saria said glowingly proud with thoughts of an older Hero of Time on her mind. "Courage, power, and wisdom; the three pieces of the Triforce itself. The person who bests meets those qualities is chosen, and eight sages are chosen to serve beneath that one person."

"Eight sages… this just keeps getting more confusing," X said sternly with a frown. "What are we supposed to _do_? Who are the eight sages?

"It's not a short story, Mega Man," Saria spoke to him gently, once again with a deep care that irked Raven in a way she couldn't explain. "Have patience."

Saria closed her eyes and held her palm out at the grass just ahead of the three of them, and it started to twist and bend like dominoes, forming a pattern that resembled the eight-sided platform at the entrance of the temple, with all of the symbols on it.

"Together, the eight sages and the hero will defeat an incredible evil who only want to consume, control and destroy. That's the way it works. That's the way it's always been. As for the sages themselves, they can change too, over time."

"I feel like this is some kind of silly fairy tale," X snorted. "Why should I even bother with the problems of this world? Why didn't the Triforce choose someone else?"

"Because you're the only one who can help!" Saria raised her voice, and it boomed through the garden. X and Raven went silent. So did the temple. Everything was hushed. Saria's toes flipped up as her hair went wild with a gust of wind that whipped the grass into a panorama of stories made of plant life.

"For longer than has ever been known," the little girl began with a much more forceful and resounding voice, "The Hero of Time has fought against evil itself, and all of its most fearsome minions."

Her hand waved across the air and the grass turned into two figures that moved and fought each other. One was clearly the same as the green-clothed hero with the Master Sword, and it slashed through different beasts made of the grass, one by one taking them all down.

"The great evils of this world have tried for many eons to take the Triforce, for with it, they would be able to conquer this world, but I have a great fear… that the evils from across distances outside this world, beyond this galaxy… they are all beginning to come together, and the old Hero of Time simply cannot suffice anymore."

The image of the hero in green blew into the wind and vanished, and the vision changed into one of many great galaxies, wherein the evil beast formed by the darkest grass that was there, split into piece and dove into the galaxy, spreading itself everywhere.

"Somehow, someone or something has caused this original evil to gain a great power that it should never have attained; the power to travel through the vastness of space and spread its dark chaos everywhere, in hopes of finding items to satisfy its lust for power other than the Triforce. Before, if the evil was not stopped, it would have consumed this world that we stand on," she paused, and even as her eyes watched the image she created of her world turn black, she cringed at the thought that came next. "But if the evil should succeed in this new battle, then it will not be only the land of Hyrule that is destroyed. It will be everything. Every life, every chance at hope; completely gone forever until oblivion consumes eternity!"

Saria fell onto the tattered grass that she had ripped up and gasped for air as the wind and leaves settled. Raven rushed to her arm and helped her up.

"Now do you understand?" Saria sad sadly. "You and the sages… it's your destiny to get rid of this new evil a hundred years ahead of now. But I can still sense… you want to run away."

X began to speak, but Saria's hand hushed him.

"Don't say anything right now," she said, still breathing heavy. "You don't have to make the decision immediately. Just know that if you choose to fight, you might bring about a peace that would last far longer than ever before… but if you run…"

"I heard you the first time," X spoke.

Ignoring his arrogance, Raven stepped in again. "Saria, you're speaking of the most incredible things... are you saying that... we're responsible for protecting… everything?"

"It would seem that way," she answered.

"And, these sages… am I one of them?"

Saria's smile came back to her.

"You'll just have to see when you get back to your own time."

A small silence wafted over them before raving sensed an angry tingling coming from the reploid.

"If I have to ask one more question…" X began with a rising temper.

"Here," Saria said, and she pulled out from behind her a thin, oval shaped object with holes. "This is my ocarina. If you want to run, then you'll know what to do when you get to the altar with the Master Sword to get back to the future. If you want to fight, then just pull the Master Sword from its pedestal, and you'll return to your own time."

"What about you?" Raven asked.

"I'll wait for you both."

"A hundred years?" the dark sorceress said, feeling pity that Saria didn't know the world that she would have to wait in. She couldn't bear to tell the young… well, not really young girl, about the desolation.

"I don't grow old," she smiled. "And it would be a lot easier to keep me, the Sage of Forest, then trying to find another one."

It was now Raven's turn to smile. "I thought so. That's why we both have the mark."

"Go on, now," she said. "Get going back to your own time." And with a snap of her fingers, a green trail of streaming balls blurred their sight until Saria and the temple were gone.

When they reappeared, Raven and Mega Man both stood on the platform inside the temple that held the Master Sword. They both held their breath, and neither of them moved toward one another or for the Master Sword not far ahead of them. X held Saria's ocarina. He thought hard on the small wooden instrument, and a short, but captivating tune played gently inside his head. It was eerie, but the more he thought about, the more the sound felt like it was surrounding him and the temple walls.

His other choice lay ahead of him, in the handle of the Master Sword. Somehow, both paths made his insides churn. X tried to remember everything they had just learned in such a short time to come to the right decision.

_A hero_… _not just chosen by people, but by a higher power_… _There's bound to be more loss and terrible pain if I continue with this, and if I run, I won't ever have to kill a friend again._

Raven's fingers firmly caressed his shoulder and smoothly drifted down to his hand until it was in hers.

_Saria says that if I abandon this, then this new evil, whomever or whatever it is, could consume everything. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the damned Maverick virus, and I'd have to just keep on fighting the same way I have for the past twenty years_. _Arrrgh, what should I do? I want to have my own life, not protect everyone else's just for a little while!_

The dark sorceress's grip on his hand tightened. The width of her emotions bore heavy on X's heart, drawing his face to look at the locks of deep azure hair that lay against his arm.

_Everything_… _everything could be gone_… _including Raven_. _This all feel too big, but_... _I can't let Raven die. I won't let it happen!_

"I've made up my mind," his heart said with firm resolve and clenched fists. "Let's go."

"Wait, X, what are you going to do?"

With one hand already on the sword, she could see him beaming with his decision.

"I'm going to find the rest of the sages and make a difference."

With a mighty yell he pulled the Master Sword out, and in the same amazing flash of light that brought them to the past, the ebb of time accelerated them to their present, where the dead plains and never ending thunderstorms lived. They immediately sensed the change in atmosphere as they picked their bruised heads once again, and a shocking sight was crouched before them in a meditative position. It was Saria, and she looked much different from the few minutes that they had last seen her.

She had grown up.


	25. The Cruelty of Time

Yeah, that last one was pretty long. I just hoped you all enjoyed it. I wonder if I have to make the claim that I don't own Disney or anything about Peter Pan? Well, if I do, then here it is: I don't own Disney or any of the characters within it. Anyway, now that things have started to heat up, here's the next chapter. Review please! And as always, special thanks to Chargone and evilsangel for their dedicated reviews.

**Chapter 25 – The Cruelty of Time**

Her hair had grown out, almost down to her waist. She was very thin. Her face looked pale and filled with pain and hopeless sorrow that barely lifted as she stood and her bright green but stained outfit hung down. It had been made into a dress of sorts, just barely reaching her knees and had no sleeves any longer.

Saria didn't look either Mega Man X or Raven in the eyes. How could she? Raven watched the edges of her lips twitch, but they couldn't form a smile anymore. It was gone. One hundred years for her, only a short few minutes for them.

"Saria…" X whispered, and although her face turned to him, her eyes stared hard at the grey floors and walls. She glanced briefly at the great Master Sword, though, once again in X's grasp at his side.

"I'm sorry," she returned the quiet tone. "I… have been waiting for a long time."

"Saria, what happened to this place? Why did it all fall apart?" Raven asked the sullen Kokiri woman.

She tried to look at Raven. She genuinely tried but couldn't bear to look into another pair of eyes anymore. "It happened a few years after you left. Or at least, it had started then."

Her back turned to them and she watched the rain spatter the glass windows high above with the nearly black clouds beyond.

"The Triforce… it left this land a long time ago."

"It's gone? But how? How could it just leave you?" X tried to get her to look at him, but she would not.

"I want to blame Ganondorf," she said the name painfully, "the last great evil that tried to take over this world a few years before the time that you visited me. The Hero of Time had come to stop him and Ganondorf was completely sealed away, but…"

"He escaped?"

"No, not quite," said Saria bitterly. "But the royal family, the Kokiri, and most of the rest of Hyrule knew that the seal; the seal that was supposed to be eternal; it was breaking. But… the Hero of Time didn't come for us. We even searched for him, but he didn't come. I… I…"

She broke down and started bawling uncontrollably at X's feet.

"I… I watched as my friends disappeared one by one… the plants all stopped growing well. Food started to run out. The Hylians, the Gerudo, the Gorons on the mountain and even the aquatic Zora people all migrated away. But _I_ felt it," she sobbed. "I felt the life dying across the planet, bit by bit."

X knelt down and held her tightly, thinking of some way to distract her from this horrible loss.

"Where did the other two pieces of the Triforce go?" he asked, then thinking himself stupid for asking, but she took a deep breath to stem the stinging in her eyes. Her teeth ground together loud enough for Mega Man to hear it too, and the reploid sensed a lot more emotions than just anger or sadness from her. She had fought very hard to keep from releasing decades worth hatred, resentment, hopelessness, and… no…

"_Saria_, _no_…" X tapped into her thoughts.

"_No, X_… _I can't talk about it_. _Not now, not ever. No Kokiri has ever wanted to_… _to_… _kill them self_. _Don't ever speak of it,_" and she closed her mind to him harshly. He felt that it was forever.

She pulled away from X quickly and tried to gather her composure, and Raven eyed him suspiciously as he stood back up. Her accusing glare let the reploid know that she had sensed something transpiring between them, but Saria continued her story before she could say anything.

"The Triforce of Wisdom was lost trying to seal up Ganondorf inside his prison. The princess of the time you last saw me in held the mark on her hand, as well as that piece of the Triforce, and she sacrificed her freedom to protect Hyrule."

"Wait," Raven slid in. "She sealed herself _inside_ with this Ganondorf person?"

"That's right," she nodded, "but it was in vain. She had faith that the old hero would come and protect the land from withering away, but..."

Her head hung miserably as she walked toward the entrance to the temple and watched the devastation thriving across Hyrule's once green and abundant life.

"He never came, and all three pieces of the Triforce were lost elsewhere."

X didn't know what to tell Saria that could possibly lift her spirits. He looked to the sword for guidance, but it only gave him encouragement to get more of the story from her, not to give her any kind of solace.

"Saria, is Ganondorf trying to escape again somehow? Is he the evil force that we have to stop?"

She shook her head quickly. "No," said Saria with perplexity. "Ganondorf somehow... died. He had no way of escaping with the princess's influence holding him even tighter than before, so he had one choice."

The Kokiri woman turned to them both, finally gathering the strength to look them in the eyes, and X held onto his sword tighter, feeling that it had somehow given him the right question to help patch up Saria's spirit. The serious tone of the tale was the only thing that kept the trace of satisfaction off of his features.

"After many years of being trapped, Ganon had grown just strong enough to cast his piece of the Triforce filled with his dark influence outside of the seal to seek out another owner, but it was a dangerous wager."

"I don't understand," Raven spoke, and X's face said that he agreed.

Saria continued. "There was already no one left on this that he could have power over, so the essence of the Triforce of Power wandered out in space, searching for someone that suited Ganondorf's tastes. He needed someone strong enough to aid in his release, but not someone so powerful that he wouldn't be able to control them. Because of his self-centered, egotistical mindset, he set his sights very high."

"Wait…" X's eyes flew wide with memories flooding in, making the connection. "A couple of week ago, before Raven and I ever left for my world, I had heard two... _voices_ of some kind, talking to each other. One of them was commanding and angry, while the other refused to have anything to do with the first. And at the end of the conversation, the commanding voice sounded like he had somehow just... died!"

Saria's face widened seriously, her fists clenched to the point of dire shaking. "X, this is very important. Did you recognize the second voice; the one that took control of the Triforce of Power?"

X paused, and he tried to remember, but it had only been fragmented, whispering distortions; nothing that he could have identified. Not even close. The conversation had been so piecemeal in the first place that he couldn't even get a grasp for the second person's behavior. To the girls' dismay, X's head moved to say 'no.'

A sharp exhale left Saria's nostrils. "Whoever that person is, I can tell you for sure that he's going to be the next great evil that, this time, threatens everything. Even if they were good before, the influence of Ganondorf mixed with the Triforce of Power could twist this man's spirit until he's bent on destruction. Even though your task is to defeat the evil regardless of whom or what it is, it would help if we knew who we were fighting."

"I'll keep it on my mind," X nodded, "but... I have to find the sages first, don't I? And who are the sages, anyway? Where will I find them?"

"That's more complex than you suspect, I take it," Saria folded her arms. "But you do at least have a better start than you think."

She reached out for the Master Sword in X's grip and touched the handle. Her glance then turned to Raven, who in turn also touched the sacred blade, and they were swiftly encapsulated within a large crystalline shape that carried them upward; up high enough to the ceiling, and they floated past it into a vast beam of light. Raven felt especially weightless, and as though she were passing through the hands of great, fathering spirits that were all caring and loving to her and the others. She only had wished that the sensation lasted longer as the white light turned into a bright blue. All around her, it looked like water flowing against its will upward into nothingness. The columns of liquid were outlined by vast and deep absence of light. Beneath her, Raven stood on a strange symbol colored deep violet, and as she turned, she saw seven other symbols, as with Saria standing a couple of places away from her on a green one, and Mega Man X stood in the middle where the marvelous liquid substance flowed around the mark of the Triforce that he stood upon. Raven noticed that other than hers, Saria's, and one other, the outer symbols were all heavily faded.

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"Princess!" Impa's deep voice sounded. "Look!"

Zelda and the Sage of Light stood as a gate of bright bluish rays nearly blinded them both.

"Remember what I have said," the shrouded Sage of Light faced Zelda as he spoke the words firmly, as if to a child. "Speak nothing of my presence. Even the Sage of Forest is not aware of the Seal of Light being active. Make sure it stays that way."

Both the ghostly figure and her master bowed softly, and all three leapt through the portal, but when Zelda landed on the hard floor of the Temple of Time, she was the only one there.

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"The Chamber of Sages," Saria's soft lungs managed to pierce across the void of space around them and resound powerfully. "A sacred place that only a small handful have ever known of. Here is where the appointed sages receive there power, and it was as well the focus point for our energies in the past for sealing away the dark forces that threaten to destroy."

"As you already know, there are eight sages," she said to them both. "When a sage dies, a new one is appointed but only the Hero's presence can truly awaken them, and unfortunately..." an unnerving hesitance flushed across her voice. X didn't like it. Neither did Raven. The answer made it even worse.

"I have _no_ way... of knowing who or where any of the new sages are."

A brief pause. A very, very unpleasant silence.

The tiresome frustration took X and Raven by the reigns and dragged their faces down a path of disgust and hopelessness, ending with a slouched apathy that gave them far too strong a resemblance to the zombies haunting the barren Hyrule marketplace.

"I know that's not encouraging, but you have a much better start than you think," she said. "Firstly, I am the Sage of Forest, one who speaks on behalf of nature with wisdom and compassion. Then comes the Sage of Water," she pointed to the deep blue aquatic symbol, "a free spirited and youthful person who exists with ease in any depths in the source of life. The Sage of Water may get carried away with excitement at times, but they'll have a good heart when it comes down to it."

She then pointed to the dark brown symbol bearing a diamond shape. It was next to Raven's standing place.

"The Sage of Earth, a being with incredible might but bearing a terrible burden within as they bend the lands with their strength. For this sage, friendships are not always easily kept with the strain of dealing with his or herself and the troubles of the past."

Her guiding hand dropped as she looked to Raven, and the dark girl stood up straight, boldly, and without covering herself in her cloak, but Saria skipped past her for the moment and moved on to a golden yellow symbol with what looked like waves of sand inscribed in it."

"Next comes the Sage of Spirit," she said. "This sage's heart quietly drifts wherever it deems necessary, and watches over, protects and teaches those who are worthy of it."

Saria was about to speak of the next platform, adorned with ruby red flames, but Raven held up her hand to intervene.

"That symbol is brighter, like yours and mine, Saria. How come?"

"The Sage of Spirit... has already come," she told them to their surprise, "but somehow, I have never seen or heard from them," she explained, getting peculiar looks from the wielder of the Master Sword and the dark sorceress. "The Sages of Spirit have, in the past, preferred solitude until the time comes to fight. Since there's no one on this world left to be a sage, he or she would probably be a wandering traveler of some sorts. Perhaps someone you've encountered, Mega Man?"

"I've encountered thousands of people from dozens of civilizations and planets," he said simply.

Raven rose an eyebrow with a soft grin. "Well, so much for that."

"Don't fret about the Sage of Spirit," Saria spoke gently. "They'll come when they're needed. If anything should... happen to them for some reason, then I'll know about it, so let's move on."

She came back to the vivid red symbol. "This is where the Sage of Fire stands. This sage, typically male, has been hardened by a life of struggles and fighting before taking a place of leadership amongst his people. Even though he may appear as a vicious beast to his enemies, the Sage of Fire is kind-hearted and wise, and mighty flames will bow to him."

"I'm guessing the next one is the Sage of Wind?" X surmised cleverly, and Saria nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I take it you see that those on opposite ends of each other tend to be opposing forces. The Sage of Wind is, like the winds themselves, unpredictable. Sometimes calm and gentle, but on other occasions as forceful and mighty as a tornado, the Sage of Wind may be a difficult person to tame."

She had finally come full circle to a white symbol just to the left of hers. Although faded, it was the brightest of all eight symbols, save the emblem of the Triforce itself under X's metal boots.

"This spot is reserved for the Sage of Light, one whose life has been long, and dedicated to crushing evil wherever it may lurk. Gifted with foresight and experience, the Sage of Light is considered to be the wisest out the eight. Many would think that, because of the title itself, that the Sage of Light would be sort of angelic."

"Far from it?" Raven asked of the position opposite hers.

"Very much so," replied Saria. "Having known little else than the fight against evil for their entire life, I wouldn't expect a friendly welcome. Still, the Sage of Light is an invaluable member of the eight of us."

It was then that she gave the blue-haired sorceress her full attention, and the deep violet crest under Raven's feet began to glow brighter.

"Welcome Raven, the new Sage of Darkness," she bowed with respect. "One who knows of evil first-hand and vows to keep it from harming others. Raven... the mark of the Triforce with you represents the shadows that have been in your heart, and the strength that you've shown in overcoming all of them."

"Thank you," she said, arcing respectfully at the waist as the dark violet shine began to grow up to her knees.

A slit in the black void appeared behind Raven just outside the reach of the only platform, and a ghostly figure passed through it, hovering in midair. Even though it had no substance, Raven could tell that when this woman had been alive, she was incredibly muscular, with fierce eyes and a matching posture. Her brilliant white hair was tied up at the back, and Raven could very clearly see a familiar set of pointed ears as she grinned at the dark sorceress.

"Impa!" she realized it and grinned at the reunion. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise, young sage," her solid voice spoke back. "I trust you had a good time?"

"Yes, it was a wonderful night," Raven said. "But you had a lot more in mind for me than that."

They exchanged smiles for a peaceful moment in the tranquil ambience of the Chamber of Sages before Impa's face fell down drastically, but still wore a trembling smile. Her faded image didn't keep Raven from seeing the tears sliding down her high cheeks.

"Impa… you're going to… disappear?"

The ghostly woman sniffed the tears back as well as she could as she smiled sweetly with more emotion than she had shown before.

"It took almost all that I had to give myself physical form again," Impa shook as she spoke, "but I'm glad I got to meet you in person, if only for a brief time."

Raven's hand reached out to the ghostly figure, and she felt pure care and tenderness in the ethereal hand that wrapped around her own. It may her feel appreciated, as if from a mother to a daughter. It made Raven's own eyes quiver with tears.

"Don't grieve for me," she asked of them, and her transparent figure began to slowly dissolve at the fingers. "I have lived a good and long life, both in body and in this spirit that I have lived in for seven years. To revive in you the true strength of the Sage of Darkness, this old ghost has to go."

"Impa…"

"Don't say anything more," she still smiled, her arms now falling into a glitter that surrounded Raven and magnified the light around her. "Make us all… proud…"

And with one more tear, Impa's remains sparkled apart and forced themselves deep into the dark sorceress, and she felt the strength and wisdom of the former sage's existence washing over her body and mind. Feeling as though she had been branded with an entirely new skin over her own, Raven turned back to the center of the stage where Saria bowed her head in a shut-eyed silence. X watched it all calmly.

"Now, Raven," Saria broke the somber silence, "You _are _the new Sage of Darkness, and a fragment of Impa's soul rest within yours. It has given you a new gift."

"A gift? What kind of gift?" she asked in bewilderment, not really able to take her mind off of everything that was happening. It all seemed so unreal.

While Raven's mind drifted in thought, Saria appeared to be doing something to on of her hands with the other. She grimaced slightly, and then flung something at the dark sorceress from where she stood. Raven held out her hand, still dazed and not sure of what she was catching, but she soon saw a spatter of blood on her palm.

"Wh-what?" Raven stammered, seeing a streak of red dripping down Saria's wounded hand, but the newly found sage understood with the rippling power that was spreading through her. The blood from Saria began to sizzle and spread a fiery glow across Raven's hand. Urging and begging her from the inside out, her hand built with a steaming pressure before she swung her hand out into the empty space around them, and she felt a powerful pulse rip from every finger, releasing five waves that sliced into the darkness.

She turned to Saria, who already was prepared for the explanation.

"Blades of blood," she said, but Raven already grasped the morbid and yet meaningful sentiment.

"The blood of a friend or the fallen comrade…" the dark girl whispered as she thought about it. "I hope I never have to use it, but I understand."

Raven breathed deeply, and hid herself back within the dark blue cloak that rarely left her. She felt strong. Telekinetic powers, the flaming Lotus, and now the vicious blades of blood. As proud as it made her, she couldn't help but think of Mega Man, standing in the center absorbing everything. He was quiet, and it was unnerving to think that, even with all these incredible powers that she was now the owner of, he was supposed to be far greater than her, Saria, or any of the others.

"Alright," X spoke. "Then we have to find the other five; fire, water, light, earth, and wind, and we have also need to keep an eye out for the Sage of Spirit, whoever or whatever it is. Any ideas?"

Saria remained silent without expression. Raven had a thought, and she could sense X having the same one.

"Terra," they both said.

"You think you know of one?" Saria asked.

"We've got an idea about the Sage of Earth," Raven explained with her thoughts toward the blond haired girl frozen in stone.

"Another Teen Titan," X continued, "part of the same team that Raven belongs too, but…"

"She's been sealed into a statue somehow. We need to find a cure."

Saria's head titled sideways with a forlorn look. "I wish I could come with you."

"You're not coming?" Raven asked. "But Saria…"

"I know, I've been here far too long already," she said, holding back the tears that they both knew were only shallowly beneath her guise. "But someone has to stay at the Chamber of Sages. This world can't lose the last person on it, and neither of you belong here."

X and Raven wanted nothing more than to take her away from this place. After spending nearly a century in solitude in this dying land, it wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair to keep her there, but… there was nothing that could be done. Raven couldn't very well stay alone in this unfamiliar place, and if X was to be some sort of hero, then obviously neither could he.

"We'll come back to visit," X promised. It was all he felt he could do.

She bowed gently and lifted her hand as a goodbye while both Raven and X were enveloped again in the light and the Chamber of Sages evaporated.

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When they found themselves back inside the great temple where the Master Sword claimed its home, they both pressed out long held in sighs.

"I don't feel like any of this has really… sunk in," said Raven. "All of it feels so…"

"Overwhelming?"

She smiled. "Yeah."

Mega Man gently slid the sharp blade of his sacred sword along the stone floors, but it stopped at the same moment that Raven felt a rush of adrenaline come over her and X. They weren't alone, and it was not Saria who was with them.

The reploid snapped into a stance with the Master Sword in one hand and his X-Buster ready on the other, while Raven's feet had already lifted off the ground with the Red Lotus blade blazing in front of her.

They stood back to back, moving nothing but cautious eyes amongst the seemingly empty temple room. From within shadows themselves, a human figure appeared, glowing crimson eyes first with unkempt locks of blonde hair all around it, almost flowing down to the woman's waist. She wore a chest plate with a peculiar symbol that appeared to be an eye of some sort, and the arms and parts of the legs of her outfit were composed of tightly wrapped cloth bandages.

X's guard slowly fell at the very sight of her. This strong looking woman bore an uncanny resemblance to… someone who X couldn't seem to think of, but it felt friendly nonetheless. Even Raven softened her posture, seeing X's reaction.

"I take it…" the woman spoke softly, with a voice that soothed the adrenaline and stress from them both, "That Impa is gone?"

"Yes," X answered. "Did you know her?"

"She was a close friend," she spoke as she moved closer to X.

"Are you the Sage of Spirit?"

X watched her closely. She appeared to be thinking, and then her lips curled up in amusement about something.

"I see Saria doesn't know who it is either," the woman smiled, "but I'd be happy to help you find the others."

"You still haven't told us who you are," Raven scrutinized her.

She removed a thick, blue leather glove, and to their surprise she revealed a symbol not unlike those on X's and Raven's, but one that had faded considerably, much like a poorly done tattoo. Despite its pale appearance, she made it gleam with a single thought.

"She's a sage!" Raven said with a controlled excitement, but X shook his head and narrowed his eyes on the woman.

"No, she isn't," X realized as he strived to understand how he could have known this face. He even recalled the name.

"Raven, I don't know how it's possible… but this is Princess Zelda, ruler of the Kingdom of Hyrule."

The dark sorceress stared agape at the regally lacking princess. She looked, at the most, thirty or thirty five years old. But if this was the princess that Saria had told them about in her time, then she should have been well over a hundred years old.

"Zelda, how long does your species normally live?" she asked with bewilderment and suspicion.

The ragged princess chortled weakly at the ironic question.

"Let us just say… time hasn't been as kind to me as you might think. I've not yet reached my twenty-eighth birthday, and yet I've outlived every one of my people; all my family, all the servants, every friend and enemy."

Zelda seemed unusually contented to both of them. She was still hiding something.

"Yes, time has been very unkind," she went on, "But now that I'm with the Hero of Time again…" she looked to X, who was growing more and more confused, "I think that it may have all been worth it. I only wish you hadn't left in the first place."

"I don't know why you're so familiar to me Zelda or why I even know your name in the first place," said X, "But I'm not the same person as the Hero of Time you knew, and to be quite honest, I've had enough surprises and meetings for one day."

With a snug fitting, metal sliding sound, the Master Sword went back into the sheath on X's back as he began to head for the doorway and out into the bitter wasteland once again. When Zelda made a flustered rush for him, she felt a sharp thrust at her chest. Raven, although fairly smaller than she was, managed to stop her dead with one hand.

"We'd be grateful to have your help," Raven told her, "but for right now, X needs rest, not someone digging for memories of another life that he may or may not have. Come with us to the Dreamweaver, and when all this sets in, then you can tell your story."

"But…"

"No, no buts," Raven said definitively.

"No!" Zelda shouted. "Not that. Look!"

As they rushed through the long, arched corridor to where X had gone, a band of reploids had gathered just inside the temple entrance. Raven's hands and arms tightened at the sight, but as their leader came in, dripping wet from the rain, her chest beat faster as her hand reached for the Lotus. Only a hand's clasp away, the flaming blade was ready to come out if it needed to. That is, if Axl and these other Hunters had come to take Mega Man X, dead or alive.


	26. Planet Protector

**Chapter 26 – Planet Protector**

Blood was dripping down his nose and into his mouth from the sharp, stabbing pain that agonize his head and made him dizzy. As he felt himself fly through the air, his arms swung wildly. A few of his fingers cracked as they became brittle upon breaking his fall, and he let out a subdued yelp as he scrambled away through a layer of dust that had been thoroughly kicked up. But the hand that was beating this greasy-haired man to a pulp pressed hard against his back and gripped onto his shirt. Squealing for mercy but getting none, his back slammed against rocky, cavern walls, and a fierce palm pressed his chest against the rock so hard that his feet wouldn't touch the ground. He dangled weakly, blood blinding one eye and his broken hand retracted against him. What scared him even more than the pain was the darkly cloaked figure with hatefully gritted teeth and eyes shielded by large sunglasses built into the red helmet that occasionally sneaked out from his tattered hood as it swerved. He could see through his one good eye a peculiar looking white and red glove holding him in place as he trembled; almost like it didn't have a real hand behind it.

"Y-you can't do this," he dared to speak. "Soldier would never allow…"

The aggressor's anger burst forth as he bellowed in the man's face. "Do I look like a member of that mutant police force to you? Do I?"

"N-n-n-no!"

"Good. Now, I'd like to inform you that materia compression and harvesting is not only illegal in the eyes of Soldier, but it tends to get a lot of people killed, so this is what I'm going to do."

He raised his arm, and a series of screeching balls of energy struck the machines that had been sucking life from deep within the ground, blasting the machinery into negligible pieces of scrap. Then the shrouded figure dropped the criminal into the dirt, and made him look at the metallic, deep red boots beneath the earthy brown swathe that hung down to them.

"If I ever catch you or any of your friends doing this sort of thing again," said the Sage of Light, "I'll see to it that you find yourself flowing through the very Lifestream that you so tenaciously enjoy destroying. Do you understand?"

"Y-y-y-ye…" he nodded feverishly as he bowed at the figure's red boots, but the Sage of Light noticed his eyes look past him. He spun around only to see another human with a glowing green sphere of materia in his hands. A moment later, a small explosion of fire struck the sage in the chest, singing his cloak, but to the attacker's fear, did little more.

"Hmph," the Sage of Light snorted. "Disgusting humans. Even the Mavericks have more honor than vermin like you."

He moved past the other miner and shoved him aside effortlessly. The angry sage knelt down at the broken machinery to find a small, stained sack that clacked with sounds like marbles bashing together when he picked it up. He picked out a green one, and aimed it straight at the second man, who was shaking in fear, trying to hold his own piece of materia steady and cast another spell, but the much calmer Sage of Light was far ahead of him. A circle of energy traced itself around the sage's feet, and a green column surged up in front of him before a lightning burst shot out and knocked the miner across the room. He struggled to stand after the hit.

"You don't even know how to use these," said the cloaked and furious figure to the two of them. "You're a disgrace to lives and wisdom that you've unknowingly trapped inside these simple orbs. Now go, or your lives will end painfully in this cavern."

They crawled away as the Sage of Light glared at them mercilessly with no care on his face for their injuries. He felt that they belonged in the very dirt that they were kicking up as they scurried away.

One by one, he picked up the rest of the crystallized orbs of materia, held them for a moment until they let out a light glow, and then put them in a pouch on his side. He meditated gently in his mind as he pulled each one and took note of the slowly swirling colors inside.

_Green, green, green, blue, green, purple, green, green_...

He could sense the strength in each one; sometimes frail, sometimes fierce, and if he listened close enough, he could feel clusters of tiny whispers inside of them.

_Yellow, green, green, green, blue, blue, purple, yellow, green, green_… (A short sigh)… _green, green, blue, and_… _red?_

The red ball of materia was the last one, and its insides flowed more feverishly than the others. It earned a much more delicate treatment from the sage.

"This one's too dangerous even to throw into the sea…" he held it with a faceless expression while bearing deep thought about what to do with it. He figured that hurling it into space would work, but even though traveling from one planet to another had become almost second nature for him, it wasn't within his power to jettison any part of himself or anything that he held.

"Interplanetary travel across rays of light," he mumbled to himself, "and yet I can't get rid of a shiny rock."

A strange sense of urgency made his eyes twitch from side to side. He left the cave and stared into the light of the bright orange sun of the planet he was on, and on the opposite side, a pale blue moon sitting large in the sky. He contemplated if it was worth going to see what trouble Zelda, the Hero, and the Sage of Darkness had gotten themselves into already.

"Perhaps I left Hyrule too early? …no, I can't go back now," he decided. "X will have to deal with this on his own. As for you…" he pressed the red materia orb firmly into his wrist, and it suddenly began to slide into his arm with a jettison of pinkish steam, "you're coming with me. I can't have some simpleton human running around casting magic everywhere or summoning your power to destroy. I can think of a much better use for you…"

He slapped the sack with the rest of the materia over his shoulder and set out across a breezy red mountain, quite sure of himself that the Hero of Time would be able to handle the danger facing him.

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"Axl, I don't want to fight you!" X shouted, but both he and the Master Sword were ready for it if necessary.

"Mega Man X," he stated firmly, both hands on his guns. "I have orders to place you under arrest for the theft of the Azure Dreamweaver, as well as for the concealment of information also aboard this ship."

Several fierce looking Hunters stood, two on either side, and X could see more outside in the rain. He didn't like the odds. He sensed Raven's adrenaline pumping through her. She was ready to fight, too, but it was the last thing X wanted; for anyone else to get involved with his battles.

"X," Axl slowly approached him with his hands easing slightly on his guns. "I don't want to fight, either, but…"

"What?" X asked, his own stance relaxing in front of his good friend, but he already knew what was coming.

After a deep breath, Axl whispered to him, "You've been branded a Maverick, X, and you're considered to be armed and dangerous. We're not the only ship out looking for you, you know."

He stared Mega Man down, trying to coax his surrender. He didn't know what to do. Slowly, he realized someone was speaking to him telepathically, but it was not Raven. It was the Princess, Zelda!

"_I can arrange a timely escape, as I'm sure the Sage of Darkness can as well, Mega Man, and I think that it might be a wise idea if_..."

He turned sharply and spoke outside of their minds. "No, Zelda. I'm not running away from this." He turned back to his comrade. "I know how bad all of this must look, Axl, but I swear to you, I'm not a Maverick, and I don't want anymore needless sacrifices on anyone's side."

"We've heard words like that before from deceptive Mavericks," said one of the Hunters who wielded large energy cannons on his arms. His jet black armor was just as threatening as the weapons he held out.

Axl shook his head. "If you're telling the truth, then come back with us willingly, X," he pleaded. "Don't turn this into another massacre."

"No Axl, you don't understand!" the reploid implored. He even sheathed his weapon completely and morphed his X-Buster back into his right hand as signs of good faith. "I took the Dreamweaver to protect our planet, not to threaten it! If the contents of that ship get out, it will only put anyone who knows about it in even greater danger than they already are."

"Commander!" one of the soldiers shouted. "He's lying!"

"Quiet!" Axl ordered. In moments after his echoing shout, the wind and rain dominated the planes of sound again. They stared each other down. It felt like hours that Axl contemplated his dear friend, or whatever it was that Mega Man X had become. Axl watched his serious face not waver for a moment in its intensity, almost as if pleading to be released. He turned his back on the blue armored reploid to think. As he rubbed the locks of dark brown hair jutting from the back of his helmet, he wondered… Was it as simple as friend or foe? The tension kept building.

"Please Axl, this is bigger than just you or me. Bigger than Mavericks and Hunters."

"Then tell me," the gunner said, "What is this all about?"

"It's about this," Raven stood next to X with the Triforce on her hand out in the open where Axl could see it. "Whether you believe it or not, this symbol represents a struggle for peace across the galaxy, not just for your world or mine, but for everyone, and you're going to make that fight a lot harder if you try to stop us."

The words had come out with implicit belief.

Axl looked at Raven and the golden, three-triangle symbol scrupulously. She never dropped her gaze from his, nor did X or Zelda. The heat of the Lotus was nothing compared to the sweat of dread that beaded Raven's forehead. If they had to kill these Hunters, and even Axl, they would become fugitives. Zelda didn't know much about these beings made of steel, but she didn't relish the thoughts of being released from the prison of the Dark World into a second life on the run. She had had enough of the fear and solitary confinement that running had brought. Her lips twitched nervously and she had to check to see if her knees were wobbling.

"Hunters... stand down."

His soldiers blinked at him with disbelief. "But sir..."

"You heard me. Stand down!" Axl demanded.

Raven's chest had felt like it was going to cave in from holding her breath for so long, and X sighed in relief, too, but something quickly broke the celebratory gasps. All of the Hunters, save Axl, were quietly giggling almost completely in sync. It was too awkward to be a coincidence.

"Quiet, Hunters!" Axl shouted, but their demented chuckling only grew louder. Axl pulled out his guns while X, Raven and Zelda readied themselves to fight.

Slowly, breaking the synchronous sounds of their voices, the Temple of Time erupted into painful screams as fragments of armor, skin and the reploids' mechanical insides began to rip apart, piece by piece, gathering at the temple's entrance. They were being sealed in.

"What in the name of the great goddesses is happening?" Zelda cried above the rising noise of metal crunching and twisting itself.

X pointed his sword at the morphing body of metal. "It's Sigma!"

"No!" said a furious Axl. "It can't be!"

"Oh, but it is!" a monstrous, inhuman voice growled. The face of a bald reploid with purple eyes appeared in the mess of torn reploid parts that had spidered itself completely over the exit and the surrounding walls. Similar to many of the other reploids, a jewel sat on his hideously composed forehead. He looked nothing less than insane.

"What the hell is that thing?" Raven asked with her burning blade already extended toward it.

"You never told her?" Axl scolded Mega Man while not taking his eyes of the twisted Maverick.

"Told me _what_?" She insisted, but X didn't say anything.

Sigma laughed. "My dear, _I_ am what the pathetic Hunters consider to be the leader of all Mavericks. But in reality I am merely the thing that gives the reploids that extra little push they need to go after what they desire. I set them free of their bindings with the humans so that they can realize a greater power!"

"Shut up, Sigma," X snarled. "We've crushed you several times, and this time will just add another to the count. What I want to know is, why have you come here? Why now?"

"Bwa ha ha!" he burst out in sadistic glee. "It's strange, even to me," his voice hissed. "But I suddenly found myself... remembering something important that I had forgotten. I felt compelled to find you again, compelled to kill you even more than I have in the past, but not just to destroy the leader of the Hunters. This time... I want nothing more than to rip into pieces the Hero of Time!"

Axl looked as confused as he was panicked. "X, what's he talking about?"

Mega Man still wouldn't answer as his body began to glow bright with energy flowing into his X-Buster.

Raven lowered the Lotus as she walked closer to Sigma; so close that she could smell the blood of the other reploids he had ripped apart to form himself.

"_You_..." her face filled with rage. "It was _you_ who tried to take Cyborg from us, and who brought Vile to my world, to hurt my friends! You killed Alia!"

Her eyes stung with hateful energy that spread out across her body and lifted her up to eye level with Sigma.

"No, Mega Man X killed Alia with his own hands..." Sigma stared at her with his makeshift eyes. "But I have no problem in tearing you in half, human!"

Faster than she could react, a mess of machine parts gripped her and launched the dark sorceress into the solid temple walls that cracked under the impact. Only a small area of Sigma had been singed from grabbing onto the Lotus, and he turned to screech at the others and spit out enormous hunks of bloody slime that shape-shifted into decrepit looking skulls. A spatter from one of them caused Zelda to clasp her leg tightly in agony.

"Do not touch them!" she limped back and formed her luminescent bow of light, blasting them into pieces that only seemed to be absorbed by the others.

Axl, Raven and Mega Man X had all opened fire at a distance. The body-sized burst from X's buster splattered one of the blobs into ashes, but Axl's guns only seemed to momentarily deform them while the creatures spat acid at them that started to eat at the stone floors. Axl turned his weapon fire at Sigma's head, and with each blazing shot, Sigma's face twitched angrily as the sloppily put together junk pile of his face began to lose pieces.

The jewel on Sigma's forehead began to flash like a strobe light, and while dodging the never ending bouts of slime creatures, Axl was struck in midair by a relentless streak of power that drilled him across the ground through several of the acid creatures, and even all the way into the wall and up to the ceiling. The Hunter's voice tried to shout in pain, but no sound could escape his lips until the beam was finally silenced by a golden arrow strike directly at Sigma's forehead.

"Axl!" Mega Man shouted to his comrade, but the brown-haired gunslinger lay; a smoldering mess with his eyes shut in pain on the ground.

"Hero," Zelda yelled to him, "Look out!"

But a sharp-edged extension of Sigma's body ripped into the back of X's leg. The pain was astonishing, even for him. His sight blurred as the sharp blade expanded into a grappling hook that ripped into his leg even more and swung him wildly from wall to wall until he felt the cold steel rip back out and Raven's glowing hands careening toward his face. With tremendous force, Raven had slowed him to only a gentle crash into her arms.

"X, we need to get out of here!" she said with one arm holding him up and the other throwing bursts of dark energy into the crowd of corroding monsters that kept growing with every volley of them that Sigma spit out.

"No Raven!" he gritted his teeth as he dared to stand on his bloody leg without her help. "If we don't destroy him here, he'll just come after us again!"

He stabbed into one of the monsters and swung the Master Sword around, launching it directly at Sigma's face, but he didn't even flinch as the steaming liquid slid off his twisted body and formed itself again.

Raven dragged him into a corner where X shot from his Buster again and again at the blobs of acid that were now sliding across the walls at him. Raven jabbed the Lotus and held it directly into them, boiling them into nothing while her mind kept a telekinetic shield around her to stop the onslaught from actually getting her.

"How pitiful you've become, Mega Man X!" Sigma laughed. "You will be crushed before you even manage to gather the remaining sages!" He sent a bladed wall of stabbing tentacles out from himself that X narrowly dodged by stepping to the side and shooting them, causing the sharp extensions to retract. One nearly caught him in the face, but a well timed light arrow struck into it. Zelda nodded at him for a moment before turning back to her own trouble.

For the moment, Sigma seemed to be right. Zelda's bow had become a whip that she desperately swung to keep the acidic creatures away from herself and Axl, who still wasn't moving. X didn't know if he was dead or not. They could fire freely at Sigma, but if they did, the monsters that slid across the ground would gain more ground, and if they tried to take out the slime monsters then they would be slain be Sigma himself. X had already tried to kill two Mavericks with one stone by using Sigma's offspring against him, but that had been just as futile. His leg spasmed and Raven rushed to his side.

"Your leg!" Raven shouted. "Let me see it!

X began to argue, but he felt the dark sorceress' hands dig into his wound. She stood back up with her hands covered in blood.

"I get it," X moaned as he tried to stifle the searing feeling that brought his weight heavily to the other leg. The blue parts of Mega Man's armor shifted to a pale peach color, and after a few moments of building up strength within him, a barrier snapped out from his Buster and engulfed both he and Raven, whose hands and arms were covered in red, electrical charges.

"Closer!" she shouted, and X rushed with only one working booster through the small army of green skulls, straining his body to keep the shield around both of them as Raven's power built even stronger from Mega Man's own injuries.

Pieces of Sigma sharpened all around his head, ready to skewer them both as he laughed. They took a leap of faith and...

"Blades... _of_... _BLOOD!_"

Each of Raven's arms split the air as she and X dove up through the pronged tentacles that had jutted out and encircled them. The claw marks ripped through Sigma's scrap body, taking massive chunks out of his faces and tearing several of the sharp metal arms completely off. Sigma howled at the dark sorceress, and his face only thought of killing her, but when the great Maverick focused his sight again, he saw a shining burst of blue light hurtling at him. His screech turned into a mechanical, disintegrating moan as the Buster blast exploded over his body, blowing more twitching parts across the temple floors.

Sigma fell away from the entrance, not dead, but putting himself back together again.

They had been given a moment to take charge of the battle. Much to their surprise, when Sigma briefly fell apart, the blobs of green slim evaporated, and the playing field was clean again.

"Zelda, Raven, now's our chance!" X bellowed.

Raven's hands, although steaming with blood strength, threw bolt after bolt of telekinetic strength at Sigma; X's Buster had changed into a widespread shotgun that scattered damage all over the pile of machines that Sigma fought to pull together again, and Zelda had cracked her whip back into a shimmering bow which she fired two arrows at once from. Sigma was still pulling himself back together.

"Mind if I join in?" said a pained voice from behind.

"Axl, you're alright!" the blue reploid said.

"I was built sturdy. It'll take more than a few vicious laser blasts to take out this Maverick Hunter!" he grinned with his hand over the broken parts of his chest. "Now how 'bout you show me what that that sword of yours is all about and we can finish this bastard off!"

"All too happy to oblige!" X smiled. "Raven, the Lotus!"

The column of flame vanished as soon as it voluntarily left her fingers, and Raven expected to see X's hand jut back out of his Buster, but instead an echoing, metallic clutch sounded as the handle went inside the weapon and his own arm. The tower of blood red heat came out again, and X charged his body with energy while the Lotus was attached to him. They could all feel the blaze grow stronger as the flailing tips of it blew faster and turned a bright white.

To his surprise, as the others continued to clash with the almost completely reformed Sigma, the Lotus was not the only thing in his hands flooded with power. The Master Sword, in the hand he wasn't paying as much attention to was tingling with a bright orange glow. He witnessed the symbol of the Triforce on the bottom of the blade turn bright yellow, and a fierce instinct took control of him.

With the first slash, a lava-like streak melted Sigma's face, and the jewel on his forehead cracked. With the second, the blade beam of the Master Sword cut the hideous mass of body parts cleanly in twain, and all movement from Sigma stopped.

In a chaotic, crashing movement, a sunburst of light flares and luminescence forced everyone's arms to their eyes, and the scraps of what had been several Maverick Hunters fell to the temple floors in a motionless wreck.

X and Axl both landed with metallic thuds, clutching the holes in their bodies with closed eyes and the heat of battle slowly draining from them.

The viral machine Sigma didn't move any longer, and he was nothing but a pile of debris.

No one knew what to say.

As X drenched his pale blue reploid gloves with his own blood, it was he who made the first movement. A breathy huff that almost resembled a laugh.

And it was almost funny, how they usually never noticed how bad the pain was until the battle was over. X recalled a handful of occasions where the fight had been so intense that, after the victory, he had passed out and when he woke up on a medical table goodness know how much later, his sensory systems had been partially or even completely suppressed. It was more satisfying than having to feel the immediate pain in the back of his leg that might as well have gone through a meat thresher. His mind flickered to the soldiers that had so needlessly been spent to resurrect Sigma, but he was suddenly distracted by the hands of two girls on his shoulders.

"Hero, your leg…"

"X, that looks bad…"

"Uh…" he began, feeling awkward, "did anyone besides me notice that Axl has a hole in his chest?"

They both looked at each other, and then to Axl, who held his hand over a shattered upper body. The outer armor around his torso had been mostly burnt or torn off, and Raven could see something pulsing like a heartbeat behind some of the revealed plating and wires if she looked at a sharp angle. His blood, like X's, congealed quickly. It had almost already stopped flowing out of the head-sized wound, but both girls noticed that fissure in his chest cavity was clearly worse than Mega Man's problems.

"Hello?" Mega Man asked sharply with another grimace of throbbing pain. "Help him!"

The girls both blushed and looked to one another again, and yet still neither moved as their mouths opened with nothing but uncomfortable breaths leaking out.

"Zelda…" X whispered angrily.

Reluctantly, and with an air of envy tainting her crimson eyes, she hurried to Axl and helped him to his feet.

"Here X, lean on me," Raven said, taking his arm over her shoulder

"Thanks," he strained, and a small spurt of blood leaked out accompanied by sharp throbbing.

The two pairs left the now ravaged Temple of Time. Zelda seemed distressed about how badly it had been broken, but it was quickly forgotten as they went back out into the pouring rain. Axl bent down, trying to keep the water from loosening up the fragile injury. Mega Man knew it wasn't the only reason that he kept his head down. A large handful of former Maverick Hunters were killed in the mess behind them without any regard, and they would not receive a proper burial of any kind. He knew how Axl would take it. He'd probably take the anger out with training, then get rid of the sorrow with some girl holding his head in her lap while he sobbed.

X's free arm involuntarily wiped the chilling drops of water from his eyes and face as his countenance hovered over to the dirtied, blonde haired princess of the past. Zelda looked more… confused. And rightly she should have been, X thought to himself. She may have been used to monsters, but not like Sigma. X figured it was similar to when Raven first met him; not really sure how alive all these reploids are, but Zelda didn't even have someone like Cyborg to relate it all to.

"X, you're thinking too much," said the dark sorceress quietly, holding him up as she shielded them from the rain. She waved her hand and set up another spiritual umbrella over Axl and the Princess.

"Sorry, I forget sometimes that I'm thinking for both of us," he told her.

"It's not that. I'd just like it if you told me what's on your mind."

Raven was hopeful for an answer, but it didn't come for her.

As they came to the destroyed fountain in the market square, they lucked out, for once. Two glide cycles had been left outside Sigma's reach, and each pair hopped on with a reploid in the lead. It would save a long and painful trip.

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Author's notes:

I may be going through some of the old chapters to do some renovations in the next couple of weeks, which may delay chapter 27. I'm not going to change anything imperative to the plot. It's mostly some tweaking, improving, and clarifying that won't in any way affect those of you already knee-deep or further into reading this. Just wanted to let you all know. Thanks!


	27. Confused Hearts

Yeah, I know it's probably been over a month since I last posted, but things have been hectic with school starting back up, and as I said I would, I made some renovations on old chapters. The first ten, to be exact. Don't worry, no serious changes at all. Just chucked some needless bits, added a sentence or paragraph here and there, fixed errors, and in general tried to improve the overall quality. Anyway, get ready for some steamy moments with Raven and X, and then some furiously steamy moments between Raven and Zelda!

**Chapter 27 - Confused Hearts**

Raven tossed the sheets aside and sprawled out, staring at the ceiling. The night had been completely restless so far, and it didn't seem to want to improve. Mega Man and Axl had, some number of hours ago, resigned to the tech lab aboard the Dreamweaver to try and patch each other up while she and Zelda pointedly chose separate rooms to rest in.

The reploid sleep capsule had suddenly felt unbearably uncomfortable, and the flat, uneven mattress hadn't been much better. Too many thoughts were pulling her into a whirlpool of sleeplessness, teaming up with her bruised backside that felt it necessary to pulse whenever she finally found even an inkling of relaxation creeping in.

The dark sorceress swore under her breath as she sat up and grabbed her cloak from the floor next to the bed. She swung it over her shoulders (which she noticed were also quite sore), and locked the jeweled clasp together near her collar bone, using only the powers of her mind to actually bring the hood up and over her head as she rubbed clammy moisture off her face and her darkened, blood shot eyes.

At least the lighting throughout the Dreamweaver halls at night could be accommodating. She hadn't noticed when, but they had all faded to a dim and gentle glow, treating her eyes well enough to force a calming sigh that widened into a refreshing yawn. Feeling a little more awake, she made her way to the lounge where the expansive, outwardly arced windows that once had graced her with the view of passing stars now only gave way for the endless beat of the rain on Hyrule's dying plans. The dark nightscape didn't feel quite as dreary from the inside as she listened to the thick patter of raindrops that were muffled by the ship's thick hull. It actually felt calming wondering where Hyrule's moon or moons were that kept the sky just barely illuminated enough to get the faint sights.

If only her mind could retain the same peace that her body felt in front of the dark setting.

Raven wasn't even sure what was foremost on her own mind. She knew that X was definitely one of the thoughts, though. The blue armored reploid hadn't been able to fully grasp what he had just been entitled with any more than she had. An ancient symbol, a legendary blade, and an octet of remarkable people, and then Sigma… it was so _different_. At least, much different than her home with the Titans, protecting Jump City against one evil after the next; some insignificant, some very threatening.

What Sigma did to those innocent reploids made her want to throw up. Sigma himself made Raven want to vomit. But why hadn't X ever told her about him before? And how did he know about the Hero and the Triforce? What caused him to so suddenly 'remember' like he had said after years of fighting with X and the Maverick Hunters? What the hell _was_ Sigma anyway?

She shook her head, and the thought of Zelda's and Saria's faces were the next to force their way into Raven's growing discontent.

Raven couldn't believe that Saria, Sage of Forest, spent nearly a century in unbearable solitude, and yet she elected to stay behind again while Zelda, a woman who practically appeared out of nowhere, was now tagging along. There were times when Raven had wanted to throw Beast Boy into another dimension, but there was something about the former Princess of Hyrule, _if_ that was who she really was, that brought her to boiling much faster than the green changeling back home.

Which brought her full circle, back to X. The side of her fisted hand smashed on the window, and a bright thunderbolt signaled, almost as if it had agreed with her. She didn't like the way that Zelda looked at him. She especially didn't relish the memory of Zelda reaching out after him in the Temple of Time as if he was the most important thing in the world to her.

Raven fought swearing under her breath again as she thought about how petty this self-driven argument really was. And then she sighed with frustration as she changed her mind yet again. The tired sage hated it, but she couldn't fight the foreign feeling of jealousy.

"Am I interrupting something?" came the warmth of a friendly voice.

"Oh, X!" Raven said excitedly. "Your leg?"

A blue, ornamental cane with a diamond pattern was one hand, keeping him upright. The wound itself had been covered with a metal patch, and a small amount of foamy material seemed to have leaked from it.

"It's better, thanks."

"And Axl?" Raven probed.

"He's fine, too," X nodded with a tired smile. "He's still resting. We'll leave and go our separate ways in the morning."

"He's not coming with us?" she said with disappointment.

He shook his head. "No. I checked his hands. He isn't a sage, so I don't want him to get involved."

"I understand. So in the morning were going to get materia for Terra, right?" she said, and another bolt of lightning flashed through the lounge, lighting up their exhausted faces.

"That's right," he answered. "To Gaia. It'll be about a three day trip."

They watched the storm together. And slowly, amongst the rain and the moonlit clouds, the space between grew smaller. Eventually, the gentle slide of his arms felt around Raven's shoulders and hugged her as the soft touch of her hands rubbed at the smooth blue limbs that held her.

"Couldn't sleep?" X asked.

"Nope," she sighed but then grimaced in pain as X's hand slid across a particular spot on her back.

"You're hurt," he said.

"No, it's hardly anything," she denied.

X grabbed a chair. "Come on, sit down," he insisted.

"Really, X, I'm not hurt that badly."

"I know that," he raised an eyebrow with a grin, "but what matters is that you _are_ hurt, whether it's small or serious, and it's keeping you from rest. Now come on, sit."

She huffed, but sat down anyway, wondering why. When X twirled his finger with an amused grin, she got the point.

"Wait… you're going to give me a…" Raven stammered with her hands fumbling as X almost laughed.

"…Massage? Yes, that _was_ the idea. I figured you could use one. What's so strange about that? I mean… we _did_… well… at the ball…"

"Make out passionately for half the night?" Raven said, feeling so strangely saying it.

"Yeah."

Raven sighed, "It's just…"

"I know, a lot's happened," he said, finishing her thought.

"Actually," Raven said hesitantly and with a bit of a grin, "I was just going to say that no one's ever given me a massage before. But yeah, a lot's happened too."

They both looked at each other. Raven laughed, and X couldn't help but laugh back. The small giggles burst into all out hysterics for pure laughter's sake, and even the thunderous storm couldn't drown them out until Raven had to rub her eyes from it all.

"Heh," Raven chuckled one last time, "Too bad that hurt like hell on my back."

"Turn around then," X smiled. "I'll try to make your first massage a good one."

Raven spun and straddled the chair with a sensual smile, leaning her chest against the seat back and relaxing her shoulders into a delightful sprawl. X scooted another chair so that the edges of hers and his touched, and he slowly reached around to unclip the red brooch that held Raven's cloak on. The dark blue garment was set aside, and X undid the top hook at the back of her long sleeve top, and with only a small patch of skin showing, he could already see a deep purple bruise showing near one shoulder blade. His finger slid in delicately and moved the flap of black material, seeing that the bruise was enormous, spanning a wide enough area that he couldn't see the rest of it without undoing more of the hooks. After four more hooks, he peeled the tight cloth away from her entirely, and he breathed uncomfortably at a back so bruised that he couldn't set his palm anywhere without touching something black and blue.

"Raven, this is awful. You should have said something," X tenderly spoke, not making it sound like a scolding, but simply a statement of care.

Raven felt a glow coming from below, taking her eyes to it. As she saw the symbols beneath X's feet shining through the dim light, their reflection appeared in the arced window; a sorceress with hair hanging down to her collar bone, and a set of illuminated hands that began to caress her skin, healing the wounds as the soft palms slid slowly from place to place. With the aches subsiding and the bruises shrinking, she felt the hands become firm, and slide up to her shoulders where they squeezed hard.

"Ooohhh, wooooow……" she moaned, and her nails dug into the chair. It felt like a strange, but completely releasing pain was rising up through her arms with ecstasy. The squeeze came again, and again, and each one made her want to squeal, and yet her voice couldn't speak a word other than wonderful groans.

"Breathe, Rae," X said.

She sucked in a lungful of air and slowly exhaled just as another twinge of stretching pain in the curves of her shoulder blades loosened another knot. She felt his strong hands continue down, massaging the edges of her spine. Her body snaked and swerved as he moved lower, but he stopped and poked harder at one point just to the right of the center of her back. Raven cringed when he touched it. It throbbed.

"Hold still. You have a rib out of place."

Raven slowly sat up, about to reach for the spot that his hand was prodding at.

_CRACK_.

Her eyes blurred as they went wide.

"Fixed it."

Raven turned to him, ready to yell something about giving her fair warning, but she realized that she had twisted around very easily. It was so effortless that she decided to try the other way, and the sweet relief sank her back into the chair once again. X was smiling, she knew it.

And indeed he was, knowing that she was, too. Something about the way her skin felt in his hands made Mega Man forget about everything else around him. The thunder, the lightning, Sigma; everything. He felt lost, just touching her, like she was a sweet secret to be taken care of. His hands slid lower, almost to her waist, and she curved back with hands outstretched to the chair with her steadily growing lavender hair swinging back.

She felt the soft touch slide forward, pulling her body back to his until his chest pressed against her. Raven clasped her hands over his on her waist and sighed, leaning on him.

X watched her face turn up to him with contented eyes. He smiled back, and Raven stared into those powerful emerald globes of his, always so full of thought. Even though he looked relaxed, she knew that something was there. There always was.

"Mega Man, what's wrong? Why are you afraid of… us?"

His head turned down. "You know why. And you feel the same way."

"I know," she whispered angrily at the notion that crossed all of her fellow Titans' minds. "It's too dangerous. And until the day it all ends…"

"It won't work between us," said X. "After Sigma came, I realized… even he's just a pawn in all of this."

X laughed, but it sounded like it came from ironic grief, and Raven's hand came to his cheek.

"I can't believe I just said that. Sigma, the one who spreads the Maverick virus; the one we've all fought on my world for two decades… he's nothing but a measly piece of whatever it is we're fighting." He took Ravens arms and locked gazes with her. "I don't know how many horrors are ahead of us. Anyone with darkness in their hearts could be coming for us. You know we can't risk Mavericks or anyone else trying to take advantage of a relationship."

"It's not right," she whispered with her jaw tightening.

"Raven… when all this is over… everything about the Triforce and sages, and the fighting, and the darkness…"

"But it won't ever _be_ over, X!" she pounded on him. "You know that! Even if we find the sages, defeat this incredible evil and everything else in between, there still won't be a happily ever after for us! The fight will never end!"

"Raven… I…I'm sorry. I don't know what to say. I just… I don't know."

She stood up and summoned her cloak, wrapping it tightly around herself.

"Then I don't know either," she said sadly, abruptly taking her leave from his grasp. X reached out for her as the doors flew open and light from the halls flooded in.

"Wait, Raven… please. I… I need time. Please."

She turned, and looked up at him, inches away. His eyes… they looked scared. Their lips came together, and Raven's eyes squeezed tight, trying to hold in the tears before she pushed away.

"X, I can feel everything you feel, and you still hide from me. I don't understand, and it's crushing me; this horrible feeling of being pushed away when all I want is…"

Raven couldn't help it anymore. She cried.

"I'll wait for you," she said. "Goodnight… Hero."

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The morning was sour for everyone. No one looked happy underneath the daylight rain. Raven shrouded herself only from the rain, but kept a shadowy watch on the two reploids. Zelda stood not far from her, slightly cleaner, but with arms crossed and tired eyes. X stood heavy on his cane facing Axl, whose chest had been patched up.

"I don't know if our world is going to be safe," the blue armored Maverick Hunter said to comrade. "Sigma will come again, probably after me… but they might try to lure us away by attacking our world."

"Don't worry, X. I'll hold up the home front," Axl said confidently. "I'll talk to Signas. Maybe he'll understand."

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that," X nodded.

With a brief locking of arms, they said their goodbyes, and Axl transported back to his own ship by himself.

Not long after, the Dreamweaver was soaring through the stars with three passengers, but none of them were talking to each other. Raven kept to herself in her room, meditating. X sat on the bridge in the captain's seat, thinking and thinking, knowing that the dark sorceress probably felt it. Zelda walked the corridors in deep contemplation and wonder, even though each one was the same as the next. As they sped toward the planet Gaia in search of a cure for Terra's plight, they lacked togetherness of any kind. The princess, the sage, and the Hero were hopelessly frustrated with this mission and with each other.

Zelda still wore her bandaged azure outfit. She longed for some of the luxury that she had back when she was still truly royalty. Now she didn't know what to make of this grand ship or even the fact that they were cruising amongst the vastness of space. She ran a hand through her bright blonde hair that swayed weakly with tangles and split ends, and her hand froze when she felt something odd.

She sensed it. A fourth life; something strange and powerful existed and it was near. Zelda looked at her surroundings. Behind and in front of her, there was nothing but the same corridors that she had been slowly pacing for hours. To her right, the same, and to her left, a wall, but something looked different as she knelt down to where the carpeted floor met it. The difference was almost unnoticeable, but the curious princess knew that the carpeting against this wall looked just slightly different, as though it extended just a little further than it should.

She looked at the fading mark of the Triforce on the back of her hand. It still had a gentle glow left to it. She held it at the wall and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to draw what power she had left from it.

"Reveal!" she commanded.

The holographic wall waved like a stone thrown in water as the false image fizzled away, showing the entrance to even more marvels of the Dreamweaver. Zelda went, hand first, making sure that the wall was truly not there, but she felt an unyielding grip take her arm. Raven glared the crimson eyed princess, and she glared back.

"This place is off limits to outsiders," Raven said bluntly, remembering the words exactly as X had said them.

"You've been in there," Zelda scowled, "And you're no less an outsider than I am."

Raven gritted her teeth. What right did she have to just come aboard his ship and do whatever she wanted? The stern look on the princess's face turned to an aggravated one.

"You're… hurting me," Zelda clenched her jaw with eyes beginning to redden from the pressure.

Raven tossed her hand aside without an apology and waited for her to leave. Zelda rubbed her reddened wrist, but refused to move on, egging Raven's anger on even more. Any bystander would have thought that fire would spew out of their faces at any moment, but both dark sorceress and former princess refused to lose at this hateful glaring match.

"Come now, Sage of Darkness. You're just as curious about the new Hero of Time as I am," she glowered.

"I may be curious," she leered, "but I think _you're_ just searching for a man who doesn't exist in Mega Man X."

Zelda's lips pursed together. "Be quiet," she murmured angrily.

"Why should I?" the dark sorceress snapped. "You can't command me. You aren't a princess here. You're just another person drifting, looking for a purpose. The Triforce hasn't chosen you as a sage, so you're at X's mercy. Try and sneak into places where you're not welcome, and he'll leave you alone on the nearest rock."

"No…" her face burned hot with anger but with a deep worry at the slight chance that maybe what she was saying was true. "The Hero wouldn't leave me… he wouldn't…"

Raven scoffed in disgust at the unstably trembling princess. "You're pathetic."

A booming voice rang over their heads and they both looked up.

"Raven, Zelda, I need you both up on the bridge for a minute, please."

They exchanged condescending glares, and Raven's, although staring up at the taller Zelda, seemed to win as it turned into a grin and she phased through the ceilings of each deck to get to X first. It was almost a full twenty minutes later when Zelda rushed through the Dreamweaver's sliding doors, seeing X with back to, staring at what looked like clouds moving at an enormous speed while Raven's eyes smugly embarrassed her.

"You know," said with pointed amusement, "you can always ask the ship's computer for help if you get lost."

"Or _you_ could have shown her the way," X spoke harshly without a movement toward either of them.

Even though there was an urge to glare back in gloating triumph at the hooded, and now shamed girl standing with X, Zelda couldn't convince herself to indulge it. In fact, seeing Raven's cloak deflate as she hunched inward and watching her ego with it gave the princess such a confusion of emotion that she too felt herself shrink uneasily.

"I'm in the process of contacting the Teen Titans, in case you're wondering," said Mega Man through the dead silence. He turned to Zelda, still in the doorway. "The Teen Titans are a youth group with superior fighting skills who fight for justice on their world. Raven is a part of them."

Zelda nodded, and the static on the view screen cleared into the massive living room of the Teen Titans with four very different, but very happy looking faces.

"Friends X and Raven!" squealed Starfire in her usual Tamaranian excitement. "It is wonderful to see you both!"

"Good to see you, too," Raven spoke softly, but with warmth returning to her face as she let down her hood, and then the screen was filled with a fair shade of green that was all too familiar to her.

"_Pleeeeeeeease_ tell me you guys are coming home soon!" came the pleading whines of Beast Boy. "It's been so _boring_ lately, and Robin won't let me do any of the searching!"

Raven and X looked at each other with quizzical looks.

"Searching?" they both asked.

A monstrous metal hand yanked the changeling back, revealing both Cyborg and Robin with more reservation in their joyous greetings.

"We're glad you're almost home," said the Titans' leader.

X and Raven both refused to respond to that one, but X was curious about what they were 'searching' for.

"Has there… been a lot going on?" X asked. Cyborg and Robin looked at each other just as peculiarly as Raven and X before the Boy Wonder answered.

"No… and yes. Crime's been way down. No super-villains running lose, no inhuman beasts trying to cause apocalypse; not even a bank robbery. Overall, we haven't really seen any action since you left, but…"

"But what?" the blue armored reploid asked.

Cyborg scratched his head. "Stuff, man. _Weird_ stuff. A car accident where a granny so old that her bones are almost falling apart manages to 'toss' a car aside to save her grandson. A guy who tries to jump off a building to commit suicide suddenly learns how to fly for a few seconds and saves his own life…"

"Tell 'em about the energy readings, dumb bolts!" shouted a scratchy, annoying voice that Cyborg looked straight down at.

"Be my guest, Giz!" Cyborg said with his arms sarcastically waved at the spot in front of him.

Raven and X watched the top of a chair slide into view with a tiny, bald figure wearing a green jumpsuit climbing on top of it. Zelda stayed in the corner, out of sight from these new people, but she could still see the incoming image of the Titans from where she stood, along with this squinty-eyed child that didn't seem to fit in with the others.

"Gizmo?" spat X in a bewildered stupor. "What the heck is he doing there?"

"I think…" groaned Raven, rubbing her forehead, "…that's probably my fault."

Robin chuckled. "Don't worry, he's actually been quite helpful when he's willing to cooperate. It was Gizmo that originally found the strange energy signatures that have been popping up around the city."

"What kind of strange energy signatures?" X asked.

"We don't even know what they are," Gizmo grumbled, "and they're hard to pinpoint, too, but they always show up in the same areas as all this weird stuff that's been happening, and they usually disappear as fast as they show up in the fist place."

"Ooh! Ooh!" shouted Beast Boy's young, grainy-voiced enthusiasm with arms waving off to the side. "Tell them about Terra!"

"Terra?" X gasped, and he could feel the Triforce tingle through his arm as the name repeated itself under his breath.

"Mega Man… do you recognize this mark?"

It was a simple drawing of three golden triangles forming a pyramid that Robin held up. It was confirmed. Terra, the young girl in stone, was Sage of the Earth, and they had to find the cure for her plight so she could join in the fight against whoever held the Triforce of Power sent by Ganondorf.

Zelda could not help but reveal herself and hold up her fading, but distinct Triforce on her hand, and it gleamed for all the Titans to see. Falling in synch at X's other side, Raven laxly raised her palm and spun it to show her own mark, shining through her covered hand.

Finally, X felt the pure joy on the back of his reploid hand shine golden against his sky blue armor. He saw the shock of the Titans and even the tiny Gizmo as they all stared into the three sets of miraculous triangles, and he couldn't help but grin at their astounded faces.

"It looks like we have a lot to talk about," he solemnly smiled.


	28. A New Set of Clothes

**Chapter 28 – A New Set of Clothes**

"Wow… that's… an incredible story," said Robin, trying to grasp what X, Raven, and Zelda had told them for the past hour as he ruffled through his thick head of hair. "So… you're sure Terra is this… Sage of Earth?"

"She bears the mark," Zelda nodded. "It is unquestionable."

A split between Robin, Cyborg and Starfire formed as they turned back to the hysterically cart wheeling Beast Boy, flipping back and forth with so much excitement that he started doing somersaults. Raven almost laughed at him.

"I… didn't know he could do that," Raven said for Beast Boy's peculiar vaulting accompanied by his excited babbling.

"He's just really excited," Robin smiled. "We all are. We'd love to have Terra back, and the whole battle over the Triforce and this great evil… it's all so incredible sounding."

Starfire grinned with her passionate eyes glowing as they so often did. "Oh, friends X and Raven, I am so happy for you! For on my world, the belief that one has the reincarnated spirit of a great hero within them is one of the most distinguishable honors!"

"Thanks, Starfire," X grinned. "No pressure."

"Well, hurry up and get that cure!" Cyborg bellowed and X and Raven prepared for the inevitable 'Booyah'. "Cause when you guys get home, I'm gonna make the most slammin' breakfast to show our new friend Zelda how we eat on Earth!"

"Here it comes…" Raven whispered to him.

One more over exaggerated and enthusiastic arm raised and…"BOOYAH!"

Zelda bowed with her eyes blinking bafflingly, trying to ascertain the meaning of what had just been said to her before smiling warmly with a surprising blush gracing her cheeks.

"Thank you, sir Cyborg. I look forward to a feast on your world," she said, but she didn't notice him blushing back as he rubbed the back of his head wearing a sheepish and silly looking grin for such a large man.

"How much longer will you be?" Robin asked.

That, Mega Man admitted to himself, wasn't easy to answer. He knew that the traveling alone would be just short of nine days, and he hoped the search for suitable materia would not last more than a day. But in all likelihood, it would take much longer than that from what he remembered. Over five years ago when he left Gaia, home of the Lifestream and materia, a huge calamity had been stopped from destroying the entire planet; a monstrous power that had been caused by the exploitation of materia in the first place. Since then, use of materia for any reason was prohibited unless under dire circumstances, and movements were supposed to have been made to dispose of most of the materia that had been forcefully created against the Lifestream's will. No, he thought, nine or ten days would not be nearly enough.

"X?" Robin said, finishing X's thoughts.

"Two weeks, twelve days at best. Don't be surprised if it's longer than that, though. This could be a rough search."

Robin nodded with shut eyes and a leader's humble understanding. "I understand. Is there anything special we need to do with Terra while you're gone?"

"Protect her at all costs," Zelda answered.

"I agree," X exhaled, rubbing his lip. "As for the unusual energy readings in the city… I can't give you any answers without seeing all the data for myself. Try to find the source. Shut it down or contain it."

"Will do. Good luck, to all of you," said the Boy Wonder, "And Raven…"

"Yes Robin?" she said, inching closer to the massive screen with her close friend and comrade staring back wearing concern that came from nowhere, but it warmed her heart.

"Come back safe to us."

She felt happy, and yet the smile was so hesitant, realizing the care of many faces, not just that of Robin. Starfire giggled happily, and Beast Boy gave his own over enthusiastic farewell from the back. Cyborg wore that proud look of an older brother for her that made her feel like she had family. And looking at all of them… Raven felt like her whole family had just given their blessings. The dark sorceress felt, within the few moments of silence, like another person had emerged in her.

_I am_… _The Sage of Darkness_.

It didn't feel strange or foreign to her anymore. The Triforce, though on her hand, rushed close to her heart as the signal dissolved into fading static and the faces of the Titans departed. Raven turned to X, who faced both Zelda and her.

"Tomorrow at 8 AM, we'll begin a very long briefing about the planet Gaia, what our plans are, and everything else you should all be aware of while we're there," he said firmly. "But for now, I want you both to relax and do something you enjoy. Feel free to use the holodeck or training areas, and there's a vast library of information stored in the computers and in a small collection of books I have. I need some time to organize everything for tomorrow, so I could use some peace and quiet."

"Alright," said Raven quietly with a comfort in her voice that X was relieved to hear. The princess, on the other hand, nodded to him with wavering hesitance, and she very noticeably looked down to one side, away from his own gaze. As they both turned to leave, X stopped her.

"Zelda."

Something made the sound of her own name send a chill through timid shoulders as she turned.

"Yes?"

"I need to speak with you for a minute."

Raven turned with sharp anger, and she exchanged a wary glance with the reploid. His face softly asked for privacy, and even though Zelda's golden locks of hair and condescending attitude had bested the dark sorceress' controlled demeanor, Raven noticed without the aid of her telepathic powers that there was an unusual fear underneath the blank stare of her face, softening Raven's temper. She didn't say anything, but closed her telepathic link with X, giving them the secluded space to themselves as she sank through the floor like a shrinking shadow.

Zelda never thought she would want the Sage of Darkness to stay, but facing X alone somehow made her shudder with a racing mind as she tried to avoid his eyes. He was so different; so foreign compared to the Hero she knew back in the day. She was not a sage. Would he find some reason to keep her, or was Raven really speaking the truth? She cried, wondering if she would be left by herself to wither away on another world or if maybe she and her fading Triforce would be so useless as to even be hurled into space.

"Zelda!" shouted X, and her hands went white as she clamped on to the armrests at her sides.

"Stop… thinking," he said, standing above her, slowly peeling the ghostly pale knuckles away, and they relaxed with his touch.

"Zelda, I don't think my telepathy is as sensitive as yours or Raven's, but you were driving it crazy anyway. I need you to calm down."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, holding a spidered hand over her chest like it was going to burst.

X firmly squeezed at her shoulder. "I'm not going to throw you into space, leave you on a deserted planet, or do anything else of the sort. I would _never_ do that to you, Zelda."

Her hands dropped to her lap, and X noticed the humble posture that uncomfortably formed in her respectfully bowed head and knees squeezed together tight.

"I am… relieved," she spoke softly.

The reploid realized it as a royal posture that she had probably not used in a long time. Even though she hadn't spoken much of the torment that she endured in the past, X had known it was harsh, and far from the life she had led before it. He felt honored.

"Zelda, when we first met you on Hyrule, you were strong; confident. What happened?"

"I feel… very small now," she murmured.

"Small?" X asked.

She nodded, then shook her head as if saying how foolish she had been. "I expected to become part of the legacy again, like I had in the past, but you're so different from… well, the old Hero of Time. And then fighting that beast you call Sigma... the old Hero's enemies were powerful, but not that strong, and you say that Sigma is just a small player, like I myself for the opposite team."

"You're scared?" he posed.

"Yes."

"What are you afraid of?" he questioned her more, and the words continued to come out with X's gentle voice coaxing them.

"I am afraid of what horrors await us all if Sigma is nothing compared to our greatest enemy," said Zelda, and X quickly picked up on the apprehension that tapered off the end of her sentence while her face turned away, letting her bright blonde hair protect her.

"That's not what you're afraid of most," The reploid stated simply.

He waited for her reply. She could sense his eyes drilling into the side of her head.

"I'm afraid of… being nothing. And I feel closer to it than I've ever felt before," said the princess.

X leaned against the side of his chair in contemplation. "How can that be true?" he eventually said. "You may know more about the Triforce than anyone. And even though your fighting skills might not be as good as mine or Raven's, I'm not sure Axl would have made it without you protecting him."

She looked up at him, hoping for a smile that matched the one that forced its way up from her chest and onto her lips, but he bore a very indifferent expression even with the bright globes looking at her that were tinted slightly blue from the bridge's own dim sky blue lights.

"I remember you," X said to her amazement. "I don't know how or why, or even any particular experiences, but I remembered your name back in the Temple of Time without you having to say a thing."

"I can help you to remember more, X," she replied with subdued excitement, but Mega Man's blank face narrowed with a spray of hot air slowly puff out from his nostrils. Zelda's hope sank.

"I don't want you to try and put memories from the old Hero of Time into me," he said, standing. "I want to make it very clear to you that he and I are not the same person, no matter how much you want us to be. I can be your friend, I can be your fellow sage and comrade, but whatever he was to you is gone now. Do you understand?"

"I… understand," Zelda spoke sorrowfully, but she tried to swallow her grief.

X watched her for a moment, and then a small bit of inspiration struck as he noticed one of the wrapped bits of bandage cloth unraveling on her shoulder.

"Zelda, you need something else to wear."

"Wh-what? Um…" she looked at herself. It was true that she could use new clothes. Her outfit was a full seven years old and frequently worn.

"You've done a good job patching up that suit of yours, but I know underneath it all, it's having some trouble staying in one piece," he snickered. "I've got work to do, but if you head over to the cargo storage and go to the far left past the huge refrigerator, I have a collection of clothing from a lot of different planets. I'm sure there's something you'll like."

"Thank you," she smiled, "but… what is a refrigerator?"

X's hand caught his face as he couldn't help but laugh. "I'll take you there."

When they came to storage, the doors slid open welcomingly, and Zelda peered down the long room that also stood easily three times X's height. He led her past a multi-storied series of cases and crates that looked ornately unique to her, but common to X. As they passed the fridge, Mega Man stopped for a moment, staring and Zelda curiously held her hand near it, which surprised her in both its near-ceiling size and the slight chill that was emanating from it.

"Hero, is something amiss?" Zelda asked.

"No," he grinned. "Just remind me to get eggs. Now come on, let's get you something more comfortable to wear."

She followed him to the end of the hall where she saw built into the wall a thin plastic grip. Mega Man locked his fingers around it and slid it open, and a multihued cascade of fabrics took Zelda aback, but then welcomed her in as she dove into the treasure trove of racks. The excitement ran through her so fast that she started to unfasten her clothing before X even had the chance to turn around.

"Oh my," she gasped as X spun away. "A dress… I haven't worn a dress in so long."

"You should choose something practical. We don't know what it's going to take to get that materia, so something comfortable that you can move freely in would be better."

"Oh, of course," she said, but it turned out to be more difficult than she thought. There must have been over a hundred full outfits on these racks, and strangely all for women she guessed, even though some of these styles were confusing and foreign to her. Some of them seemed to lack, well… modesty.

"I am curious, X, are all of these clothes for females?" she asked.

"Yep," he replied, and Zelda gave the back of his head an awkward stare while hiding half naked behind the racks.

"The male clothing is on the second floor, right above your head," he explained, and Zelda almost laughed, but it came out as a relieving sigh. She had nearly come to the conclusion that Mega Man X was some sort of womanizer, and she was comforted to know that he had collected for both genders.

The princess went back to perusing the garments, not sure what was acceptable or not, but she at least knew that a dress wouldn't be wise. She picked a deep blue top from one hanger and tried it on. It was too loose, and curved down very low at her chest. Stranger yet, the shoulders flared out like birds feathers. Feeling somewhat dirty in it, she quickly peeled it off and placed it back, and she moved fast to find another garment when she heard X's boot start to tap.

Many of the things that X had collected were very fancy, and didn't fit his own criteria of 'practical', and those that did simply wouldn't fit right. She then came to something that caught her eye. It was rich pink in color, and it came with another item in a brighter pink that faded into white. She took the outfit off its hanger and inspected it further. The top covered front and back entirely, and the yellow outline of a curved and elongated heart was in the chest of the outfit, blending nicely with the light cherry shade around it. It came up to her neck, thankfully, and her arms were exposed into it up to her shoulder, feeling remarkably comfortable in the smooth material that reminded her of the silks that she wore when she was younger.

Putting on the bottom was also very relaxing. The white that she had seen was from a half-skirt that went down the side of one leg with several lightly frilled layers, and it was attached to a pair of what Zelda guessed were very short, cut off pants of some kind. They were firm and comfortable, but appropriate? She wasn't sure. Zelda realized that there was still another piece attached to the hanger, and she unclipped it, trying to figure out what the sock like article was for. It matched the color of the top she wore, but had holes in both sides, small bows on either end, and it stretched nearly as long as her arm. Holding it up like away from her like a foreign animal, the princess tried with skepticism to imagine what the rest of her royal family would say to this strange fashion if they were still alive. She sighed. It wasn't the time to complain about change. It fit perfectly on her arm, and Zelda spun it so that the bows faced out. Lastly, she picked a pair of black, knee-high boots with white laces and firmly fit her legs into them.

"Well… how does it look?" she asked.

Out of nowhere, Mega Man swiveled a body length mirror so that Zelda could see herself.

"Not like a princess," said X, setting the mirror aside after she seemed content with the new clothes. "But it looks great, and sensible enough. Julie-Su would be proud."

"Julie-Su?" asked Zelda, tweaking the outfit just a bit to straighten it in a careful and refined manner that was coming back to her.

"The designer's a friend of mine," said X. "She would be happy to know that someone from another world liked her design. Do you like it?"

"I'll admit, it is awfully different, but… I do believe I like it. It makes me feel young. Thank you," she bowed kindly with a soft smile.

"Don't mention it. Now go get yourself cleaned up the rest of the way and get some sleep for the briefing tomorrow. If you need help with anything, ask Raven."

Zelda desperately wanted to interject as X hurried off in the other direction, but he recalled something of his own that came out before Zelda got her chance to gripe about the dark sorceress.

"One thing," he said. "That wall you found. The one that isn't really there…"

Her face went hot as she looked at his feet.

"Don't go in there without my permission. Ever."

"I understand," she nodded uneasily. Even though he had spoke with a tranquil respect, her stomach felt like it was going to erupt with butterflies. Every step away he took, she calmed herself and her groaning belly. Still, Zelda cursed herself for her behavior. She may not have been royalty any longer, but she couldn't believe that she had planned on trespassing through his private areas of the ship. The princess, as she walked along the Dreamweaver's halls, reminded herself that the Dark World was no longer the setting that she was forced to dwell so miserably in. There was no need for the trepidation of betrayal and deceitfulness from Mega Man. He was a very different Hero of Time, she agreed, but his heart, although troubled at times, felt kind to her, and his motives pure.

Her bright blonde hair let the movements of her body mingle with its strands as she walked toward her room, feeling much more content and even more secure about herself with the new clothes that moved confidently with her. Zelda looked down at the layered half-skirt that waved along with her right leg. She liked the way it moved. It swung both elegantly and with power.

It was saddening to let this new feel fade, but as she passed by the especially large doors leading to what X had called 'the holodeck', she sensed that Raven was inside. What provoked her to enter, she never knew, and Zelda stepped inside anyway, finding herself on the top of a very tall structure, overlooking a series of buildings across a river below, the likes of which she had never seen before. A bridge that looked like it was built for crowned heads arched above the water's vast expanse from one marvelous section of the city to the other. Seeing Raven sitting with her back turned, legs crossed, and her cloak covering her body, the former princess guessed it was a duplicate of her world and not Mega Man's.

"I apologize," said Zelda. "I don't mean to interrupt."

"Sure you do," Raven scoffed.

As the sun began to set over the water, turning the sky a faint pink, Raven stood up and brushed herself off.

"I was just finishing anyway," the dark sorceress said coldly, but as she turned, Raven gasped with a fusion of confusion and curious jealousy, glaring at the new outfit that, although it was something she would never wear, Zelda looked very decorous in.

"X allowed me to choose some new clothes," the princess said simply.

"I see," Raven glared.

The dark girl headed toward the open arch that sat on top of the recreation of Titans Tower. She moved at a hurried pace to get away from the crimson eyed woman of Hyrule, but as she passed, she felt a sharp shock go up her arm where she was sure Zelda had grazed against her hand, and faces began fly into her mind. Dizziness grabbed her legs, and she saw a blonde-haired Hylian man riding gallantly on a mighty horse across bright and sunny fields of Hyrule with a familiar sword on his back. The image disintegrated into a vision of the Triforce so bright that Raven thought she would go blind, but she didn't have hands to shield herself from the light.

And it all vanished. Zelda was staring at her, and she back at Zelda.

"Is something wrong?" she asked down at the slightly shorter sage.

Raven lips curled down at her tone. "I'm fine."

Zelda watched her leave along with the image of the archway that melded with the false setting, but no satisfaction came with Raven's absence. No, nothing could compare to how furious the ex-princess was at that moment, for when her Triforce mark connected with Raven's, she sensed the lost feeling that the Triforce of Wisdom had once given her. She dropped to her knees and punched the hard steel of Titans Tower until the skin on her knuckles began to scrape open and bleed.

"Damn you all!" she screamed. "First you take seven years of my time, then my family, my kingdom, and even my Hero! But now… you give the Triforce of Wisdom to that… that… _bitch_!"

She screamed at Jump City's colored sky as day fell into night.

"How could you?" she cried on with rage. "You damned Sage of Light. You told me that my relationship with Link was what took him away from me, but X can have the woman he cares most about? How is that fair!"

Two metal steps softly clanged behind her.

"X? I'm…"

She spun, and no one was there. When she looked back to the setting sun, it was splitting open into something dark. It expanded faster until it took over the sky, and in a few moments, Zelda found herself being drenched by rain in her new clothes with her hands in muddy grass as thunder struck down in the distance in every direction.

"I know… I know this is my land of Hyrule…"

The rain suddenly stopped falling, for once in many long years. The dark clouds that never left began to glow light. Her hope lifted. She didn't know why or where this vision was coming from, but she crawled at it and reached out as a tiny split let sun shine down on the dead life of Hyrule.

"It's… beautiful."

"Yes it is."

Zelda clasped her chest at the deep voice that startled her back into the mud. She looked up, and the man with the ragged brown cloth that covered red metal boots was staring back at her. His hand stretched out to hers.

"But how… how can you be here?"

He still held out the white gloved hand, as silent as the clearing sky. She took it and stood up, but an even greater surprise came when she was on her feet again. Instead of her hand sliding out of his, he held on gently, and he began to walk with her hand in his across the drenched brown grass of Hyrule's plains. Zelda, however, wasn't sure whether this was an illusion aboard the Dreamweaver or her real home.

The princess realized that her eyes still stung from her hot tears, and she rubbed them aside quickly with her free hand.

"I never said it would be easy," the Sage of Light spoke. Zelda said nothing back. Her mind had wrapped around a rod of anger that had now become dumbstruck. Why was he telling her this, and why so gently when he could barely show a shred of decency before?

They came to the top of a hill that stood tall with a grand view that was miles to the horizon, and the Sage stared out at it.

"I've lost everything…" Zelda trembled.

"No, the Triforce is always with you, even if the goddesses have chosen someone else to hold the shard of wisdom this time," he said, never taking his gaze of the clear and tranquil sky.

The sage's head bowed down. "This war we fight isn't just to protect our future. It's also to reclaim parts of our past that we've had taken from us."

She looked at him with her crimson eyes gone pale from tire. "I don't understand."

His face was as rigid as ever, but somewhere deep, Zelda sensed something kind coming from the hand that still held her own. He gave it a gentle squeeze that made her feel warm.

"Remember who you are, Princess Zelda. Be true to the princess who fought to find the Hero of Time for seven years, and who gave hope and spirit to the people of her land even in dark times."

"I… I'm not sure I can anymore."

"But you always can," the Sage of Light urged her. "You know better than most that hope can always be found even in the dimmest light, and that every spirit is important, sage or not."

His hand left hers, and she suddenly longed after it, but the sage backed away.

"I have to go."

"But where?"

"Wherever the light takes me," he answered.

The Sage of Light stepped further away, and his body began to shine with energy.

"Your life is changing, Zelda, but if you be true to yourself, then the darkness will never cloud your heart."

His figure sent rays of light like a bright white sun, and without a sound, he and the beautiful Hyrule that he created vanished, leaving Zelda awestruck and emotional in the void holodeck. She held the half-skirt to her side; the mud was cleaned from it, and it was gone from her face as well.

When she felt something tickle her hand, her eyes went wide at a tiny white line tracing out the symbol of the Triforce on her hand even though the mark had now totally vanished.

"I'm not a sage anymore… but I _will_ help the Hero of Time," she said to herself, with hope as she wiped the rest of the tears away. She realized that no matter how painful it would be, it was time to cast away her past and embrace this new life and new worlds. Perhaps she would find a home somewhere. Maybe with the Titans or X. But her old life was gone. Even the new clothes she wore agreed with that.


	29. Healing and Learning Again

**Chapter 29 – Healing and Learning Again**

"Good morning, Raven," said a bright and perky Mega Man X as he slid a hot cup of tea across the long conference room table to her. She telekinetically bumped it up and comfortably into her hand, noticing that Zelda was already there as she took a sip.

"Morning," she said back. "Am I late?"

"No, early actually. Zelda just got here a minute ago herself."

Raven observed that she had her own cup as well. She also looked severely tired to the dark sorceress.

"Let's get started," said X. He went to a large screen embedded in the wall and activated it, showing a strange sight. It looked like a whirlwind of radiance consuming a ball of fire. He tapped a button and froze the image, pointing at tiny structures at the bottom of the video.

"This is an industrial city of nearly thirty thousand people, and this," he indicated both the enormous red orb and the green energy, "is what some materia are capable of."

"My goddesses…" Zelda said in awe. "What is this materia we are seeing?"

"Raven?" he directed his eyes to her, asking her to explain the basics that she already knew about the tiny sources of indomitable power.

"Materia," Raven cleared her throat, "is crystallized energy from the planet that takes on a small orb like shape. They endow the owners to use various mystical energies, often called magic."

"Not much is certain about it," X continued, "but it definitely comes from within the planet; a source of energy known as the Lifestream. The Lifestream is suggested to hold knowledge and life forces from past lives and experiences, although there's little proof to back that up."

"What are we looking for on this planet?" Zelda asked, drinking her tea.

X sighed. "Materia comes in many forms. I used a particular type of materia that contains healing spells in order to reverse Terra's petrification. It didn't work, but her body reacted in a very similar way to various phenomena observed in the Lifestream. The theory is that if we can find an enormously dense and concentrated materia, then we can bring Terra back completely."

Raven had been consumed by the paused video. "I haven't seen this before," she said. "But you've mentioned it to me. What happened back then?"

He crossed his arms with a scowl on his face, hating the memory. "Something I couldn't stop," he spoke quietly. "Luckily there were others who could. It's a long story…"

Both women had their eyes intently on him, making up his own mind on whether to tell it or not. He shrugged, but took a cup of tea for himself along with the lead seat.

"I was hoping that we just go in, get the materia and get out, but I doubt it will be that easy. Most materia has been destroyed, contained, or lost, and all of the Mako factories that drained energy from the planet to make materia artificially have been permanently shut down and at this point, probably dismantled."

"If that's the case," Raven considered, "then what are our options?"

X leaned his face into his hand, rubbing at his brow for an answer that he didn't want.

"Shinra."

"Shinra?" Zelda asked.

"The organization that started everything leading to what you see on this video; the near destruction of a massive city, along with many others ruined. Founded a few decades ago, the Shinra organization, led by President Shinra, had made a point of industrializing and improving the world technologically. After much progress, they discovered the power of Mako, the planet's Lifestream, and the city of Midgar was founded shortly thereafter along with the Mako reactors that drained the planet's energy for modernization. But President Shinra was corrupt with power, and the city soon became a nightmare for the poor, who lived underneath the city's artificial surface, away from the sunlight. Even worse, twisted experiments done in the name of science and power were forced on unwilling human subjects, and a monstrous creature was born."

"Was that… the Ultima Weapon?" Raven asked.

The name made X's hands shift uncomfortably before he hid them beneath the table.

"No," he said, "but the greatest horror they created was responsible for releasing the Weapons."

He moved back to the video screen and made it progress to another slide, showing a man wearing dark leather with long silvery hair and eyes that were unusually bright green. Something about his face was terrifying to both girls.

"Sephiroth," Mega Man said with disgust. "A superhuman being created in a human's womb, but with cells from an alien entity named Jenova inside, hence called the Jenova project. I'm afraid I don't know much about Jenova, but I do know that whatever it was, it had a hand in creating Sephiroth."

"What did this Sephiroth do that was so horrible?" Zelda questioned.

X quickly switched to the first slide and pointed at the huge red rock. "Summoned that, for starters. Sephiroth had superhuman abilities that separated him from his peers, making it difficult from him to lead a childhood like most others. However, when he got older, he joined Soldier, Shinra's military force, and quickly rose through the ranks with strength that was both revered and terrifying. While on a mission to eliminate unusual monsters that had invaded a Mako factory, he discovered the truth about what he was. Not long after, he went insane on a quest to destroy or conquer or something." He paused, shaking his head. "The details about Sephiroth's motives and Jenova were still unclear by the time I left, but I know that they, along with materia, were both instruments of Shinra at one point."

"Incredible," Raven said, deep in thought. "How was he stopped?"

"Their planet was lucky," X told her. "Even I couldn't stop the meteor that Sephiroth tried to bring, but a group of youthful people came together with the power of materia and the Lifestream behind them and stopped the meteor and Sephiroth from crushing the planet."

They all looked at the frozen image of the deadly meteor above the heads of thousands in the city of Midgar below it. Materia… it had the power to annihilate planets. A dangerous thought entered all of their minds.

"Mega Man," Zelda raised her hand, "if this materia is so destructive, then I suspect that the holder of the Triforce of Power or his servants may try to obtain its power."

"His or her servants," Raven corrected her, but Zelda's face snapped in her direction.

"Not likely," she quickly retorted. "Ganondorf was as sexist as he was vicious. He would not have entrusted his power to a woman."

X nodded. "That's good to know, but we'll keep an eye out for anyone trying to abuse materia's power, not just the one person we're looking for."

Raven glared at Zelda, but narrowed her eyes when the former princess avoided her gaze entirely and kept a very neutral expression on her face. It only egged Raven's bitterness toward her even further, and the dark sage squeezed her cup unnaturally tight.

"What is our plan?" Zelda asked calmly.

"Our plan," X changed the video again, "is to first visit Cosmo Canyon, a peaceful mountain city."

The screen held a magnificent view. Red stone lit up by a falling orange sun and torches situated amongst this part of the village. As the video zoomed away, they were given a brief glimpse into a very peaceful looking village carved into either side of a deep crevasse in the land. People carried baskets on their heads, sat in front of open fires, and mingled peacefully without the quandaries of technology. As the image flew out further, a large observatory and also the only sign of machinery with a lengthy telescope sat on top of the stone.

"Keep in mind that this footage was taken five years ago. Things may have changed, and considering how quickly the planet nearly came to an end, I have no idea what we're going to find when we get there."

"What are you hoping we'll find?" Raven asked.

He sighed. "Even though Cosmo Canyon rejected the industrialization of many other cities, it's still one of the best places on Gaia to gather information. If it hasn't changed, then I may be able to ask the village leader about the location of the materia we need to save Terra, but…"

"Oh, I don't like the sound of that 'but'," Raven eyed him with a meek grin.

"No, you're definitely not going to," said the reploid. "Like I said, materia has become scarce since the incident with Shinra, Sephiroth, and the meteor, so it might be harder to find than we want. If Cosmo Canyon doesn't have any answers for us, then we may have to cooperate with Shinra, or at least what's left of it."

"Whoa, wait a second," Raven said, standing up in objection. "You're suggesting that we cooperate with the ones who nearly destroyed the planet?"

"That's right," he answerer firmly. "I know they can't be trusted, but I also know that Shinra had no intentions of causing the level of damage that it did, and they're probably the most likely source to get the information we need. They may even have the materia themselves. Again, what's left of them anyway."

"You imply that Sephiroth wasn't kind to his creators," Zelda surmised, and X gave an enthusiastic nod.

"His first victim was President Shinra himself, and many of the members of Soldier were killed by both Sephiroth and the group of heroes who were trying to stop him."

"Unlucky them," Raven replied blandly. "What about the Presidency? Who took over?"

X pondered for a moment before picking the image from his memory. He was surprised at himself. He forgot very little, and yet the malicious young face that sat on a body clothed in professional white staring at him in his thoughts left him blank for a moment.

"That was Rufus Shinra," it finally came to him. "The President's son, and far worse than his father if you ask the few who know them both. But he's not important to us either. He died at the hands of Diamond."

"More names…" Zelda sighed.

"Don't worry, princess," said Mega Man. "Most of the people or creatures we've talked about aren't alive anymore, and even if they were, there wouldn't be any polite greetings. This is Diamond."

He changed the slide once more to an unrecognizable beast with a body that resembled a bright white and grey marble, and a strange shining force that constituted nearly the entirety of its chest. In the video, it lumbered along slowly with massive clawed feet that had three spikes extending forward and one backward for each. Diamond's arms were enormously bulky like its legs, and with similar ivory-like claws jutting from the ends of its hands. Zelda tried to perceive the creature's face, but she could think of no comparison to the foreign sight of it. Raven, however, thought that Diamond's face was like that of the few mechaniloid drones occasionally wandering about the Dreamweaver to execute repairs; plain and empty. What looked like a layer of darkly tinted crimson glass convened at the front of his facial features, and similar, pale grey extensions jutted forcefully behind its dome. Lastly, as it walked beyond whatever or whoever captured the video of it, they all watched a cape-like protrusion emanate from just below the glowing power source, on what could be referred to as Diamond's waist. It was solid and matched the rest of Diamond's color, and undoubtedly like a form of plate armor that swaggered while its footsteps rattled the earth that it crushed.

"The Diamond Weapon, to be more specific," X indicated.

"That… is one of the Weapons?" Raven gaped.

"Yes. Diamond, along with Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, and Ultima, were all released by Sephiroth, although how I don't know. They were myths up until that point; supposedly creatures created by the planet to defend itself, but Sephiroth seemed to have some control over them. They wanted to annihilate humans, not protect them. Sapphire was actually destroyed by Shinra Company, and the Ultima Weapon was defeated by the same group of fighters who defeated Sephiroth."

"How… large is Diamond?" Zelda asked slightly off the topic, obviously enthralled with the brute image of the Weapon.

"About a dozen times your height and easily two hundred times your weight, if not more," he answered quickly and simply, receiving a shocking set of pupils from her. "Diamond was actually defeated by the combination of both the heroes and Shinra. As for Emerald and Ruby, I have no idea. For all we know, they could have destroyed the planet by now, or simply died off as soon as Sephiroth was eliminated."

"So…" Raven began, "We really don't have a concrete plan until we get there."

X chuckled lightly with a smile as he replied. "Not really, but there are still things we need to be prepared for in any event."

"Such as?"

"First," X started, "if you find any materia, especially the red variety, don't touch it. I've had experience handling them, and where neither of you are inhabitants of Gaia, we don't know how materia will react to each of your powers. Second, there's a good chance that some areas of the planet will have some unstable living conditions after everything that happened five years ago. If someone picks a fight with you, especially someone who has materia, don't be afraid to use full force. Trust me; the fighting skill on this planet is far above the average of either of your own worlds."

"Nasty bunch?" Raven interjected.

"No. Their body chemistry is just different. They're capable of reaching higher limits than on Earth or Hyrule, and with less effort. Many can take quite a beating too, and with materia even an average fighter on Gaia can pose a threat."

"Check, no picking fights," Raven said with strong tones of sarcasm as she rolled her eyes and drank her tea. Zelda glared sideways at her.

"Is there anything else?" the princess asked.

He nodded. "If the two remaining Weapons are still alive, and we should perchance encounter one, run for your life. They'll kill you without a thought."

"Delightful," Raven said snidely with a raised eyebrow. "What's the rest of the good news?"

His voice was quiet. The dark sorceress blushed, and she drank her tea awkwardly after she realized that her sarcasm wasn't welcome. She tried desperately to avoid Zelda's aggravating glare that she knew must have been patronizingly cutting her down.

"We have five days," his jaw tightened. "That's the worst news."

"Why only five?" Zelda asked in place of Raven.

He turned off the monitor unhappily. Staring out the window at the stars streaking by with rainbow tails, more memories were pouring in of his last visit to Gaia, and he knew that Raven could begin to sense them despite her head hiding beneath her hood. The stars helped him relax, but even still, she could feel Raven watching him as he couldn't resist the thought that Raven had tried to pry from him when he was on his own world. The thought that bothered him more much more than the five day constraint was the sight of X's scorched body as materia dropped to the ground like pieces of his body being torn from him as he went speechless with pain. Raven's chakra burned painfully on her forehead as she sensed the memory.

"It will be nightfall when we arrive," X added, "giving us the shroud of darkness to fly in and land the Dreamweaver undetected, and to help make sure no on discovers it during the day, we'll cloak the entire ship. Unfortunately, making something so large invisible to the naked eye drains a lot of power. So in five days…"

Raven lifted her hood. "The Dreamweaver will be as clear as day."

"Exactly," said Mega Man. "And that brings me to our last issue. Even though they have the power of materia and a strong and growing industrial society, we can not share any information about our worlds, the Dreamweaver, or even our powers. The last thing we need to do is disrupt this planet and give them an unfair grasp on their own technological future."

"Knowing such information would tear a culture apart," said Zelda, and X gave a fleeting look of concurrence to the princess.

"Yes it would, so we should try not to stand out too much," he said, and he looked at both of them thoroughly. "There's a diverse culture across the planet, so it shouldn't be too hard. Raven will be fine…"

"And I, Hero?" she looked at him with a soft touch in her crimson eyes that made even his firm resolve turn malleable.

"Well," X stammered, surveying her face carefully, "to be honest Zelda, I'm a little worried between your ears and your, uh…" (He became distracted with them). "…Your eyes. They may make you look unusually… well, exotic."

"Oh, my…" she said, slightly breath taken.

Raven jumped from her seat. "If there's nothing else, then I'm leaving."

X stuttered. "Raven… come on," he managed to spit out uncomfortably with an angry expression, but she left anyway with the cape side of her cloak flailing behind her at her haughty pace. The Lotus was still strapped behind her, staring at them as the sliding doors shut, leaving Zelda and X with the tips of their tongues knotted.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I… didn't mean to cause any trouble."

"It's not your fault," X grumbled, looking out at the stars.

She stood and joined him, watching the suns of worlds unknown speed by to be left in solitude. The lonely planets that flew by… it didn't calm her like it did X, and she could not help but speak the uncomfortable truth within her.

"I know I was imposing and rude when we first met. I assure you that that is not how I truly am, and I understand now that you and Link are different people. As much as it pains me to let him go, I am trying hard to for my sake and for yours and Raven's as well. I know you care for her, and I do not want to come in your way, but…" her voice trailed off as her face closed itself downward.

"Link…" Mega Man whispered. He turned to the princess, feeling more familiarity in her face than ever before. "Am I really so much like him?"

Her eyes clamped shut and melted in the memory. X did remind her of the blonde Hylian male who so heroically protected Hyrule even though he didn't have a machine body with azure blue armor, a starship, or the magical abilities of this new Hero of Time. It was something imprinted much deeper than that which Zelda saw. Somewhere beyond the shallows of Mega Man's bright green eyes lay the same spirit that he knew. And yet, it was memories that kept them apart. X had his, and the old Hero's seemed to have evaporated. Where? She would never know.

"You and he are more alike than you can imagine."

"I would have liked to have met him."

She smiled. "Yes, you would have."

The silence held thereafter lulled thoughts of confusion, and an undeniable attraction that X sought hard to fight. Zelda's battle with it was even worse because of the old piece of life inside that wanted nothing more than to embrace this new Hero of Time as if it was the past one. She hated it, but one curious question aided in her restraint, even though she didn't want to hear the answer.

"X… may I ask you something personal about… Raven?"

A quick nod.

"What is it… that draws you to her? Why is she so special to you?"

His reply was sweet and simple. "She has a kind heart. Her life has been full of more Hell than either of us can begin to grasp, and yet she still holds on. I admire and respect her for strength, courage, and especially her wisdom."

X watched her jaw flinch especially hard with that last word, but as she relaxed with deep breathing, he dismissed the angry gesture.

"It's more than just that," said Zelda. "Even I can appreciate goodness and strong will. But for you, Raven is beautiful, isn't she?"

"Yes," he spoke softly. "I… I can barely resist her eyes. And her hair…" he smiled. "She keeps forgetting to cut it. It's made it all the way down to her collarbone and has a sweet little curve to it now."

Zelda watched his bright green eyes grow so soft and affectionate. A happy expression became laden with gentle tears. "What else?" she forced herself to ask.

"Well… I, uh... guess I've always been attracted to fair skin," he smiled bashfully, and the tearful princess laughed.

"She certainly has that."

"Yeah," he said back.

She rubbed away the salty trails and watched the stars again with him.

"Hero…"

"Yes?" Mega Man acknowledged her.

"Can we be friends?"

He took his thumb and rubbed her watery cheek. "Of course."

X felt an urge from inside her that she quelled. He smiled within at his telepathy that watched her strain not to leap on him with an embrace as she sighed. Instead, Zelda held her hands together in front of her and said quietly, "Thank you."

"Strange how a simple briefing can turn into this," X said. "Will you be ready for tomorrow?"

"To explore a new world?" she asked, more to herself than to Mega Man. "I don't know. Forgive me if I seem distant while we do." She sighed and tried to let her muscles alleviate themselves. "I feel better," she told him, "but I still have a trouble that won't leave my thoughts for a moment."

"Which is?"

She shook her head. "I have no place where I belong, anymore."

"We'll find a place for you."

Zelda smiled, the whites of her eyes penciled red around her equally cherry iris, but thankful nonetheless. "I hope so," she said.

She turned to leave, and X didn't stop her. He was left alone in the briefing room with the faceless stars out the tall arcing windows and three unfilled chairs swiveled out of place amongst others that hadn't moved in years. His only inclination, as he was left with his ever running thoughts, was to take one of those three seats and give it the momentary warmth that it looked for, but a purposeful need grabbed him for something much more crucial.

Rather than be seen through the halls of the Dreamweaver, X performed the routine act of transporting the matter stream of his body to another location; specifically, his memoriam of priceless artifacts. Boosting himself up to the top floor, he stared hard at the case of materia that was revered as his most important belongings. And yet, despite the admiration that he knew they deserved, a hateful scowl of disapproval glared at the small orbs.

Opening the case, Mega Man chose a single piece of materia; the red one.

"Only if I have to," he spoke angrily, as if the materia had tried to kill him, and he slowly pressed the red sphere into his wrist where his X-Buster could form itself. With a tiny jettison of steam and a nearly imperceptible noise, it vanished into his body, looking as if nothing had happened to him in the first place after a few moments of gentle glowing.

He then turned to the wall past the materia, staring at it with a bout of solemn respect that he didn't hold for the magical weapons from Gaia. Even though nothing was there, he stared at it with a gentle expression over his crossed arms. With a swift leap, he dove hands first over the materia case and through the wall itself like jumping through air.

Inside there were no overhead lights, no small running lights along the floors like along the other halls at night, and yet there was most certainly a brilliant vivacity to the room that began to grow stronger with his presence. Six bright beams of different colors (red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple) collided with each other to create a blinding shine that X shielded his face from.

"I know you've got a role to play in all this," he spoke to the lights, treating them like the living, and they responded in kind with a brief intensifying of the glow. "Right now, Terra's our first concern, but I have a feeling we'll be returning to Mobius and especially the Floating Island sometime soon."

He backed away, but thought of one more important thing to say. It was pain that gripped his chest for a moment. It hurt him to think of it and especially of Alia once more; how his sword had penetrated her chest, and how he had become so ruthless afterward. He shook his head and got out the words quickly so he wouldn't have to remember anything else of that horrible morning.

"I… I'm sorry I lost my temper."

The six bright lights let out a more slowly increasing flush of light before dimming. X wasn't sure, but he hoped that he was forgiven. He passed back through the illusion and over the materia case, and his face went blank as if nothing had happened and the wall had never really been there. He purged the vision from the foremost part of his mind and forced it down deep, where hopefully neither Raven nor Zelda would ever be able to find it. As he had said, Terra was now the foremost concern, and his mind went quickly to thoughts of Gaia and the best way about procuring the materia to save her.


	30. The Search Begins

**Chapter 30 – The Search Begins**

A subtle engine hum roared in the evening sky's purples and reds, and it blew rocky surfaces clear of the smaller bits of dust and debris. The tiny creatures of the land took shelter in the small cracks and coves in the rock while the plant life swayed vehemently with their roots holding ever as the Dreamweaver's engines began to slow. In the wide, horseshoe valley, four large crosses pressed hard into the dirt at wide intervals; the only indication that the cloaked ship was even present in the tranquil vale that was surrounded by jagged rocks on its outsides, well away from the civilization's reach at Cosmo Canyon.

Like scissors shearing sight, a sliding door revealed a backdrop in midair with three figures in it.

Mega Man X dropped down first with a surprisingly soft clash against the dirt and rock for a drop of about twenty feet. Raven floated down next, and Zelda hopped out lightly, landing in X's arms gently before taking foot on the ground.

They were finally on Gaia.

The three headed toward the opening of the valley with a casual foot pace. Nothing was said as the valley was left behind them and a dense forest consumed the earthy terrain's red and brown hues. The sounds of chirping and crowing creatures surrounded them, and as things grew darker, a quieter orchestra of close growls followed the three travelers.

Raven's foot caught a fine and she nearly fell, but when the dark sorceress realized that it was Zelda that had caught her, she shrugged off the helpful hand and wished she had fallen instead. Zelda increased her distance with clenched fists as X glared forward angrily and shifted his arm into his X-Buster. Using it as a flashlight, he lit the way in hopes of avoiding any more pointless fighting.

After trekking through about a mile of thin foliage, they came to a clearing, and realized immediately why Mega Man X had chosen the spot he did to land the Dreamweaver. Forming a very wide arc that went beyond their vision, a steep mountainside curved back around the forest and assumingly beyond the plateau-top valley that their ship rested. It would not be easily found.

As for the death drop in front of them, Raven knew she could easily fly and assumed that X would be just fine in his own manner, but she looked at the much frailer princess without her powers or X's skill and wondered what X's plan was.

"Raven, _you_ carry her down," he said sharply, reading her thoughts.

Raven scoffed to herself, and reluctantly snatched Zelda's hands and took to the sky without warning her.

X, on the other hand, took a quick survey of mountain side that he could see far down even in the increasing darkness. After a brief moment, he nodded at the steep rocky face and began to back up. With a dash from his boots, he leapt over the plateau's edge and planted his feet on a smooth-edged stretch of rock that sparked against his feet when he landed. Leaping from surface to surface, he skated across the stones as if he were cascading down an endless waterfall with his feet riding in a boat of clouds. For a moment, he forgot about the girls' bickering, the stress of fighting, and the danger that he knew deep down was going to be after them on this planet. As he flipped backward away from his path and onto another one, he prayed that this momentary ecstasy wouldn't expire, and that he could ride the mountain's curves for hours. He refused to think about meeting back up with the others until the bottom touched his feet.

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Up above, descending at a much slower pace, Raven had a frozen look on her face of anger and disdain for the hands that she wanted to let go of. Zelda just looked forward, acclimatizing her eyes to the night that was only lit by unfamiliar stars and a large, but pale waning moon.

"I could drop you, you know," growled the Sage of Darkness. Zelda didn't answer her, and Raven's face only tightened more at the silence.

"I don't like you," Raven snapped, saying it as though it were unobvious to Zelda.

"I don't like you either," she finally answered back after letting the breeze that blew on her half skirt and her blonde hair fill the gaps between the words.

"Good, at least we agree on that," the sorceress said with grumbling aggravation clasping her jaw tight.

"We also agree to help the Hero," retorted Zelda, and Raven forcefully yanked up at her arms with bloody anger making her eyes shine in the night.

With a tight grip on Zelda's shirt, the sorceress suspended her still a long ways from the ground with her nostrils flaring, ready to charge like a taunted bull. "He doesn't _NEED_ your help!" she screamed, but beyond the fear of falling, Zelda's face refused to waver from its stern, crimson-eyed glare that met with Raven's.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe he wants _both_ of us to help him?" she said calmly with no match to Raven's anger.

"Wha...? X doesn't... you're..."

Raven bit her lip and her chest heaved with spitting breath, wanting nothing more than to drop her into the black depths below and forget she existed, but something about her clam demeanor stayed Raven's anger. She looked at the princess, trying to see past the eyes circled with fire and into this hard expression that began to seem familiar. The surging energy coming from Raven's pupils softened until her real, violet iris showed itself, and after trying to look deep within the pain that hardened Zelda's face, she let go of her tight grasp and once again took her hands much gentler while they soared down toward the ground. Zelda closed her own eyes and breathed deeply. She wondered, as the breeze blew back her hair and tickled her cheeks, she hoped that Raven had seen a piece of what was truly inside her. As much as she didn't like the Sage of Darkness, the princess didn't want to be hated by her.

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"Everything alright?" Raven asked X when they got to the bottom, seeing that he was carefully inspecting his armored boots with a look of disappointment.

"Yeah," he said back unconvincingly but with a hearty grin. "I got a bit more scratched up than I thought I would. I'm gonna need to buff these things when we get back."

"You had fun though," Raven guessed, and he answered with a smile.

"Come on," he tilted his head in the direction of their route, "Cosmo Canyon is only a couple miles away. Zelda, if you could cover your ears…"

"You're sure your armor won't worry anyone?" the princess asked, taking some of her blonde hair and hiding her Hylian lobes with them.

"It never bothered anyone before," he shrugged.

They followed a rocky path, and the torch lights of the mountain village turned from faint glows to a massive city of carved homes and buildings surrounding and within a deep crevasse. As they began to get closer, Zelda noticed the telescope sitting at the top of the entire village. It was as perfectly in tact as it was in the five-year-old images that X had taken, and she could see the recognition and nostalgia appear in his childish expression of memory with mouth hanging open.

"It looks like this world still remains after all," she said, looking up at him.

"Actually, it's grown," stated X, looking at Cosmo Canyon's expanded population when they came into view. They were close enough to see the guard at the top of the shaped reddish stone steps when they came even closer. He eyed them suspiciously for a moment between the two large torches that looked to be the only easy entrance as well as the, but the guard surprised both girls and Mega Man with a bright smile on his slightly aged face as he held his spear upright.

"You're... X, right?" he said as he rubbed salt and pepper scruff on his face.

X raised his eyebrow. "...yes."

"Don't look so shocked," the man said, "I may be getting old, but I never forget a face, or a name for that matter."

"You..." X narrowed his eyes. "How long have you been guarding the entrance?"

He grinned. "About five years longer than the last time I greeted you!"

"Wow!" X responded. "That's some memory you've got."

"Thank you!" he beamed, then turned to the girls. "And who are your lovely friends?"

"This is Raven," he indicated the dark sorceress, who undid her hood and bowed, "And this is prin-... er... this is Zelda."

Zelda smiled and gave a gentle nod of her head after relaxing the tension of almost being exposed as royalty from another planet.

"A pleasure to meet you both, I assure you," he said, bowing very deeply with a sweet old smile and no question toward either of the very different looking girls, or Mega Man himself. "I take it you wish to see the elder?" he said to them

"Uh... yes," X said, confused. "But how did you..."

"Last time you were here, you were awfully adamant about seeing Bugenhagen. I've never seen you since for a casual visit, so I assume it's important."

"It is," X answered. "Is Bugenhagen busy?"

He paused for a moment. "Bugenhagen passed several years ago, at the same time when the meteor nearly consumed Midgar. I'm surprised you didn't hear of it..."

"I'm... sorry to hear that. I, uh... keep to myself a lot," X said quickly, and the guard seemed to buy it. "Who is the elder now?"

"Ah, that would be Nanaki," the guard said proudly, dropping his firm posture. "He's done great things for Cosmo Canyon, along with the planet. Nanaki helped the expansion of the city move along smoothly and supervised the addition of more technology to keep up with the times, but not so much to spoil the great culture that we have here."

They all looked around at the fire lit city, and all the people moving about with very carefree duties of lugging firewood and carrying baskets on their heads and in their arms of unknown things. Even though the traffic of the tiered mesa structures throughout the city was slightly dense, something about the atmosphere was very relaxing to all of them. Not a single frown could been seen in the flickering torchlight, and the few who stopped to stare at the odd trio smiled politely, although some after more than a moment's fascinated staring.

"Yes," the old guard went on with respect for this new elder, "Our Nanaki truly has been a great leader in these past few years. We were actually surprised that he was willing to take over such a task after that whole business with Shinra and Sephiroth and the meteor and..."

"Whoa, what?!" X came out of his trance with the city. "Nanaki was... you mean Red XIII?"

He looked surprised. "Nanaki hasn't been called that in some time. It really was more of a nickname, you know."

Zelda and Raven tried not to look unsure of what was being talked about.

"Could we please see him?" X said excitedly.

"Well, I don't believe he's meeting with anyone at the moment... certainly, I can escort you right there."

The old man eyed a woman carrying firewood, who immediately dropped what she was doing to take up the post that he left. As they were led into one of the home-like caverns beneath the telescope, X was amazed how a single glance could be used in this society to speak to one another. Things had turned out far better than he had been expected, not that it was disappointing to him. Rather it was astounding that Gaia had sustained so well from all that had threatened to destroy it just a half-decade ago. The presence of Sephiroth and Shinra had, on the contrary, left no trace of their horrors here at all.

The three climbed up a staircase into the open space spanning in front of the elder's house, which was undoubtedly the most externally profound building that they could see, decorated with strange gadgets and measuring devices, as well as a number of windmills generating the small amount of energy that the canyon city needed. Several other windmills were lined across the tops of the plateaus; many more than X remembered last time he had entered this home.

The old guard stopped them a few feet away and knocked on the door.

"Come in," they faintly heard a voice past the door, and he stepped in, indicating to X and the girls to wait.

"Good evening, Nanaki," he said. "We have three visiting travelers who have important matters to discuss, if you are not too busy."

"Oh?" the soft voice responded?

"Yes," the guard stated, "and I believe one of them had a very extensive meeting with Bugenhagen during the meteor incident five years ago."

An awkward pause passed and an exchange of glances that the trio couldn't see.

"Very well, welcome them in."

Walking through hurriedly and with a strange enthusiasm about meeting this person who was much like a legend in his own time, Mega Man X neglected to tell Raven and Zelda that the chief of Cosmo Canyon was far from human, and their subdued gasps would have made X's cheeks go rosy if his machine body were capable of it. Still, and awkward chill of embarrassment touched his back as the three visually met Nanaki, a four-legged, fierce looking animal with fur ranging from deep blood to bright fire orange in color. Tresses of spiked dark hair bushed out at the top of his wolf like head that straightened itself into a rigid line and trailed halfway down his long back as he neared them with his lengthy body (which was as long as they were tall). Burrowed somewhere deep in the thick locks was the base of a headdress with a stiff silvery feather jutting diagonally out of each side behind his pointed dog ears, and two black tassels, one hanging down on either side. What appeared to be the only electrical light that they had seen so far hung over their heads, creating a light glaze on Nanaki's fur as he moved.

"Please, come in," said a refined and respectably soft voice that didn't match the ferocious exterior of his face; the right eye permanently shut with crossed scars over it and yellow eyes that could easily have struck terror into even X's face if he chose to use them that way.

He sat on his hind legs, reaching Raven's height and raised one paw in a very human way, which X took and shook. Mega Man noticed decorative silver bangles with a series of triangular shapes interlocking around the ankle attached to the paw he greeted, as well as on the other three.

"My name is X," he said as he released Nanaki's large paw. "These are my friends, Zelda, and Raven."

"A pleasure to meet you, Zelda, Raven," he bowed respectfully to each one of them.

X, in the moment when Nanaki was distracted in greeting the women, spotted the black tattoo high on his forward left leg reading 'XIII' just above another more ornate one that resembled the web work of a spider shaped into a pair of wings. But as he turned toward the room he came from (presumably the kitchen, they guessed by the family sized table and the several cupboards) the most dazzling trait of this striking being waved at them at the end of his long tail. As if he had swiped the sun with it, the long tail that wavered grandly behind this creature whom X called 'Red XIII' looked as though it might actually be a small blaze trapped in a slower pace of time than what surrounded it.

"Come, sit," he said to them, hopping. Zelda and Raven, letting their shock fade to remarkable intrigue, sat quickly, and Mega Man sat between them at the old fashioned dark wood table.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet with us," the reploid said.

"It is my pleasure, Mr. X. May I offer you something to quench your thirst?" Nanaki asked them, using his tail to reach toward a cup without any movement from the rest of his body.

"No thank you," he said back, and Zelda raised her hand to decline as well. Raven on the other hand politely asked for some of the hot liquid that the strange wolf-like being was pouring into a cup of his own. He reached for a second cup on the nearby kitchen counter and poured her a cup.

"From what I understand, Mr. X, the nature of your visit is of great importance, and your appearance alone implies that you are not ordinary tourists," he stared at them plainly. "After all, grandfather Bugenhagen would not see many others during his last days, but if he was willing to see you…"

"Yes, it's very important," X stated.

"Very well," he acknowledged their determination. "Then let us get straight to the point. Please explain to me what it is you are seeking."

"Huge materia," X made sure not to let his gaze fall for fear that it would be seen as weakness; something he couldn't afford with such a delicate question, and Nanaki's one working eye widened.

"The use of materia has been heavily restricted, as I'm sure you are aware," he explained with a stringent snarl, and all three nodded. "And the existence of 'huge' materia is classified," he went on strictly. "Very few are informed on its existence. How do you know of it, and for what purpose do you seek it for?"

"To save someone's life," Raven responded quickly.

Nanaki's head cocked in her direction. "Go on."

"A friend of ours has been turned to stone," said the dark sorceress. "We've tried everything we could think of."

"Even materia," X took over, "and none of it worked, but something strange happened when the materia was used on her."

"…I'm listening," Cosmo Canyon's elder said.

"Well," began X, and the dark sorceress noticed that same discomfort seeping back in as when they shared they shared the vision of X and the materia dropping like fireballs from his body. She stayed quiet, but realized that Nanaki had been staring at her for the same brief second that she had been watching X.

"When we used the materia to try and heal her," continued Mega Man, "it was very much like what happened when the Lifestream stopped the meteor five years ago, but on a much smaller scale. She even managed to briefly speak to us even in her stone form, and from what she told us, a much larger and more powerful source of materia might be the way to cure her."

It was now Raven who sensed a disturbance on Nanaki's face. His mind was floating through memories, too. She tried to relax her thoughts and listen in to the hidden secrets that danced their way onto the expression on his face as he spoke.

"A curious tale," he spoke with wandering eyes, "but that still does not explain to me how you know of this special materia in the first place."

"Bugenhagen showed me," X answered quickly. "I know for a fact that four of the massively condensed materia were housed here to keep them out of Shinra's hands. I wasn't expecting them to still be here, but I had hoped you would at least know what became of them."

"I see," he answered, and his long, snake-like tail wagged curiously to the side of his chair. "I am sorry to disappoint you, Mr. X, but those four which you speak of have been destroyed."

A cross-armed stare took X's face. "What about all of Midgar's Mako reactors? There were a total of eight, there. What happened to the huge materia inside all of those?"

"I… um… am slightly confused," Zelda spoke up, and the other three turned their heads. X's forehead jewel brightened very slightly, and he spoke inside Zelda's mind.

"_Don't act like you don't understand_, _it could make this very awkward_," he said quickly, and she bowed her head with embarrassment, but she had known from Nanaki's look already that she shouldn't have said it. Still, she was especially puzzled with all this talk, and had wanted her answers. It still wasn't clear to her who this incredible 'Red XIII' was in the first place. She didn't whisper anything back to X's mind while Nanaki answered her with a piercing look in his yellow, canine eyes.

"The Mako reactors that were active for a long time eventually, through their process of torturing the planet, formed extremely dense forms of materia, but it was only possible to construct one at a time, and all of the reactors have been shut down since then, including those in Midgar, where, according to Mr. X, there should have been a total of eight of said materia."

Zelda was catching on. "Why wasn't there any?" she asked more firmly, trying to take X's advice.

"Those reactors unfortunately were connected to one central unit that distributed power throughout the entirety of the city," Nanaki told them. "As far as I know, there was only one resulting 'huge' materia in Midgar."

"Sounds like we're out of luck," Raven said, trying to hide the greater impact that it meant through a tightened jaw. Terra couldn't be free without.

"Yes, it would seem that way," the wise wolf nodded toward her, taking her now empty cup with his tail. "There should have been a total of five huge materia; one from Midgar and one from the other four reactors across the planet, but I am quite positive that Gongaga's failed reactor never produced a suitable one, and no reactors have been constructed since. I am sorry that I could not be of more assistance to you."

"That's alright," replied Mega Man in defeat. "We appreciate your time anyway."

"You realize that scientists from here and many other cities would be interested in your petrified friend?" he asked as they stood.

X nodded. "We'll consider that," he lied, knowing that taking Terra from her pedestal and to another world would be far from practical, and that no one would want to make a second trip after this one.

"We should be going then," X shook Nanaki's paw again.

"As this late hour?" he asked Mega Man with skepticism and concern whirl-pooling in his soft vocal ways. "You are quite welcome to stay here the night if you wish. We have rooms available for guests, and I would be beside myself with guilt if something were to happen to you all in the wilderness this deep into the night."

X turned to the girls. They were each looking to him for the decision, and the plain glances they gave produced the silent and unspoken confirmation that was recognizable between well built amity. They resolved that they would stay the night.

"Excellent," Nanaki warmly smiled. "I will walk you to your rooms in a moment once I am finished with…"

A crash of shattered porcelain turned four heads and seven eyes and the pattering of several lightweight legs dropped down a staircase. After Nanaki's head drooped with a sigh that looked like it had been rehearsed a hundred times, two adorable faced miniature versions of the canyon's elder bounded like excited animals with three very foreign new chew toys to prod at. Before they quite reached the gleam of X's metallic and already scratched boots, each of them were yanked by their tails by Nanaki.

"Boys, you are both supposed to be asleep!"

"Aww, but daddy, they look so cool!" one of them said with eyes on X's armor.

"And she smells pretty!" the other one looked in Zelda's direction. She giggled at the tiny pups.

"Boys!" Nanaki roared. "It is far past your bed time, and you are interrupting our conversation! What have I taught you about manners?"

"But daddyyyyy!" they whined together. X almost couldn't contain his amusement.

"No 'buts'. Bed!"

With forlorn looks and eyes like watery crystals, the two slowly climbed the stairs from where they had so quickly burst out from.

"That was random," Raven said, and the red-furred wolf tried to regain composure. It didn't work. The fierce nature was gone, and all that was left was the plain and ordinary gaze of a father raising his children. It amazed X how simply a child could take away the seriousness of a conversation, and he didn't mind, either. All this talk about materia was making the air feel thick enough to slice in two with the Master Sword that clung to his back in its scabbard. Red XIII was rubbing his paw along the dark mane that went down his back.

"My sons, Andiel and Pacce," was the best he could do to murmur through the strange silence. "I'll show you your rooms."

The thought of a peaceful bed made Raven yawn. Zelda caught the motion, and the absolute inability to avoid the pleasurable stretch of her lips made her chest and lungs expand with beautiful warm air. Her eyes looked glazed in silvery water after the lids of them opened. X smiled. "Looks like your cubs aren't the only ones who need to be put to bed."

A chuckle made its way out of the old wolf. "Indeed."

He showed them out of his home after switching off the lights with an unconnected motion of his burning-tipped tail and let them back down through carved cave building structures, leaving the telescope mount and the elder's décor behind. X watched the evenly spaced torches go by as they followed along lackluster night pathways with wide open holes that let in a gentle night breeze above their waists even with the canyon walls growing higher as they descended. They turned inward, away from the night stars at one of the trails that were situated somewhat haphazardly about the downward way. After passing few other people, they came to a vacant room well lit by torches and decorated with finely crafted tapestries and two separated beds made of brass with almost royal design to them, and very white, soft sheets that danced with orange scenes from the torchlight. In each of the other two corners of the room, a very large dresser, clearly and fantastically hand crafted, sat for each of them; not that they had anything to store, but they were noticeably luxuriant. In the middle, surprisingly the last thing that the girls noticed, was a small table that matched the other furniture with a small glass vase that held a thin stalk of an unfamiliar but intriguing plant that had a number of soft-looking red petals. Next to it was a small pad of paper.

"Miss Zelda, Miss Raven, this will be your room for the evening. Should you wish to douse your torches, there is a vial of sand at the foot of each torch at your dispense. Also, in the top drawer of your dressers you will find a small set of powders with which you may desire to change the color of the flames with should you find the traditional hue difficult to sleep with."

"Cool," Raven raised her eyebrow, taking a look at the small transparent case of fine crystals within the top drawer of the side of the room she chose.

"This may sound juvenile," Nanaki continued from the door with X behind him, "but as it is your first visit to Cosmo Canyon, I am required to insist that you use those powders solely for the fires."

He earned the inquisitive stares from all three.

"We had a few tourists about a year back with… sub-par intellect and a highly driven curiosity," he spoke disdainfully.

"Sounds like the typical tourist," scoffed Raven, knowing that this story would turn out amusingly.

"Indeed," Nanaki responded with a roll of his one strong eye. "Some of the crystals were apparently very sweet smelling, and so…"

"Brilliant," the dark sorceress laughed mildly.

"At any rate, should you need anything, you may use the paper and writing utensil to place a note on the front of your door. Hourly rounds are made to every room."

"Where will X be staying?" Zelda asked with a bit of concern.

Nanaki nodded, acknowledging her worry. "Just two doors further down, but please relax. The canyon is very safe. It is truly rare that anything of a dangerous nature occurs here." He bowed respectfully to them both and said, "Good night, ladies. You are welcome to drop by in the morning before you depart if you wish. Now, Mr. X, I shall show you to your room."

"Alright, then," he said, pulling away from his lean on the girls' door. "Goodnight, Raven. Night, Zelda."

They both wished him a goodnight at the same time, and for once, didn't look at each other with disgust. In fact, they didn't look at each other at all. X hoped it might be the start of an upward trend for the two of them.

Following Nanaki's glowing tail, Mega Man rubbed his eyes, surprising himself after a moment's contemplation of the involuntary stroke. It wasn't often that he got tired. He was well aware that his reploid body could tolerate three days straight of waking action before even starting to get drowsy, and yet the stress of the situation seemed to bare down harder on him than normal. Then, as if reading his mind, Nanaki stared at him with a very stern glare that, despite the episode with his children barging in, X had to take very seriously as they came to his room.

A much darker and less pleasant look consumed his face as he bluntly said, "Go in."

X's room was smaller and made for one, but he didn't get a chance to take in his surroundings before Nanaki walked past at waist level and pulled out a chair.

"Sit," he commanded, and X complied quickly.

"Is something wrong?" Mega Man dared to question, and Nanaki gave returned his comment with rigid repugnance.

"We need to have a talk," he leered. "I know you're not human, and neither are those two women with you."

"I had feeling you were suspicious, but your cubs were the ones who confirmed it with those sensitive noses, weren't they?" X deduced. "And you're a good actor, too. You kept your cool the entire time."

"Yes," he nodded. "As different as you might appear, I knew I couldn't make a clear judgment based on sight alone, but there's something about your smell that puts you in a class well out of this world. Only on a few occasions in my time has someone smelled so different, and they were, in fact, from other worlds in essence."

"And what it is that you want to talk about to just me?" X stared back at this unwavering face in the torch lit room.

"I'm sparing your friends from this lecture only because I get the distinct impression that they know less of this world than you do."

He paced in a half circled arc around the table without X's eyes following his path. "I have had my share of tourists from across the planet," Nanaki pressed on, "and even if you are an entirely different species coming from a far away world, then I cannot in good conscience turn you away as long as you cause no harm to this world."

Nanaki watched him, making sure he was listening. The blue reploid's eyes seemed to be thinking as they tugged back and forth in motion, paying attention to the old wolf's words and occasionally following the tiny blaze on his tail that brightened the room just so.

"So I have two warnings for you. The first is regarding your search for the huge materia."

"What about it?" he asked, but only for the sake of moving the conversation along. He already knew what Nanaki would say about the dangerous instruments of magic.

"If what you told me of your friend in need is true, then I strongly suggest that you not conduct your business with New Shinra and find an alternative way to save her. Even though they have done wonders for rebuilding Midgar and the modernization of many nations without the use of Mako energy, behind the lines there are still many agents of Shinra who will stop at nothing to see that their goals are accomplished, and trying to obtain materia from them, although quite possibly the only way, could very well cost you your life."

"And if I'm _not_ being honest?" Mega Man prodded at the tense situation. "What then?"

His eyes narrowed, and the tiny flare on the tip of his tail ignited for a short burst as if someone had just tried to douse it with gasoline. "You will be watched, hunted down, and killed if necessary. This world has seen to much pain at the hands of those abusing materia's power. Even New Shinra will not tolerate such an uprising."

"Right, because we all know that Shinra is such a noble group," X spoke with sarcasm, earning him another fierce look. "So what's the second warning?" he asked calmly.

"You would do well to watch you attitude. The other caveat I have for you is regarding the materia that is somewhere on your body. Your arm, I presume."

X's cool shook. He wasn't concerned that Red XIII knew of his otherworldly origins, or even that he wasn't human at all, but the fact that he was completely aware of the small red orb was slightly disconcerting, and he actually didn't like the softer, more caring tone that Cosmo's elder was giving him. The old wolf seemed genuinely worried as he spoke about the power residing in the small orb within his arm.

"I have no doubts that you are already familiar with the effects of continuous use of and extended exposure to materia and Mako. Your eyes show me that you used materia very heavily for several months at least."

His lips pursed and his eyes, although against his will, began to glow vaguely more strong with the conversation.

"I see even the thought of materia can cause a change. What color were your eyes before coming here on your first trip? Hazel, or brown, perhaps?"

"Brown," X whispered. "I don't want to talk about this. I already know that materia has caused me a few problems, but if I have to use it then I will."

Nanaki bared his teeth. "You fool!" he spoke back with alarmingly grim anger. "You've already lost consciousness once, maybe twice, haven't you? And yet you still hold on to the childish belief that because you are different you will not be harmed!"

His mane almost seemed to sharpen into a spike-like posture, waiting for the answer that Mega Man was becoming weary of. The reploid never suspected that an illness could truly harm his reploid body.

"Twice," he answered.

"And you're due again soon. The episodes will become more frequent the longer you hold that materia."

X became panicked. One of his eyes stung as a green drop of infected fluid dripped out from the strain.

"No, there's no way…" he said, holding his hand over one eye like light was blinding it. "I can't be affected like that."

"You may not be human, or even an organic being, but it is obvious that you are still just as vulnerable to this sickness as the other inhabitants of this planet, and you are getting worse."

Mega Man pulled away his hand, and there grew a spidering web of green threads stretching out from the lime ring at the center of his eye.

"Wh…what's happening to me?" he began to panic.

"You have had acute Mako poisoning for several years," his voice diminished in the dusky lights. "It is much like cancer. There is no known treatment."

"So… then…"

"Yes. You are dying, Mega Man X."


	31. A Cure Or Two?

**Chapter 31 – A Cure or Two**

It was hard to tell when morning had come. The princess and Raven slept far enough within the rock face so that light would not seep in with the door closed, and the bustle of the Canyon city didn't manage to penetrate the dense walls either. The torches were still burning, too, which gave the impression that it was still night.

When Raven awoke first, her body felt unusually good and told her that she had slept very soundly. Sore muscles and stressed joints had been rested away, and her eyes felt much more alive without having to carry what sometimes felt like bags of bricks underneath them. Noticing Zelda still asleep, she paused for a moment before standing up to stretch.

"Whatever," she whispered. Raven made a promise to herself that this would be a good day, princess or not. She went to her dresser and took her robe and the unlit Lotus blade that she had left therein.

She placed her cloak loosely about her shoulders and pulled on her hood as she left the room with the Lotus strapped ever closely to her back, but after the brief walk to where the open windows spanned across the deep canyon, a remarkable sight and a warm breeze took her covering back against her shoulders. Perfectly aligned with the deep crevasse whose length went beyond her sight was the early morning sun, making the canyon gleam with golden reflections. When she stuck her head out one of the many window-like openings along the cavern path, the dark sorceress was struck by a surprising sensation. Her hair; she felt it tickling beneath her collarbone and couldn't help but smile. Not just because her hair was longer, but also because she was happy about being happy about the change. A curious wonder tickled her thoughts as she rubbed the soft strands continually blowing with each of the light gusts as she held her head outside the window, and it made her feel sensually excited to wonder if X liked it too.

Out of nowhere, a strange grinding sound started to echo throughout the bottomless Cosmo Canyon. She pulled back to look along the pathway that she was on, but no presence stood in either direction. Sticking her head back out into the sunlight, Raven jumped at the sudden cloud of slowly descending dust and pebbles from above.

"Good morning!" shouted a familiar voice following the earthy trail, and Raven looked up with the early rays highlighting her beaming grin at Mega Man X.

Even as startled as she was, it was fascinating, watching him slide down the straight drop with one hand and foot pressed against the cliff with his free leg angled out and burning thin, bright blue streaks of booster flame to keep himself aloft. Once at Raven's level, he snapped his other leg out and let an extra burst of energy out to plop himself down on the rocky window's edge with his feet dangling freely toward the death drop below. It didn't scare him an ounce, and Raven joined him, but she gasped when she saw his face.

"X, my word… what happened to your eye?" the distress leaked from Raven's mouth. She tried to raise her hand to his cheek to get a better look at it, but X took her wrist firmly, and for a second, squeezed it with almost enough strength to hurt her.

"Sorry, I… had a little malfunction," he said, thinking of the gray metallic device that covered his eye. A small green light was blinking at the center of it. "Don't worry, though. It's not serious. Happens from time to time."

"Oh…" Raven said apologetically. "I didn't mean to be so startled. It was just a shock."

"It's fine," he smiled back warmly. "It should be better in no time."

"So do you carry one of those things around with you all the time?" she asked, figuring it was a good chance to learn more about him, and he shook his head in response.

"I had to go back to the Dreamweaver to get it, but I should have been smart and just taken one with me," said X, and Raven's eyes widened.

"You went all the way back?" she gaped.

"Well, not exactly. There's a transponder signal that emanates from the ship, and I can use that to transport myself all the way there, even at great distances. Coming back, though…"

"You should have woken me," she suggested, and her eyes softened as her palm slid over his. "I would have been happy to keep you company."

"Well, you can keep me company now."

He leaned in before Raven could question what he was doing when his lips press gently against hers, and her eyes flared open and then slowly faded to blank as she let his face blur and vanish into the kiss. It was so sudden, this feeling that her chest was going to cave in as her fingers trembled toward him. His hand caught the shaking ones that she held out, and their lips slid apart. Raven gasped for breath as she watched the smile curve up on his face.

"Wh-what was that about?" she said in a soft voice.

He grinned. "Let's have some fun."

"Fun?" she asked.

"Yeah, fun," he answered. "Besides, I made a promise to you a while back. I don't like to break my promises."

"A promise? I don't know what you mean…"

He took her arm with excitement in his one eye and led her with a bewildering hurry in his pace up the rising chasm path that coerced Raven's feet into stumbling as she tried to keep up with Mega Man's strange enthusiasm that came out of the blue.

She laughed to herself. 'Out of the blue' was a great idiom for X, she realized.

Remembering the last time X was so excited to tug her along when he showed her the treasures hidden within the secret memoriam of the Dreamweaver, Raven's heart couldn't help but beat even faster in anticipation of what remarkable things she was going to see or do with him. And what of this promise? What did he mean by that?

The passed by pleasantly smiling villagers among the doors and plateaus, and they noticed that there were some very conspicuous tourists about. Many were either very elderly or as young as she and X, and it felt embarrassing to know that even the tourists found their energized rush a little awkward. She shook her head. If X wanted to show her something astonishing, then she didn't care what these travelers from a world she would probably never see again thought about them.

"X…" she gasped after going over the next set of rocky steps and almost crying with joy at the bright sight, "I didn't even remember!"

Two enormous birds, taller than either the reploid or the excited young sorceress now inched toward them, standing proudly with gleaming yellow feathers and friendly looks on their faces. They each had fairly long necks; not quite as long as an ostrich's, and in graceful proportion. She barely noticed the razor sharp talons at the ends of their long bird legs as one of them lowered its neck and stared with head cocked at her and making gentle movements of its orange, rounded beak.

"Chocobos?" she spun and said to ask, and he nodded yes.

A plain looking man with rough working hands was just setting up the saddle on the one Raven was moving closer to.

"Careful there, miss. They'll bite if they don't know you."

"They look so gentle," Raven said back, and X's arm slid around her shoulder.

"They usually are," Mega Man told her. "But it doesn't hurt to hand feed them a little. It'll make them really affectionate."

The large chocobo already seemed to be smiling at her, though. Still, she turned to X for what to feed the graceful looking bird.

"Here," said X, handing her what looked like a small, olive green turnip. "Gysahl Greens. There probably isn't a chocobo on the planet that wouldn't eat this out of your hand."

"Vegetarians, huh?" Raven said, and she pictured the tiny green vegetable as the face of a familiar friend from back home. "Beast Boy would fit right in."

"Better than you think." X laughed. "Most chocobos are yellow, but they can also be blue, black, gold, as you've, well, eaten… and even green."

"Wow," she said, taking the Greens and still admiring the large bird as it gently stretched its wings and let out a massive yawn along with a tiny squeaking sound. "Beast Boy would like it here. Actually, I think everyone from back home would like it here."

"Getting a little homesick?" X asked her gently

She wanted to shake her head no, and yet at the same time, she did feel a small piece starting to squirm inside her thoughts for the friends she normally spent all of her time with. It had been almost two full weeks since she had been away, so her head tilted almost diagonally trying to give both answers at once. She wanted them to be there with her and X. It was a beautiful place.

"Whoa!" Raven yelped as the small vegetable had been plucked from her hand by one of the large chocobos, which was now happily munching it and showing a strong liking for Raven already. Once it had finished its snack, it started to nuzzle against the side of her cheek, and when Raven raised her arm and scratched behind its head, it seemed to like her even more as is began to lick her face with a slippery thin tongue.

"Waaaaaaark!" the chocobo wailed loudly, forcing Raven's hands to her ears, but she smiled as she squinted at the joyously dancing bird.

"My my," said the man tending to the chocobos and even a much larger stable of many past where they stood, Raven saw. "He likes you quite a bit. Ready for a ride?"

"You bet I am," she smiled, and leapt up onto the high saddle like she had been doing it for years. X leapt up on his own gallant chocobo, and in a dusty rush, they bolted off side by side away from the welcoming entrance of Cosmo Canyon and into a thrilling chase.

Holding on to the reins, Raven fought playfully for the lead with X blocking her path just as lightheartedly, and as the mountains became plains and the plains became lush forests, he finally let her take it. He knew that it wouldn't be long after that when she would decide to adopt a slower pace and talk with him. After all, he had a lot to say to her. And just as he predicted, a few minutes after taking the lead, she began to slow the tireless sprint of her chocobo, and Mega Man followed suit, just as they came to a cliffside that looked over an ocean of water that spanned far beyond what they could see. The grass was thick, almost up to their hanging feet, and the chocobos both looked at it, sliding their tongues on the edges of their beaks.

"Go ahead, girl," X said to his ride as he hopped off. "Eat up," and the creature happily did so.

Raven suddenly received a staring chocobo face within an inch of her own, and it seemed to be waiting for something even once she had dismounted.

"Help yourself," the dark sorceress smiled, pointing at the grass that came up to her knees, and with an acknowledging bounce of joy, her chocobo happily grazed with the other.

When Raven turned to X, he was standing at the cliffside, not more than a few feet away from a rocky drop into the water. He seemed distant.

"That was wonderful, X. Thank you," she said to him. "But why did you take me?"

He turned slightly away from his gaze out at the sea. "Why wouldn't I take you, Raven? I thought it would make you happy, and so I did it. I thought it could be… well, romantic, in a way, I guess."

"Romantic?" she looked at him with a smile and a raised brow.

"What?" he responded with a laugh, "You think I'm not capable?"

"Of course I think you're capable, Mega Man, and you're even capable of making me enjoy it; something no one else has ever been able to do. But still," she turned her dead down sadly, "I know you, X. You've gotten good at hiding memories that you don't want me to see, but by doing that, I know how much you're still not comfortable sharing with me. It stings, you know."

"I'm sorry," he responded.

"Don't be," she said back, and she took his hand. "There are still things you don't know about me, too. True, not as much as what's hidden inside you, but I know you're hiding it for a good reason, just like you sacrificed your position as a Maverick Hunter to protect the relics aboard the Dreamweaver from falling into the wrong hands."

X squeezed his one strong eye tightly shut.

"I also know," Raven said to him, watching the rolling waves as she held his arm, "that you wouldn't have taken me out here unless it was important. After all, we have a goal on this planet, and normally when Mega Man X sets a goal, he gets it done and done well before he does anything else. Isn't that right?"

A short laugh. "Yeah."

"So what is it you want to tell me?"

A deep breath passed through him. It shouldn't have been so hard, but most of the things he wanted to say refused to leave his lips.

"I…" he murmured, then stared out to the sea again, and memory struck him. "I remember… standing on a cliff like this. Except it was dark. It was night, and the moon was full. It was at the end of a long battle; my first victory against Sigma. And I was almost naïve enough to think that it would bring peace. I wasn't even two years old when I stood on that cliff, staring at my X-Buster, thinking about how much pain I had gone through, and how many sacrifices would have to be made for the price of true peace that didn't come after that battle. I wondered if the fighting would ever end. Sometimes I still think that only the Buster on my hand knows for sure…"

Raven was listening intently, as a wind blew the grass beneath them, tickling at their legs. The dark sorceress watched, knowing he was not finished.

"I wish I could explain everything, but I've never wanted to get other people involved. The darkness that I've seen, the way I almost made my own nightmares come true when I… when Alia died. And I also wish I knew that all this about sages and the Triforce and the Master Sword was truly going to bring peace. And… then there's this."

A small trail of steam fizzled near his X-Buster, and Raven watched as a small red orb dropped into X's other hand.

"X…" Raven gasped. "The red materia. Why did you take it off the ship?"

"In case I have to use it," he answered simply. "It's a last resort, this powerful thing. In case I run out of options, and it's the only way to save… you."

"To... save me?" she said, bewildered. "I don't understand."

X shook his face with a sorrowful sigh, staring at the red orb that, if he got close enough to it, he would be able to spot a pair of burning orange eyes.

"No, I don't expect you to," he said. "And there's no way I can show you, either. At least, not yet… even though I want to."

"What's wrong with now, Mega Man X? If you can't share it with me, then can you at least tell me why you can't?"

His breath shook as he inhaled. "I've developed a… well, I suppose you could call it an allergic reaction to materia."

"It hurts you?" she fixated her deep blue globes on him, keeping watch on the swirling life inside the orb that he held. She could sense how serious it was in his face. It was more than just pain that he would experience if he used the mighty materia. A strangely natural conclusion came to her, but her chest felt heavy as she spoke it.

"Let me hold it," the dark sage said softly.

"What?" he burst out. "You have no idea what that could do with your powers."

"You're not exactly like the people on this planet, either, you know," she said, maintaining calm. "And the materia didn't have any problems with you at first, did it? You took the same risk that I'm willing to take for you."

"Well, I…"

"For goodness sake, we shouldn't argue about this. We aren't twelve."

"But…"

"I know it's important, and I know it's dangerous," Raven stared up at him as she leaned in close and slid her hands around the one that X clenched over the materia. "So let me bear the burden for a change. All that pain and sacrifice for peace can't come from you alone. That's part of why I'm a Teen Titan. We fight the fight together, and you're always welcome."

"Raven… I…"

X paused, unnaturally so as he turned. The chocobos had stopped eating abruptly, and they were staring at two figures approaching them from a distance on foot.

"What is it, X?" the dark sorceress asked tentatively, and a cautious instinct swept her finger tips across the Lotus on her back.

His answer was given by the forceful push of the materia back into his arm, and his X-Buster formed from his left while he took the Master Sword in his right.

"Turks," he narrowed his eyes. "This could get ugly."

"Old friends of yours?" Raven jested with her finger tips around the Lotus's handle, ready to let it slide into her palm in an instant.

"Something like that," he said back. "Remember that darker half of New-Shinra that Nanaki and I mentioned? The ones who take care of all the shady business behind the lines?"

"That's them?" she glanced at him as the dark navy business suits approached them rigidly. Raven could see that one of them had a very long trail of black, thread-like hair hanging behind his head that was nearly as long as she had remembered Zero's being, and it was banded together just below his neck, also like the crimson reploid. He had an androgynous sort of appearance in his stride, but his eyes revealed darkness deep within. The other one of these Turks had dark skin, a bald head, and a pair of thin dark sunglasses that covered the expressionless eyes on his concurrently null face. As the dark sorceress looked at him, he began to pull on a tight leather glove.

"That's Tseng and Rude, members of the Turks; the same background agents behind the old Shinra organization. Looks like things haven't changed much at all. Guess that means Rufus Shinra himself is probably still kicking."

"Wonderful," Raven murmured.

They were coming very close, and the chocobos backed away uncomfortably before flat out running away from the situation, leaving X and Raven without a mode of transportation back to Cosmo Canyon.

"Well, well," spoke Tseng as the bald Rude tightened his gloves in silence. "Never thought we'd see the likes of you again after the beating we gave you last time."

"Shut up, Tseng," X snapped, remembering his last trip to this planet with a twisted anger bending his teeth. "What are the Turks doing still active? The old Shinra should never have been resurrected, and especially not with the likes of _you_."

"Hmph," he snorted. "Only a pair of aliens like you _wouldn't_ know about New Shinra. Too busy spreading destruction to other worlds, I assume?"

X lowered his blade in disgust. "How many times do we have to go through the fact that I'm not here to destroy your planet? I can understand Rude not getting it past his dense cranium, but I know you're not stupid, Tseng."

Rude looked taken aback and slightly embarrassed, but Tseng paid no heed.

"New Shinra will not tolerate your lies, aliens. You won't be getting your hands on any more materia _or_ Jenova!"

X's teeth were grinding together and he was almost spitting in frustration, trying to find words to express aggravation that Raven had never seen from him before.

"What… the… HELL!" he snarled fiercely at the Turks. "I _never_ denied being an alien on this planet, and I have _nothing_ to do with your filthy Jenova project _or_ Sephiroth, for that matter. All we're trying to do is find huge materia to…"

"Whatever the rest of your story is," Tseng interjected, "it is clearly a lie, and all you want is to get your hands on more power. Now, either you will come with us or we will take you by force."

An erupting flare sliced the cool breeze as the Lotus found itself held tightly by the dark sorceress in one hand. "Then by force it is!"

"Heh," Rude snorted, and Tseng's eyes narrowed as he reached into his suit, revealing a black handgun which he aimed at Raven, but then Raven laughed right back at them.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!" she swung her free arm, encasing the pistol in energy, and it deftly unscrewed itself until it was nothing but a pile of metal fragments that fell out of Tseng's palm, clinking on the ground to the Turk's clear and expressed irritation. Rude merely raised a surprised eyebrow.

"The hard way?" Tseng's dark-skinned companion spoke deeply, and he pressed a finger against the center of his glasses, re-centering them as Tseng nodded, watching Raven curiously as he did.

Mega Man's thoughts drew the face of the battle ready sorceress toward him.

"Be careful. They're far stronger than they look, and they're undoubtedly carrying materia."

"So what should I do about the materia?" she asked.

"Well…" X whispered embarrassingly, "I have no idea what kind or how many materia they have, so…"

"So you probably shouldn't have said anything," she leered.

X smiled. "Nope. Buy me a minute?"

Raven was already off, all too happy to oblige. Dust kicked up behind her as she dashed for Tseng, who didn't move a muscle. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rude aiming his fist at the ground, but once her attention turned back to the black haired Tseng, a familiar streak of lights was emanating from the ground in a flaring orange color. She sensed heat, feeling both waves of sweltering air and a strange, steaming rumble beneath her feet. It was only as she leapt away from the ground and Rude's earth bending thrust that she managed to arc her body overhead and only get singed by the explosive flare blast that came from the materia fueled charge in Rude's arms.

As Raven pointed the Lotus at Tseng, she discarded her cloak fiercely into the dirt and hovered just above the ground and the scattering dust from shattered stone and smoke. Raven's eyes scanned the ground. They had mistimed the attack, she realized, feeling nervous at the jagged uprising of charred stone that had nearly struck her and could have possibly crushed her. She searched for X, but he wasn't there. The Sage of Darkness grinned sharply while the Turks tried to find the reploid, but she knew what he was up to.

"You ready or what?" she asked the invisible Mega Man.

A massive crack sounded, and Rude's face twisted with a spatter of blood as he appeared to be launching himself through the air. His glasses shattered when they struck the ground, and he struggled to stand before Raven threw an orb of dark force into his back, driving him through the mounds of waist high grass away from the cliff's edge and also away from Tseng. X reappeared.

"I've gotten a lot better since last time," X grinned.

"And you've brought a powerful friend," Tseng shrugged. "So what? You still won't take down the Turks, alien."

"It's Mega Man X," the reploid corrected him. "You could at _least_ get that right."

"Hmph," he snorted back with his arms crossed. A golden energy shot up from the soles of his shoes along with the shine of a lime green orb in his wrist, and this time the mystic circle of power formed in front of him, bearing strong resemblance to that of a clock, and it appeared as though a blue orb of materia was faintly encircling him like a ghost as he held his palm facing his chest. X's panic immediately got Raven's attention.

"Damn it," X swore. "Raven, we have to take him now!" he shouted, hurling the Master Sword into the air, opening up a second X-Buster on his other arm, spreading blasts of energy at where Tseng stood while Raven ripped up a chunk of earth with her telekinesis and hurled it at the spot that was now filling with a veil of smoke. A sharp breeze blew away the covering, and Tseng's form was missing. The Master Sword fell into X's hand as planned, and his glowing green eye scanned through the thinning cloud. Tseng appeared to have vanished, and Rude was not where he had been, either. Mega Man and Raven both realized what it was like to not be the ones concealed for a change, and it stirred uneasy feelings in their bellies while they watched and waited for the next move.

The dark sorceress noticed something. A strange change underneath her feet, and before she had a chance to react to X's distressed warning, jagged columns of stone burst up and swallowed her in a brilliant flash of light, but in only a moment after she had been lifted off her feet against her will, the light began to dim into tiny silvers and veins between the rocks before completely vanishing. She couldn't move anything, and the Lotus had been separated from her. And there was burning. A horrible burning pain that began to grow the longer she was restricted from moving. Something – undoubtedly nature's stone after a moment's thought – had pierced into her side and was causing her to writhe in pain, but she could do nothing except wait.

On the outside X's rage was building at seeing the towering mound of materia-formed spikes that Rude had encased her with, and Tseng was standing between it and Mega Man. The reploid dashed in and swung his blade, but only caught an image of Tseng that sidestepped so quickly that even X's vision couldn't perceive the movement. For his failure, Mega Man took such incredible, repeated blows all around his body that he began to lose vision altogether while the sounds of his armor being dented rang in his ears like gruesome gongs. In a flicker of color, a foot struck him in the face, sending him careening toward the cliff's edge where only a firm grip kept him from falling into the ocean. The point of the Master Sword dug in not far away.

"I told you you wouldn't win," Tseng looked down at X, whose legs were swinging as he held on, having trouble seeing through the green liquid that was no aggravating both his open and closed eye. He looked at the waves below but could see nothing clearly enough to convince him to jump or not, so he stared up at Tseng, who had no expression but disgust.

"Time materia mixed with a heavily upgraded blue amplification materia. Clever," he gasped, having trouble with his grip.

"Indeed, but I had hoped you'd put up a more stimulating fight than that. Shame I can't kill you, either, since Rufus wants you alive."

With unnatural speed, Tseng arm reached out for X's, but the reploid's speed suddenly matched his enhanced own, and in a fraction of a second he had flipped above the crag and used a burst of booster flame to launch himself back down to Tseng's shoulders. A sharp curve of X's spine sent both of his legs crushing into the Turk's back toward the edge. Tseng's body contorted in the wind after the blow flailed his long black hair everywhere as he pulled a grapping gun from behind him and fired it blindly at the reploid before even his speed enhanced body could see. He aimed correctly, as he saw once his body had turned and began to descend, but X had already slashed the cable, and a shower of thundering electricity was emanating from his palms, sizzling the air as it connected with his clothes, and then with him. Mega Man X saw and heard nothing more of Tseng after that. Just a trail of smoke tainted with the stench of burnt flesh coming up past the overhang.

The back of his head throbbed as vision shattered. The second Turk had dealt him a blow to the back of head so violent that the metal crash echoed across the hills and out to the ocean as Mega Man fell to the ground. He tried to pull himself up in a dizzied daze, spitting lime liquid from his lips when he sensed the rushing air of a foot flying in his direction. Forcing the spiritual energy out to use the powers of materia that he had formerly mastered had drained Mega Man X more than he imagined it would, giving the reploid no strength to dodge Rude's blow, but he heard a scream of foreign pain inside his head and the desperate face of Raven's agony pierced form encased in rock. X gritted his teeth, blind from the stinging in his eyes, and Rude found his foot being crushed in the mighty and unyielding grip of the Hero of Time who shook and writhed in his sightless vigor. The curved and hateful glares of X's face were bleeding materia down his neck, and his lips shook as they twisted into a searing enmity.

_CRACK_.

"_AAAAUGH_!"

X held the horror-stricken and struggling Rude by the broken foot that twisted in his grip like he was bending a tree branch, and turning his fading thoughts on the rock-encased Raven while holding on took nearly all of his degraded strength.

"Gotta focus," he mumbled as his eyes burned with pain. "Just one last… use…"

His hand wavered in the direction of the stone uprising, and his palm began to close with shaking fingers still pointed at it. His face seared with pain, and he felt the chemical residue of materia and Mako dripping from his chin, but one forceful swing was all he needed after the power of the Lifestream undid what Rude had done. He had been blind to the fist that was coming toward him, but chunks of the Turk's own manipulated earth beat him to the ground as Raven fell, clutching a blood stained hip.

X had fallen unconscious. The burden of materia had caught up to him, and as the dark sorceress tried with heart wrenching panic to wipe away the bright green liquid tainting his face and eyes, a rumbling sounded across the sky. A helicopter. Dark and blue with an ominous feel to it. They were not friends come to rescue them.

"X," she whispered with gritted teeth, bearing the pain as the gusts from the copter blades bent the paths of their dripping blood and tears. "I'm sorry, Mega Man. We've lost this one."

She took the Master Sword out of the ground with a strained tug. She knelt back with Mega Man and slid the weapon in his sheath. It wouldn't stay there; she knew this. As they became captured by the Shinra organization on this foreign world of Gaia, she knew the sword would be confiscated along with anything else. Still, it felt fitting that it should stay with him as a woman with short blonde hair that curved around her face was followed out of the copter by a man with spiky locks of bright red that somehow stayed in place as they carried two large braces. They wore the same Turk suits, and two less distinct Turks also jumped from the helicopter to recover Rude, who were surprised to find one of his feet dangling awkwardly. The other two, more superior ones noticed as well, and the woman stared around angrily.

"Where is Tseng?" she spoke coldly down at the bleeding Raven, but the woman could not hold her subdued panic from the telepathic girl.

"I said, _where is Tseng_?" the female Turk shouted before looking down at Raven's gouge. She shot two fingers into the sticky area and Raven screamed in agony. She almost grabbed the Lotus again, but she fought the desperate urge. These people didn't want to kill her, so the dark sorceress decided she wouldn't make them change their minds.

"The cliff…" she whispered, and the woman removed her fingers from the wound, which began to drip fresh blood. "Over the cliff…"

A small vial popped out of the female Turk's side pocket, and Raven didn't resist as it was pressed against her neck. A few seconds later she felt her body go limp and her eyes shut with the last image she saw, which was of the blonde Turk rushing toward the edge, screaming something in vain.


	32. Unlikely Associations

**Chapter 32 – Unlikely Associations**

Bound in steel. Not a pleasant way to wake up, Raven thought at the realization that she was standing but without the movement of legs or arms. Coming to her senses, she saw the large metal clamps that encased the entirety of her waist, upper arms and legs with a perfectly firm fit. She couldn't sense her wound beneath the thick metal. Had it been healed?

And then she saw him. To her right, similarly imprisoned, Mega Man X's body hung limp in the braces, and his face was sticky with the dried up green substance that had leaked from his eyes and face. It had navigated down his chest and torso, even making some appearance on his legs, and the sight of him stripped of dignity made Raven's eyes shut uncomfortably.

"Finally, you're awake!" came an overenthusiastic voice from across the long distance of the room. Raven's still foggy vision made out the figure of the Turk with spiky red hair that she had seen just before collapsing. He was leaning callously against a cold metal table that, with a pair of matching chairs, seemed to be the only furniture in the room. It was dim and uninviting. Clearly an interrogation room of some kind Raven felt, ignoring the Turk as she looked for evidence of their intentions. There didn't seem to be anything else present. No torture devices, no other people aside from the three of them. Her red haired captor was grinning, and Raven surveyed the over-casual look about him. A white dress shirt hung loosely out the bottom of his suit jacket, and even his eyes, although excited for some twisted reason, had a permanent passivity that was borderline lackluster.

"Hey, don't wanna talk?" he seemed to almost be joking as he pushed himself up with youthful vigor. The dark sorceress watched his hand graze past a short silver rod at his waist that gave off a polished reflection even in the pale light. Probably his weapon of choice.

"Eh, can't say I blame ya. I usually like to have breakfast first before I…"

"What the hell do you want with us?" Raven growled, and the spiky-haired Turk grinned.

"Straight to the point. I like that in a girl," he leered. "And even though I usually go for blondes, I think I could get used to dark blue…"

"How about you shove it?" she snapped back before he could touch her lavender locks, but still the Turk was just as aggravatingly playful.

"You're probably too young for me, anyway," he turned away, slightly disappointed. "What are you, nineteen? Twenty maybe?"

"Eighteen," she answered back, glaring angrily at him.

"Yeah, too young. Gotta be at least twenty-one. Too weird to date someone more than five years younger."

The dark sage scoffed at him in disgust and turned away in silence. In a moment's time, he was right back at her, even closer to her face.

"Come on, I'm just playing," he jested with a sly smile. "Gotta do something to pass the time, y'know. But whatever. I'll let you hang there quietly if you prefer."

Raven watched him walk casually across the room and turn to sit on the table, and he stared off at the dimly lit ceiling with a low sigh. The dark sorceress let the time pass, occasionally taking note of any sort of movement that the Turk seldom took out of the ordinary staring. A placid glance at his watch; a few taps of the foot.

An hour passed. He was quiet, as was she, and X was still unmoving, his blue armor stained with the dry sap of materia. She could feel his thoughts, ever consistent, as faint as they were, and she knew that although his appearance was horrid, he was in no danger. His face was tempting. She wanted to be nearer to him; to touch him and feel what was really going on under there while the metal body recovered, and it would have been easy to phase through the bonds that held her, but Raven was playing at something else that, from the corner of her eye, she realized was now in her court.

She had caught him, the Turk, watching her curiously as she turned back from her long watch over the reploid, and he turned away, gracefully ruffling his hair as if he hadn't done it.

"What's your name?" Raven asked softly.

He glanced sideways at her. "Reno," he answered.

"Reno…" Raven said it back, "you seem like a reasonable enough person. How about telling me what it is you're trying to pass the time until?"

He shoved himself up from his backward lean over the table and tilted his head sharply so it resonated a loud cracking throughout the room. "I'm trying to pass the time before my shift is over or until the boss comes, whichever's first."

"Your boss… you mean Rufus?" Raven said, inflecting her voice tenderly so it sounded curious and harmless.

"That's right," Reno answered back, but then his face inclined with eyebrow arced, and in a way that forced Raven back what little she could. But then her body loosened like every limb had just released a withheld breath when the Turk's probing stare turned into a small, short chuckle.

"I don't think it's right for the prisoner to ask all the questions, but I'm a reasonable guy…" he scratched just under his eye while thinking, "so I tell you what. From now on, every question you get, I get one, too. Deal?"

Raven cautiously danced at the thought that Reno might not be such an indecent wretch as the rest of the Turks, especially that blonde woman… so she decided to nod her head and agree to the game. After all, she would get much more out of a talkative guard than out of an unconscious one or any other manner of silence.

"I'll go first since you've already asked a few, but it's an easy one."

"Alright, shoot," Raven answered.

"What's _your_ name?"

The sorceress was surprised. A very friendly question coming from a captor, she thought, so she told him her name was Raven.

"Raven?" he repeated it the same as how she had handled his. "I like that. Your turn."

"Alright. How about… why are we being held prisoner?" she dove straight to the heart of the situation, and he seemed disappointed.

"Aw, and I thought you wanted to be friends," Reno joked and shrugged. "You're being held here because you're with him," he stated simply, pointing at the pitiable reploid.

Raven's face narrowed angrily, but she held it in, making her rage resemble despair through gritted teeth. "Why? What could he possibly have done to you?" she bared her conflicted expression at Reno whose in turn remained relaxed and steady.

"Ah, ah, ah," He waved a finger. "It was my turn to ask a question."

The dark sage tried to clam down the seething mass of frustration that heated up her chest. "Fine, ask your question," she said.

"I will, thank you," he spun around, ruffling his hair habitually. He hummed, and Raven could sense, despite her anger at this tedious game, that he was trying to think of something clever. She rolled her eyes, swearing to herself that she would rip his tongue out if he asked her on a date of anything of the sort, because interrogation was Robin's strong point, not hers. Still, it was a proud feeling that came from getting information while being the one imprisoned.

The sorceress looked up as the Turk spun back.

"Shoulda asked this a while ago. Why haven't you tried to escape? I know you can."

Her features practically slid into place, narrowing her eyes at the thought that came all too naturally.

"Azarath, Metri-aaaaaaaagh!" she began her chant before feeling as though something was being ripped from her spine. Her arms and legs convulsed in the tight braces as her mouth twisted with bared teeth until the terrible sensation stopped.

She hung against the metal on her torso and arms, trying to breathe, but only the tiniest gasps of hair would come through as blood dripped from her nose and into the hair that lay near her downward face. In a few moments, her lungs were her own again, though the feeling as if she had just had a piece of her life force ripped from her stayed much longer. Raven checked her legs desperately. They felt weak, but to her relief, they moved.

Reno had come very close, and was wearing a shadowy scowl.

"Drain materia, hooked up to machines behind you. Pull too hard, or release any kind of energy and you'll have the strength taken straight out of you from one of the worst places to have it taken."

Raven glowered at him as the warm and bitter taste of her deep maroon came to her.

"So, don't try to escape, or you'll kill yourself," he spoke completely callously. "Now, you want to ask a question?"

"Go to hell," she spat at him, and a bit of her blood landed on his chin.

He stared at the floor with his lips twisted in a 'well, that's nice' sort of fashion before taking out a black handkerchief from his suit and wiping it off. He then returned to the spot he was at before, leaning against the table with a bored expression.

Another while passed by them without word or movement. Raven wondered what time it was. She even worried some for Zelda. The princess probably had no idea what was going, and even thought they didn't get along, Raven didn't want to give her the impression that they had completely forsaken her on this world. At least they all knew the elder, Nanaki, now, the sorceress thought. Perhaps he would be able to do something for Zelda.

A strange, familiar fizzle came from across the room. A materia orb was emerging from the center of Reno's weapon; a green one, to be specific. Then, two more green ones fell from one of his arms, then a purple one… and then one that was red, making Raven release a short gasp.

"What, don't have one of your own?" he asked plainly, as if nothing had happened, and then he began to juggle the five of them around with relative grace, although it wasn't too long before he dropped one of them.

"You… you act like those are toys!" Raven said under furious breath.

He stopped, catching one after another and putting each one back where it belonged, save the red one that he held out to her. "You really have no idea, do you?" he said with excitement brewing in the words. He moved to X's unconscious form. "He's left you completely in the dark, hasn't he?"

Raven stared at the floor and ignored the question.

"You want to know about red materia?" he asked. "You want to _see_ what red materia can do?"

She looked up at him; at that stupid grin that taunted her.

"All you have to do is ask 'Reno, will you please show me the red materia?' and I will.

_Bastard_. She wanted more to rip out his trachea, but the temptation looked her right in the eyes as her reflection cast itself back at her in the dark orb. No… it wasn't her she was seeing, but a similarly dark cloaked figure, if she looked just a certain way. _Damned materia, _she thought. _Why couldn't X have just showed me himself_? She stared at the crippled reploid and wanted to cry and scream at the same time, and yet her body stood still. This great secret that he, the person she was closest to, wouldn't share; a captor was more willing to demonstrate instead. Why? She stared at Mega Man's pitiable figure and back to the materia. The Sage of Darkness found herself barely able to breathe again, but this time because she felt she was about to betray his trust.

"Show me," she finally said, and it felt like her stomach had caved. She couldn't bear to look at Mega Man, feeling betrayed somehow herself

He leered back with that sarcastic grin. Raven bit her lip as she reworded it.

"Reno, will you… _please_… show me the red materia."

His response was a bow that was over-enthusiastic as he began to hold the red materia tightly. His playful attitude vanished. It began to glow fiercely, and Raven could already sense the power emanating from the small red orb that he held up. The plainness of the metallic gray room came alive with the screaming tint of wild reds and whites coming from Reno's arms, legs, face, and every other part of his body. The table began to rattle and shake across the room. Raven squinted through the eye-tearing gusts. With his face clenched tight through the winds that he created, the Turk's eyes shot out white light, and he spoke.

"Flaring face of enmity with shroud of shadows; schemer in the midst, hear my call! I summon from the depths of twilight the harbored dark flame. Come, Axel the Conspirator!"

A shower of dark rays ripped a portal open between them, and searing hot flames shot out as a figure as black as night came forth. Raven's heart beat fast because it was approaching her menacingly with two large burning discs swirling about his wrists that spun like saw blades of their own free will. A pair of white orbs appeared near the top of this humanoid mass of shadows, and they pointed straight at the manacled sage whose brow was burning under the heat.

"Whoa, Axel, stop!" came a screeching beyond the crack of flames. In an instant, the intense rage ceased, and the spinning discs around his wrists came to a halt, stopping the fire and revealing patterns much like flames themselves.

Raven's hair fluttered down at ease to her side, and her pounding chest slowly did as well. Without the spectacle of wild pyrotechnics, the thing before her looked much less like a thing and far more like something humanoid after all. The creature from the red materia dressed from head to toe in firm fitting black gear reminded her of stories from her youth and more exaggerated ones from Beast Boy about reapers and soul stealers and other tales that she had normally considered nonsense. Ironic that, across cultures, things in hooded black cloaks always seemed to symbols of death. Considering the display of power it just released, they may have been tales more accurate than what Raven was willing to give them credit for. It waved its hands, and the discs vanished into a puff of quickly disintegrating black smoke. Walking closer to her, she realized that the being from the red materia stood easily a foot taller than she did, and she could see from her lower vantage point that there was a pointed nose, a youthful grin, and presumably eyes underneath its veil.

Its gloved hands reached delicately for the hood and pulled it backward, showing a man with remarkably strong features and a spiked mane of red hair almost identical to Reno's, but an inch or so longer and definitely wilder looking. The sunken but bright green eyes that nearly matched X's were the first thing she noticed after the hair, followed by a rigid face with sharp cheekbones and a pointed chin. He was young in appearance but with pale skin and a weather-worn gaze that suggested to Raven that he had seen a long life of fighting.

"So what am I doing here, then?" he turned behind him to where Reno stood.

It was strange to look at them both. They could have been brothers.

"The lady's never seen an aeon before. She doesn't know anything about materia. Thought you could shed some light on the situation," Reno explained, and Axel shrugged.

"Alright then," he said, turning away from his summoner an instead toward the imprisoned girl. "Ask away."

Raven felt surprised. It wasn't at all what she expected.

"I don't mean to be impatient," Axel tapped his foot, "but Reno can't hold me together forever. It drains his strength to call me, you know."

"Oh, uh… well… you're just… I guess I was expecting something else?"

Axel grinned as Reno simultaneously did. "I _am_ a little out of the ordinary as we aeons come." Axel spoke highly of himself, examining his gloves as his eyes arrogantly ignored her.

"I guess I've got… quite a lot of questions for you," Raven stumbled over the words, trying not to forget that Axel came out of the red materia that Reno used. She tried not to think of him as human for the time being even though he looked the part. "The first is… what exactly _are_ you?"

Axel stared the young sorceress in the eye then nodded, accepting the ignorance of the question like a teacher to a pupil. Staring down, he hummed in thought as if he didn't know the answer himself. Axel paced for a moment more and ruffled his wild red hair uncannily the same way and almost the same time as Reno did.

"That… is hard to explain," he hesitated. "We're real… but we're not real."

Raven impulsively wanted to encourage him to try with a gesture of her arms, but even through the impressive shackles that bound her, he got the point.

"Think of us… as reflections of beings who once were."

The sorceress raised her eyebrow at that. "So you're saying that someone who looked exactly like you and all the other materia creatures… once lived?"

He nodded. "That's right. Some of us look human and can talk like you do, but most are mythical and incredible life forms a lot more impressive looking than I am, although perhaps not as handsome."

He smiled. Reno smiled. Raven didn't.

"Many of us died a long, long time ago. Others were relatively recent, like myself."

"So you used to live here on Gaia?" Raven deduced, but a swift shake of Axel's head and hands denied that notion.

"It doesn't really work like that. We come from distant places and sometimes planes of existence that you wouldn't even understand. I actually… don't even know exactly why it is we can be summoned in the first place through materia, and the older ones don't know much either."

"The older ones?" Raven questioned more curiously. "You mean you're not alone inside the materia?"

Axel snorted with sizeable frustration on his voice. "Like I said, we're just likenesses through red materia. I don't know how or where, but even though I'm standing here before you, I exist fully and completely somewhere else in some realm unlike this one along with a lot of other… well… people."

Raven's face showed that she was clearly trying to grasp his existence, and Axel screwed up his lips when it was obvious that it wasn't going through. "Think about it like this," he said more coolly. "When you drop something on this planet, it falls. When something vibrates, you can hear it." He produced a torch-like glow from one finger. "If fire touches you, it burns. But in the place where we all exist, those kinds of rules don't apply."

The dark sorceress was still left with only fragments of information that discontented her intellectual nature. "That still doesn't explain the materia itself," she pointed out, much to the Turk's and Axel's dissatisfaction.

"Is there something that you and the other summoned beings have in common?"

Axel grinned madly as he rested the back of his heads on his interlocked hands, pacing back and forth in front of her again. "I guess the fact that we were some of the most accomplished fighters of our worlds and times." He turned his placid expression her way. "On that note, that's why I was about to attack. It's usually what we get summoned for in the first place. So that's what we have in common. We all were warriors of some kind, and I we all had our fair shares of power, wisdom, and…"

"Courage!" she shouted, and Axel jumped back at the sudden surge in her vitality.

"That's… what I was going to say," Axel stared with intrigue. "How did you know?"

"I've heard those words before," she answered, and turned her head toward her chained hand. With a sharp twist of her shoulder, the back of it faced the aeon Axel as the symbol began to glow through Raven's will. The triangles three glowed golden even through the covering over her hand, and the red-haired, dark suited pair watched the light pierce trough the cloth and linger in its luminescence. The triangles reflected off of the aeon's eyes, and his mouth hung open like a child drooling at candy would.

"You recognize it?" she asked.

His head made the hesitant shakes of someone stuck somewhere between uncertainty and its opposite. "I don't think so, but it seems so… familiar."

The last word leaked out awkwardly, and likewise was Raven's expression when Axel's shape literally formed a silver lining from head to toe. She noticed sweat start to form on Reno's forehead.

"He can't hold me together much longer," Axel said. "I'm not sure what that symbol is, but I feel like it's important. Find the connection between that and us, Raven. Find the middle ground."

"Wait, please, I have one more question," she shouted as Axel's image began to fade. "Why would someone want to hide the secrets of red materia from me?"

He aimed a pointed arm at Mega Man X's limp body, sticky with materia sap. "To save you from the same fate," he said simply, and the metallic silver shape dissolved like fog blown away by gusts of wind. Raven was left watching X even though he still didn't move, and Reno dropped to the ground, wiping off the sweat and strain that composing his aeon had taken from him.

One of the sections of the wall that was just as nondistinct as the others suddenly opened up, and the blonde female Turk entered wearing furious looks. "What the hell have you been doing?" she scolded Reno, who ignored the motherly comments just as an arrogant mother's child would.

"Trying to alleviate a few ounces of boredom," he flicked his hair and turned up his lip at her. He casually left through the same passage with a backwards wave at Raven that the female Turk scoffed at contemptuously. As she faced the dark sorceress with anger unbefitting of her fair features, Raven made sure that her glare was equally dark, but the staring match ended abruptly with a forfeit on the Turk's part. Befuddled, Raven continued the hateful stare up until the blonde woman moved to Mega Man X and pulled out a white handkerchief along with a strange looking, metallic gray, oval shaped device from her pocket that she aimed directly at the reploid's head.

"What are you doing?" Raven snarled in his defense, and she tugged hard at the restraints.

The woman merely looked at her for a brief moment then sprayed something at Mega Man from the device, which irked Raven madly until a surge of pain ripped through her spine again. She hadn't realized that her anger had gotten the better of her and her powers inadvertently set off the materia, sucking the very life from her limbs as she stood manacled and unable to even brace herself from the searing fire that spread out like tree roots from her back, around to her ribs until her entire torso felt like it was being sliced from the inside out. After a longer period of torture than the last, it ceased, and Raven's nose dripped blood heavier than the previous time. Breathing didn't come easily, and she found herself coughing up the blood that she couldn't avoid sucking down her nasal passages and into her throat.

A mass of white entered the blurred span of her vision, and it felt soft once she realized it was against her face. It was the white handkerchief held by the female Turk. But, why try to sop up Raven's blood? Why did she care?

A minute or so passed, and the handkerchief was lifted from her face. Raven watched with confusion, the woman returning to X's face with the cloth and the oval device that she realized was spraying liquid on him. Raven felt an awkward mix of relief and jealousy when she understood that the Turk wasn't doing anything to harm him. She was actually tending to the unbecoming gummy mess covering Mega Man's face and armor. Raven's face flushed warm in subtle discomfiture, and she stared at the floor.

"Thank you," she whispered. The blonde Turk said nothing. Although humiliation was setting in deeper to her sullen face, the Sage of Darkness still watched from the corner of her eye. She took note of the several miniscule but not insignificant pauses that the woman took while cleaning the sap from X's armor. During each one, the woman looked at his face with conflicting duty and sorrow, as if she were imprisoning a friend. Raven searched deep within the second bank of memories that were stored within her, and it didn't take long to find fleeting images of this woman in X's memories, though without a name.

"You… you know him," she finally managed to say without making contact with her eyes.

The woman froze for a moment. "Yes," she responded then resumed her focus on X. The voice that Raven heard from her told her much about her captor. Behind the majority of it was sophistication, a strong education, and a tender upbringing, but at the forefront of her tones was something more recent, and exceptionally painful. She had been through something terrible in the past few years of X's absence. Raven wondered if it might have had something to do with him, the way she kept staring at his motionless face.

"How…"

"He saved my life once," she stated definitively with a sideways leer and viciousness in her deep azure pupils. "Even if he is a threat to this world, I at least owe him some dignity."

A startling sound from Mega Man's lips startled a quick gasp of air into them both, and Raven's heart leapt, but it tripped and fell at the quick remembrance of his desires to keep her from knowing about red materia. Still, even despite the respect she had for his choices, she didn't understand why she had been kept in the dark. Axel did seem like he could be deadly if he chose to be, but he as an aeon of the materia was informative, deferential, and even… well, somewhat nice. Distracted by worries, Raven nearly missed X opening his eyes to the sight of the female Turk. She clenched her fists. She wanted it to have been her face.

Mega Man opened eyes that, although slightly crusted with dried liquid, were their normal shade of bright green, and the surrounding whites of his eyes were almost clear of the lime veins that had before covered his whites completely. He coughed weakly.

"E-Elena?" he said, squinting unpleasantly at the blonde haired woman.

"Are you alright?" Elena asked him.

A question he didn't yet know the answer to. His vision was still a bit foggy, and his machine joints creaked on the inside in a tiring way that only another reploid could understand even though the straining sensation wasn't dissimilar to a human's fatigue. He tried to stand tall in his imprisonment, and the metal braces that were slightly larger than Raven's to accompany the difference in size moved part way as he straightened himself. A quick nod he gave to Elena the Turk before turning to Raven and giving a much more affectionate gesture of his head and a grin so light that she alone could see it.

"What does Rufus want with us?" he said to Elena with his voice still weak but with courage growing by the second.

A mild chuckled and a shake of her head. "You don't waste a second, do you?"

"No."

"Well then," said Elena, "he wants to make sure you two don't cause any destruction. That's all."

It was then X who chuckled, and much louder despite just waking from a comatose state. "You're telling me that Rufus Shinra wants to stop _us_ from destroying things? Ha! Last time I checked, it was Rufus who was causing destruction."

Elena's eyes widened. "Oh really? Let's see," she paced around him. "As I recall, it was Rufus's father who destroyed the sector 7 slums at Midgar, Rufus's father who supported and funded the Jenova project, Rufus's father who replaced all the denizens of Nibelheim with Shinra employees _after_ Sephiroth burnt it down, and Sephiroth who, well, tried to destroy everything.

"As a matter of fact," she continued, once again her fair and delicate features not matching the ferocity of her tone as Raven and a slightly embarrassed Mega Man listened, "I believe the only things that Rufus violently destroyed were the Sapphire Weapon, the Diamond Weapon, and the barrier around North Cave so that Sephiroth could be taken care of. And lastly, there was of course the _attempt_ on destroying the Meteor, but that wasn't so successful after Cloud Strife and his friends confiscated the huge materia from the reactors which were property of Shinra anyway."

"Those reactors destroyed people's lives, and were sucking the life from the plan-"

"His father," she said quickly, ending the argument. "You can't blame Rufus for his inheritance."

An awkward silence. The blue armored reploid, now almost clean of the sap that Elena had cleaned off, found her opinion offensive and gritted his teeth but remained immobile otherwise.

Elena's handkerchief slid discretely underneath the lapel of her suit. Unlike Reno, she was better kempt, and didn't have the white dress shirt sticking out the bottom. Hers was more of a tank top, and it was pure black with a very thin lace around the collar which showed strong collarbones. Mega Man X's eyes were drawn elsewhere, though, when his photographic memory noticed a change in the past five years that didn't fit. His face betrayed the notion that he was almost positive was true, and he knew it when Elena stared back at him, wondering if he indeed stared at the place that she suspected.

"You're pregnant."

Both looks went wide to X.

"You've changed a lot in five years, Elena. Changes happen to the humanoid body all the time. But larger breasts when you're the same size everywhere else don't."

Raven's gaze sizzled briefly, and the image of backhanding him played out in her mind, but the impulsive instinct dropped from her thoughts with Elena's twitching eye and sharpening stance taking the forefront of her visual range. She appeared ashamed somehow of being discovered.

"Is it Tseng?" Mega Man probed softly.

She nodded.

"You're afraid?"

She nodded again.

"Of what? I know that fall didn't kill him…"

She didn't answer, but X knew that Tseng had not died. He and the other Turks were far too resourceful and uncannily durable to be beaten by gravity. Her fear was something more personal, unselfish and deep.

"I… can't raise a child," she muttered. "Neither can Tseng. I just went on defending Rufus, but neither he nor the Turks have that kind of honor. A few years ago, I… _silenced_… a man… with my bare hands. The Turks have all killed before, but that was the first time… I was so _close_ to him, and watched his eyes as he…"

She trailed off, looked at X who was listening intently, and then down at her feet.

"We 'silence' those who threaten to destroy the lifestyle created by Rufus. We couldn't care less about the people who raise their voices against Shinra, but those who actually want to take action; to kill _us_… well… you wouldn't just stand by and let yourself die, would you?"

X continued to listen as she paced, not daring to look either one in the eye.

"I tell myself that, anyway. But I still feel like I have innocent blood covering my hands. No, I'm up to my arms in it now. Tseng is even deeper. I don't know how he deals with it."

The metal brace clamping X to the wall expanded slightly as he took a breath. "Quit."

She went wide eyed; hopeful at the thought, but her face sank with a shake of her head and a passive grin. "I can't. You'd be surprised how many happy people there are living in Midgar now. Rufus found alternative power sources. He's slowly having everything rebuilt, bit by bit. People have homes, clean water, food, and jobs. I can't betray Rufus or Tseng, even if it means killing extremists in their name."

She approached Mega Man, who looked whole once again, rid of the weakening and pain of his cancer for the time being.

"Rufus hasn't changed much, but he's learned not to trifle with things out of his control. He still wants power, but if he's protecting people while he does it, then it can't possibly matter. Let him have his power. The people are happier."

"What about us?" Raven asked, and the stern expression that Mega Man gave to Elena asked the same question.

Her face adopted the neutral stare that she had held when she entered. It was cold and uninviting, and furthermore a disappointment to Mega Man. He admired the frail honesty, however brief it was. He was glad that he had saved her all those years ago despite the fact that she and X were mutual enemies. The compassionate truth was easing on a sore body and mind, and better yet, it might be useful in escaping the predicament that he and Raven were so tightly held in.

_Damn it_. He worried for Zelda. Even though she was most likely better off than they were, she wouldn't be able to make it in this world on her own, and the quest for the Sages was at a staggering halt with imprisonment and separation between the three of them. Worse yet, there was no way of knowing how long they had been out unless Raven had already managed to pry that knowledge from Elena, or whomever else had been there during his sleep. The materia tingled gently as it so seldom did when it was within X's body. He considered using it, but only for a fraction of a second, interrupted by the metal wall opening up and a thin white leather suited man with short blonde hair and the superior walk of someone who _was_ superior followed by both Reno and Rude. Mega Man would have noticed that Rude appeared healed completely unharmed if it weren't for the glaringly heated scowl coming from the white suit.

"Rufus Shinra," X narrowed the expression on his face. "You don't look as strong as last time we met. Then again, supposedly being dead can do that to a…"

His mouth froze as double barrels looked him in the eyes. Though Rufus Shinra was barely taller than Raven and not particularly muscular in any way, an almost inhuman series of reflexes pulled out the lightweight, silver-steel weapon and aimed it steadily at the reploid. X didn't relish the idea of the gun going off in his face. His durable skin was laced with titanium and almost bullet proof, but with that caliber and range, the amount of damage would be undeniably more than superficial.

Raven had barely managed to restrain herself enough to keep the materia from torturing her again. Her heart raced and her hands found themselves in a claw like shape, wanting desperately to dismantle the weapon just as she had done with Tseng's, but instead she was cruelly forced to watch incapacitated as X faced death without her. She looked to Reno and Elena, but with Rufus present they were utterly obedient. Mega Man swallowed hard.

"I. Want. Answers," each word was separated out as if every one demanded its own sentence. "And I want them now."

His eyes flared. Raven saw it for only a moment, the perfect resemblance between his eyes and X's. It had to be more than a coincidence. And then the barrels met the deep blues of her eyes instead. Her chest and belly trembled, and in a fraction of a second she heard the screams of agony from Mega Man. The materia ripped the energy from his spine like splinter fragments of metal being sucked out from underneath flesh by some horrific magnet. The one salvation of the pain was that it lasted a very short time. A sizzle of metal jettisoned a small trail of smoke that lasted only for a second. Minor, he thought. It would heal in less than a day, but if Rufus pulled the trigger on Raven, no amount of healing would put a shattered skull back in place.

"Ask then," the reploid told him, and the gun dropped to his and Raven's heavy relief.

The weapon concealed itself surprisingly well underneath the multilayered suit jacket that Rufus wore, and despite the lengthiness of it that could normally be mocked as a skirt, intimidation was all that his attire exuded. X wasn't prepared to lie about anything, not that he would necessarily need to, but a question that he knew no answer to was not something he expected.

"Explain to me," Rufus began with almighty superiority in his voice, "what two descendants of Jenova from another world would be doing on this planet other than causing destruction?"

X wasn't truly sure of what he was hearing. They had accused him once before of being connected to Jenova, which was a complete impossibility since he was created by the hands of other people, but Raven? How could they accuse Raven of such an undeniably false trait? She looked to him for resolution, but he shook his head in bewilderment.

"Don't play coy with me, Cetra filth." He moved directly into X's face, uncaring of any saliva that flew at the reploid. "It's because of _your_ race that I spent six months in a coma, another six months in intensive care, and another two years after that recuperating until I could go without relying on that damn wheelchair!" His hands grasped X's face. "Tell me what you're doing here, now!"

"I don't even know what you're talking about. I'm a machine! A machine!" he bellowed into Rufus's green eyed glower. "I have nothing to do with Jenova or the Cetra!"

Rufus backed off, and composure came back to him as fast as his reflexes could. He snorted a dark and learned laugh, the kind of short chuckle you would expect from a theatrical villain, and yet it didn't feel so entertaining in person when one is chained to a wall.

"I'll have you know," Rufus smiled with a downward lilt in his voice and volume, "that I tested her blood, and whatever the Hell it is you've got in you, and I compared it to the Jenova samples taken back when my father supported that stupid project of his. As a matter of fact, I even had the late Aeris Gainsborough's DNA for a second comparison, and it has been told to me that the genetic proof is irrefutable. As different as you may be to the rest of the inhabitants of this world," he focused his attention particularly on Mega Man X, "you both contain the genetic sequences characteristic of the Jenova creature and her descendants; the people we know as the Ancients or Cetra. You, Mega Man X and Raven, are the same race."


	33. Bloodlust

**Chapter 33 – Bloodlust**

They explained everything, save for the Triforce and the sages, and to some slight degree, maybe with a little influence from Reno and Elena, Rufus seemed to buy the fact that they knew nothing about being the same race, and that they weren't here to destroy. Still, he would take no chances. The devices holding Raven and X powerless happened to detach directly from the wall conveniently for the Turks, and miserably for the two captives within them as their hands were clasped behind their backs and their legs struggled to take steps. Mega Man discovered upon leaving that they were in the port city of Junon, almost on the opposite side of their planet, which made him worry even more for Zelda's safety as well as the Dreamweaver's. It would be a giant bull's-eye in three days.

He and Raven had barely said anything to each other as they were being transported by sonic airship to some unknown location, still trapped with the drain materia ready to go off at the slightest provocation. Between the bleakness of the situation and the absolute confusion of how a reploid and a half demon girl could be the same race, they had no idea what to say to each other.

"I… I've seen what red materia can do," she admitted through the gentle sound of a mighty engine after too long a period in relative silence. "Reno had one. He showed me."

"Oh," he answered plainly.

"I don't understand why you kept it from me," she added after a pause, as if to give X room to say something else. To scold her perhaps, but his response was unpleasantly mild as they watched the nameless continents and islands fly by beneath through a small, dirty window.

X didn't consider answering. He was too busy wondering about the status of this world and all that had and hadn't changed in five years of complete absence. Even though Elena made Rufus out to be much less of a monster than he was, Mega Man wasn't fooled. The cold blooded way he threatened their lives and the fury in his face when he ranted about his crippled state… he should have been dead, X thought.

He wasn't necessarily in charge, X wondered further. Perhaps pulling the strings from behind the lines somewhere, because last he knew, the people didn't find Rufus all that favorable. With those people who stopped Sephiroth and the meteor under the public's attention right after the whole disaster ended, they probably made it clear to the ever believing masses that Rufus and the entire Shinra Company was not to be trusted, but regardless of what the situation was, the young Shinra now had power again. He knew there was a high price for piece, but for Elena and the other Turks to have to 'silence' people on a regular basis? He wasn't willing to pay that price, and he knew that she didn't want to with a child on the way.

Raven was sitting in silence. Ponderings couldn't keep him from comforting her any longer, even with a displeasing answer.

"I didn't want you to know about the red materia for the same reason I didn't want Signas to know about it and the other dangerous items I carry aboard the Dreamweaver. The more people who know about it, the more danger it will bring. I've seen it time and again. Even though the red materia is harmless or even protective and useful in hands like yours, as soon as someone with the will to use it for carnage finds out, everyone who knew about it is threatened, and if they succeed in obtaining it even more people could die. Tangible weapons like red materia or the Lotus blade aren't worth the risk." His head bowed solemnly. "On my planet, you've seen it in one of the worst ways. We become the weapons of destruction against each other. There's already enough death for all us reploids, all because we exist. What would happen if I introduced red materia into the mix? I would slaughter Mavericks even faster, and if they got their hands on it instead, the Maverick Hunters would be forced to develop new and more terrible weapons of their own to defend themselves. All it brings is more death, and it's not worth it on either side."

"X, I saw the red materia. It really didn't seem that…"

"Axel the Conspirator, right?" he snapped the question at her, and she nodded. "I heard almost everything. I couldn't see or move, but I was awake during all of that between you and Reno. I could _feel_ Axel's power, Raven, and so could you. It was so overwhelming that you could barely react as he was about to kill you without a thought. He may appear human, but like any of the aeons, his looks don't do his abilities justice."

"I understand," she stared out to the clouds. "What about Rufus?"

X frowned quizzically. "What about him?"

She raised an eyebrow at him then sighed. "His eyes. They were identical to yours. I know it's not just chance. Almost no one has eyes like that, and I even saw them get brighter when he was yelling at you. Yours do that, too."

The reploid's face took only seconds to have it laced with frailty. Strange. Expecting to cry but to let out a chuckle instead was awkward. Mega Man X wanted lastly to converse about that; about his eyes. He knew that she had seen in his mind before, and she already knew that they were once a dull, deep, and ultimately uninteresting shade of brown, not the shining, opaque emeralds that they had become. And they had indeed _become_ green, much to the reploid's surprise the exact same way that Rufus's had changed from some unknown hue and intensity.

"It was materia," he admitted, guiltily. "I relied on it too much, used it too much, and it changed me. I had studied up on materia before I used it, assessed the affects, and then determined that the same things that happen to the people on this world couldn't possibly happen to me, but I was completely wrong. The first characteristic after long exposure to active materia and Mako is a slight boost in general ability. The difference is small, but when you're just a little faster, a little stronger, and have a little more wind than your opponent, you'd be surprised the difference in the number of people you can fight off."

X looked at her grimly. "Next comes the eyes," he said. "No matter what your natural color, they start to turn pale and bright green, just like mine and Rufus's. Members of Soldier, the elite military force once commanded by Shinra, were all treated with high levels of Mako, and naturally all had the same eye color. Sephiroth was a member of Soldier."

"So his eyes…?" Raven asked tenderly.

X wanted nothing in common with that monster. He couldn't help but think of Alia, and the dying expression on her face that turned from terrorizing Maverick to fading sadness and regret. Such a terrible parallel came to his thoughts, and it disgusted him to no end. He had witnessed it himself five years ago; a horrible murder done by one infused with Mako like he had become, but he didn't dare get involved in the fight back then. It was Sephiroth, the grim reaper of this planet, silver-haired, green-eyed, and full of dark intent. He witnessed as Aeris Gainsborough, a young woman who was apparently the same race as he and Raven, was pierced through the heart by Sephiroth's blade several years back. Even if he did help, there was no way she could have made it. X's medical skills didn't involve heart transplants, and even the curative ability of his materia could not fix such a deadly wound. And yet he did the same thing to Alia. He slashed through her chest out of angry rage, summoning the Master Sword subconsciously as he had wanted to do deep within himself as the Maverick Hunter that he no longer was. And now she was dead, just like Aeris.

"X, I feel your pain every time you think about that," Raven whispered with tears welling up. "It wasn't your fault. You didn't know any other way to save her."

"I could have at least tried!" he wailed. "If I hadn't had this stupid curse of materia…"

"You might very well have done the exact same thing," she consoled him and leaned against the warmth of his arm while bound in her mobile chains.

His hands wanted to cup together impossibly with his bindings, so Mega Man settled for knees pressed against his chest. "There's something else I have to tell you. It's about the materia… and what's going to happen to me… in a couple of years…" the words left him with almost no sounds but gasps of sad air.

"I already know," Raven's lip trembled, and she leaned hard into him as she began to cry.

The rest of the trip was left in silence as sobs and tears were shared.

It felt like days, but it was only nearing nightfall when land began to grow larger, and the movement of swaying trees would have been distinguishable had most of them not been layered with puffy snow. There was no storm, but deep blue-gray clouds around them were ready to change that at a moment's notice as they had already shown the rest of the landscape and anyone daring enough to live in such a repugnant climate.

A darkened cliffside free of the snow was not far from the back window once they had landed and the engines settled peacefully in a place that was to anything else beyond any realm of tranquil. They were shortly shuffled out, X by Elena and Raven by Reno followed by Rude and Rufus to see a number of small plateaus stretching all around them that appeared to have nothing in between them save for a pale green mist that gently moved with warmed gusts that came from somewhere not visible in the depths of the planet. Thunder's crack sounded but jumped none of them, and yet nervousness trickled its way on to the faces of the three Turks, the two hostages, and Rufus Shinra.

"Where are we?" Raven posed as they were directed slowly down a descending path of dark, rocky uprisings that only led to what her perceptions told her was a collapsed canyon in the distance. Rufus and Rude took the lead while the other two Turks moved along their prisoners.

"North Cave," X answered quickly. He clicked his head to the side gently, and as his pupils began to contract, the images before him bled out their colors and became completely void. The only shapes that remained were blobs of gray representing each person. Ignoring them, X saw tiny streams of some strange, flighty substance show all around them, and he clicked his head again to change back to his normal vision the moment he saw a larger one. Briefly, the strand of energy was visible in normal sight as a pale, but intense green. Raven saw it as well and didn't know why it worried her.

"It's active," the reploid went on. "Why is North Cave's materia flow active?"

Rufus walked ahead, answering without looking back at him. "Because there's someone here causing it, and whatever it is, it wants you," he implied Mega Man, who felt peculiarly ill at ease suddenly. He could think of few who had the power to surge power into the Lifestream and cause the chaotic imbalance of weather that they continued to approach from each black, stony column to the next. There were also very few who would be requesting him on Gaia whether it was one of the small collection of people he knew on this planet or one from another planet or his home world. There was not, frighteningly, a single person that X could think of who belonged to both.

The weather grew more intense. Heat spewed up from caverns beneath became visible as it scattered dust and earth debris, and the gusts of wind were increasing in strength and becoming more erratic. Lightning struck hard not thirty meters from them, and one of the thinner towers of rock was struck and somehow exploded with a deafening snap. Flying rubble went mostly downward, as did a towering chunk of rock that could have sent them to their deaths had they been standing on it. Unable to react in any other way, Rufus led the group on.

The number of available paths across the plateaus began to grow fewer, and X realized after a careful observation of the low sky why they had not taken the airship in further to save them from the tedious trip. The green energy streams had grown more common as well, and they were even visible high above their heads, whipping about violently out of reach at the dark clouds. The weather at proper flying altitude would've taken down their ship had they traveled much further with it. Now thankful to be walking instead, Mega Man brought his attention back to Rufus.

"If you don't know who they are, how do you know they're searching for me?" questioned X, and at that Rufus stopped abruptly, frozen entirely in position with only the wind shuffling his leather trench as his body tensed in rigidity.

"You are… familiar with Icicle Village not far south from here, aren't you?"

"Yes, I know of it," he answered.

"Plans were being made there for my Zanarkand project; a sort of Neo-Midgar and a marvelous city the likes of which have never been seen before on this world. I had intended Zanarkand to be a push toward a new age, and now I feel unsettled in building anything at all there.

X waited silently for the rest of explanation, and Rufus turned toward him with deep shade underneath his gaze.

"It's gone."

X felt a painful sting in his chest, and Raven felt it from him the moment after.

"Normally you can't see it from airship unless you're fairly close, but I saw it before the pilot did. The snow was red all around the village."

Rufus turned to them with pain in his eyes for the horrible massacre he was beginning to describe.

"Over four hundred people. All dead. We couldn't confirm that there weren't any survivors, but we gave up after the entire rescue team had thrown up from the sight of all the… the _pieces_ that were everywhere. Some where ripped to shreds so badly that they weren't recognizable anymore, but it was the ones that were still somewhat together that caught our attention even more."

Raven felt the images pouring out of Rufus's mind powerfully enough that she could see them without even invoking a fleeting use of her telepathy, and she couldn't block them for fear of her powers setting of the spine tearing feeling from the materia encased in steel behind her back. It was so bloody, the images that came to her that she knew were being passed on to X as well.

Rufus's voice had become a pained and intense whisper. "The bodies that still had their torsos intact had letters incinerated deep into their chests or backs. Some were decapitated or missing limbs, and yet whatever did this was scrupulous enough to take several dozen of the bodies, line them up and spell things like 'I WANT X', or 'DIE X'."

Perhaps it was simply Rufus or maybe the materia he had used for so long, but whatever the case, Raven couldn't take the images that spread out across the short distance between them. Limbs and strips of flesh being hurled across the snow plains and blood splattering by the pint bombarded her like a barrage of needles. She threw up.

Mega Man tried to help pointlessly with his arms fastened behind his back as he fought similar pains in his body from the gruesome images of death that plagued their minds. The Turks paid little heed and let the dark sorceress vomit while X nudged against her, sharing the pain.

"Most of the village was reduced to ashes by high power energy weapons of a type that doesn't exist on the planet. So…"

"Sigma."

"Hmm?" Elena acknowledged X's whisper.

"Sigma is the only one I know capable of something like that," he growled, still pressed against Raven who was spitting out the last of the horrible taste of salty stomach acid and bile. "Even regular Mavericks probably couldn't survive against that many people on this planet."

"Mavericks?" Rufus asked.

That opened up a long explanation. They held their position for the briefest elucidation that X could manage regarding the Maverick menace that he had recently been relieved of fighting, as well as how Sigma led the Mavericks and wouldn't blink at slaughtering innocent hundreds, thousands, or more. Still, the twisted way that the bodies were described by Rufus made X suspect otherwise, and he told them all that Sigma was too calculated for the insanity and bloodlust of a massacre.

"There's nobody else?" Reno said, actually garnering a passive grin on his face.

X shook his head, and the red-haired Turk reached down to his waist at the thick metal rod that he kept close to him at all times. He pulled it away from its resting place and flicked his wrist, extending the short rod into a body length staff with pointed, electrified tips. A quick twist and the lightning baton's tips spiraled into double sided arcing blades.

Rude and Elena cracked their knuckles audibly over the rising winds. The cocking of Rufus's shotgun was the final sound heard before moving on through North Cave's roused wasteland.

The air laced with dancing jade streaks of Lifestream's uproar grew heavy on their chests as they approached a thinning in the clouds up above, where the lightning strikes strayed away from and the wind lessened to a gentle fall breeze, and yet the sleek trails of shining green still were flowing strong independent of the gusts. A steep trail of rocky platforms led them downward. No creature was present to the group's eyes, but the unnerving feeling that they were being watched at all angles spread like a plague or some terribly contagious disease that ravaged their emotions as well as their bodies. Raven took the worst of it having been ill only a few moments earlier, and as they arrived at a much deeper cavity in the blackened stone, she swore that a crowd of messy whispers was gnawing at her brain. The sorceress quickly dulled her senses.

With weapons drawn, the Turks came to a steep edge and the sight of a titanic circular depth so ancient that the Lifestream had been repairing the grotesque wound for centuries. Long ago, someone or something had ripped through the Earth, drawing the planet's energy there, ripe for the taking if a person had the ability to manipulate and absorb it. It made X shudder to imagine what horrible thing was waiting intently for his arrival fed with boundless amounts of power beneath the planet's crust. He still had not come up with a logical conjecture as to who it could be, but he feared that Sigma had somehow followed the Dreamweaver, or that possibly this place, the site of much calamity in Gaia's past, had somehow found a way to resurrect the dreaded Jenova being, or worse, Sephiroth himself. It made some sense, Mega Man thought, for it to be one of the latter two. If indeed he and Raven were somehow related to the Cetra as Rufus so assuredly pressed on them, then that would imply that Sephiroth and Jenova could be some sort of distant, albeit much unwanted, kin to both of them.

"We're here," Rufus stated, staring at the sudden drop that stretched down a perfect vertical and into a bright green abyss at the bottom. It was not especially wide, but stones jutted out like a giant's steps into a spiral that went many meters beneath them. Rufus then confronted X and Raven. "Release them," he breathed reluctantly.

Rude pulled a tiny remote out of his jacket pocket and pressed one of the two buttons on it, and the restraints contracted as if they had eyes to poke and someone was repeatedly prodding them, encasing the materia behind their backs within the safety of a thick steel casing to prevent potential escapees from using it. A remarkable function, X noted, but the disconcerting notion that they were about to take the lead made the fascination short-lived.

"The two of you are heading in first. After all, it wants you, not us."

"Good point," X said with no effort to make defense. He and Raven rubbed sore wrists and sides, happy to be free of the extra bulk. They nodded to each other, briefly gazed at the Turks who were all gazing back, and leapt down onto the first protrusion of dark stone amidst the bathing flow of Mako; the essence of the Lifestream.

X had heard stories of this cave being filled with the most dreaded fiends five years ago. Whatever was there to greet them had apparently scared them off or shown them their inferiority. The thoughts came back to him of hundreds of murdered, dismembered innocents minding their daily business when whatever monster it was swept across them faster than nuclear warfare by itself. No, not even Sigma, he thought.

The Turks did keep their word and stayed only a short distance behind them. Raven thought she would need to help them, but they could cross a ten meter gap between the descending stones as easily as she could hover over to it. Patterns of luminescent green matching X's and Rufus's tainted eyes scattered across the stones in remarkable detail the closer they got to the bottom, and yet they could still not see exactly lay beneath. Ignoring long since forgotten and abandoned sub-caves at their sides, they opted for the direct route, aiming for a platform slowly becoming more visible that puzzled them all with its apparent ability to hover in midair like a child's faulty concept of what an island is.

X set foot on it with a gentle clang, most of the impact painlessly absorbed into the mechanical workings of his legs. The platform shifted, but only slightly, and it returned to its position. Mega Man could not believe the view. The cave was no longer a cave, but an ocean of swirling life scattered with strange landforms in the distance that made no sense to him. Dark rock was now nothing but ceiling as they leapt to the platform one by one, all astonished in the same way by the endless streaks of neon all around them.

Suddenly, after all were on board, it looked as if the cave they came from was vanishing, disappearing far out of reach above, contradicting the senses in X's body that told him they were not moving at all. Soon, the world above was gone, and the shining green had somehow altered in a way that made it more passive on the eyes. The stone they were on, the last piece of North Cave as they knew it, was moving through the new world, and yet not moving at the same time as a ship would through passive waters.

The sound of the place was something like listening to the hum of the Dreamweaver's engines, the reploid thought, yet it bustled with something busy; a thing so urgent that no spot in the distance could shut up long enough to be clear.

A sharp twinge brought his face to Raven's uncomforted poise. The Turks took equal notice.

"What is it, Rae?" he cupped his arm around her shoulders.

"Not sure," she answered, rubbing her temple. "I… think I hear voices. I can't seem to block them out anymore."

"Of course," Rufus interjected blandly in spite of circumstance. "You _are_ Cetra, after all. You can sense the voice of this planet."

"And all the cries of restless souls, they say," Reno added. Rude grunted and adjusted his glasses.

"Can you make out anything?" asked Elena.

She hesitated, listening again for a brief second, and she nodded with a hard swallow. "It's mostly just nonsense," she spoke with deep gravity in her voice and an awkward twinge at the sensation of hearing so much, "but I made out one thing. Most of them are saying it."

X and Rufus fixedly said, "What?"

She stared down with mouth open in chilling awe, not knowing why a single word terrified her so.

"They said… 'Danger'."

Rufus stared out at space and said "Quaint."

They flat stone still hovered across the racing space of gelatin emerald lights that sloshed against each other endlessly, more chaotically than the edges of a sea in a violent wind. Streaks of green Lifestream, remarkable to all their eyes as it flew past them at all distances, looked to be struggling away from the place where they all inevitably were being pulled to. Time seemed to be pricking at their minds, nauseating them in waves as they neared a mass that faintly appeared at the horizon of their oceanic expanse.

X crouched and narrowed his vision, and Raven and the Turks joined him at the edge of the rock. Rectangular pillars stood. They were colorless and void at the distance, but it was clear that there were many of them arranged together, some of which were erratically displaced higher, lower, or at a slant from the others. Their transport stone slowed as the pillars came closer to them, and it was clear that a figure was swirling in a feverish cyclone of the Lifestream, tainting the luminescent grass hue to a harsh crimson.

The stone stopped, and they hardly had noticed the figure's tampering at the structure's center causing a strong wind to blow at the suit coats, hair, and the one cloak that had boarded the ride to greet their murderous firebrand of Icicle Village that had summoned them. A heavy, pale mist slipped out up to their knees from the bottom of the miniature twister veiling the identity of the humanoid within it.

X leapt the short space between the rock and the columns even without being able to discern what lay at the top of them. A strange squelching sound greeted the bottom of his foot unpleasantly. It was warm, almost hot, and somewhat sticky as he pulled his leg behind him to see a layer of mauve, somewhat congealed liquid with small bits of a flesh-like substance. The smell of hot copper and burnt carcass seeped through the air. Raven had responded to mess on X's foot by manipulating a surge of wind across the layers of mist, but they all soon wished that she hadn't, for underneath the cloudy mask lay the shredded corpse of something that he could not have identified if he wanted to. Rufus stood next to X in the pools of purple blood that were trailing out from the scatter of limbs and dripping down the cracks between the square columns. One larger fragment nearer to the killer that had the similitude of an oversized, breasted humanoid torso was enough for President Shinra to confirm the female creature, but unlike Mega Man, he was quite sure he knew its identity before seeing it.

"Jenova," he raised his voice over the swirling winds. "She won't be able to pull herself together so easily after this."

A thundering half human, half animal roar twisted at the Mako stream flowing around the being in the center, warping its path and color as if space itself was distorting. Or perhaps it was the deep, carnal laugh of whatever beast had slain the once mighty Jenova who supposedly was part of Raven and X's ancestry. It spoke in a demonic voice that X didn't recognize.

"Jenova…" it bellowed with a spine-shivering rasp of air trailing off of its words. "That bitch will never live again! Her power is mine. Her chaos is mine! I grow stronger with each passing day and closer to achieving the power I desire."

"And what power would that be?" X asked, taking defiant aim with his X-Buster charged. He could feel eyes piercing at him, and the veil of Lifestream weakened enough to allow the sight of long, almost ankle length but colorless hair to show.

"It _is_ Sephiroth!" Elena yelled.

"Hmmm? Sephiroth?" the voice boomed louder, and the Lifestream in the distance began to fade and panic as if a nuclear weapon was scorching them into nothingness and oblivion. "I can give you Sephiroth, if that is who you wish to dance in your blood!"

Their feet slid backward as the tornado twisted then tightened around the figure, and through the shroud that only showed his long-haired silhouette, X saw his body rise and curl inward tightly. He was convulsing, moaning mildly as some transformation began to take place. The columns they stood on went mad. Some rose, some dropped. Others twisted from side to side, deforming and reshaping as if they had been turned to clay. The awesome sight of Lifestream had faded to black, with only large masses of something that the crowd could only describe as cancerous, eating away at any life that dared to move its way. Their transport stone crumbled away, and the sharp climax of gusts almost knocked all off into an empty abyss all around, and Mega Man was certain that only he and Raven had witnessed the tearing of a body length wing with sharpened edges through the right side of their evil objective's back.

The Lifestream, although coming from places unknown now, was still flowing about the being in the center and turning all manner of dark and bloody colors as it encircled. Tense with panic and awe, the groups of six nervously held their weapons, two sets of fists, a shotgun, a lightning spear, the power of telekinesis, and a lone but steady X-Buster, all directly at the winged enemy. Was it Sephiroth?

It went black.

"My, my, my," said another voice, younger but no less hateful. "I figured I would have to work a lot harder to get you here, Mega Man X. Half way across the galaxy, I suspected, what with having my own errands to run."

"Did you kill all those people?" He asked in the dark.

"Of course, you worthless garbage heap. I figured it would get your attention," the winged figure said with no regard to the hundreds he had slaughtered.

X's voice rose. "Then I've got no choice but to…"

"Yes, yes! That's it!" the blood hungry screech said. "The boldness of a Hunter is delicious, even if you _are_ a former Hunter."

X fumbled awkwardly in the dead night of shadows at that comment. It could not be Sephiroth. He simply couldn't know of his excommunication. Or could he? He felt Raven's hand firmly grasp his own as he held the X-Buster out at a tiny glow where the being had stood. It had not moved from that spot in the center, and its eyes looked like a pair of fire-lit daggers, full of an uncomforting familiarity of determination and ferocity mixed with an insane motive.

"Who are you?" the reploid shouted out, and he could feel the monster grin in the absence of all light but his searing glare.

A second glow, faint, but growing ever stronger, emanated from a place lower than the killer's eyes. It moved, then faced Raven and X, terrifying them and causing identical glows to come from the backs of their hands. Feeling as if all the battles before them, all the fighting and all the hardship had come up to this, their chest beat like drums at the symbol staring them in the face. The three triangles of gold, top one illuminated more powerfully than the others, stared them in the face on the hand of their enemy.

"It's… it's him," Raven whispered, almost like a hindered cry of terror.

"The ultimate evil," said X, and he gripped her hand tightly as their own Triforce marks glimmered brighter than ever before.

"So the Hero and his whore have arrived! I can hardly contain all the excitement!" he screeched, and they heard a series of grinding metallic snaps and pops along with his enormous wing undoubtedly flapping against the wind.

Raven's face burned with fear and rage at once. The aura around her began to shed light as her powers were fueled by anger. Mega Man's X-Buster resonated along with his body as he gathered strength, and Reno's lightning staff sparked more illumination at X's side. Rufus's gun cocked in the black night behind them while Rude and Elena were faintly seen in the light taking their different fighting stances, the tall black man poised with a mix of kick boxer and drunken brawler and Elena with a wide legged, palm forward, deep carriage culminating Wutai assassin, Shotokan Dragon and several other martial arts styles. It comforted X little. If the prophecy described to them by Saria and Zelda was true, and it was the Hero's and Sages' responsibility to handle the holder of the Triforce of Power, then the four Turks were nothing but a distractions to die and give he and Raven time. He prayed that the tale was wrong.

Light came. A terrible light. The first light X ever remembered dreading in all his life. It served as torturing memory and bloody portent of a future that was likely to be no more than minutes away.

"Hey Mega," said the crimson plated reploid with golden blonde hair and a titanic wing stained with his own blood arcing inward at his body as if to cradle himself in his murderous intentions.

X staggered and grabbed his chest. "No… no, no…" he gasped. "Zero…"

Raven let out a small cry like a knife being driven into her chest in the dead of night. "Zero…" she said with tears of sadness in one eye and tears of hate in the other. "How could you? How could you kill all those…"

He laughed. The light that engulfed all around them came from the reploid himself. Streaks of power that looked liked blood somehow turned into straightened thread pulsated endlessly about him, and a strange force like the Lifestream but far darker created solely by Zero was illuminating the stage of battle and the distance. It was the same hateful power that X had exuded the night he – it was almost too painful to remember – had killed Alia. Somehow, his brethren turned dark had the same monstrous power and was all too happy to test it.

Rude went down in less than two seconds. In more of a teleportation than a movement, Zero's teeth sunk into the bald Turk's neck and the giant wing sliced through his spine as it curved with a movement seemingly separate from Zero's. X and Raven had both released their contained power, but it was, for each, a worthless gesture with the shock and despair of this new revelation clouding their aim.

It took Rude longer to fall than it did for him to die. He was in a bloody heap, not breathing, not moving. He was dead before the other Turks had even had a chance to react.

Reno and Elena called out his name, failing to keep their focus on the fight, and the same enormous wing that had felled Rude in an unfair bit of time sliced across Reno's chest, only narrowly missing vital depth and leaving a bloody gash that made the red haired Turk stumble back against a raised pillar and drop his electric blades. Even as X and Raven continued to fire bursts of white and black bolts of energy respectively, Mega Man realized that Zero was showing them his prowess as if it were a trophy to be bragged over. He could have killed Reno just as easily, but chose to leave him alive.

"What the hell do you want from us, Zero?" X screeched, provoking an immediate but deliberate halt in Zero's movement. His wing flapped as he grinned.

"I want something from you, Mega Man X," his voice felt like the windy ripples of a black bottomed dead lake. His body was still a glowing mass, near identical to the monster that X had himself turned in to in his fit of rage, but his was different. He had _control_ over the colossal power, and the reploid remembered his own experience, barely able to do anything but kill until he surged all of the hatred out in one dense and deadly burst. "Shame, though," Zero continued. "It seems the amount of killing isn't important to it, but _who_ gets bloodied up."

X's thoughts raced to the meaning and then thrust his legs so hard that his knees throbbed and nearly collapsed as his arms spread out in front of the dark sorceress to protect her against Zero. He refused to let another cherished friend be taken by a Maverick, or Ultimate Evil, or whatever manner of demon the Hunter Zero had become.

The flicker of movement was so fast, and entirely unexpected. Raven and X found themselves unharmed and completely ignored. Elena hadn't felt the pain at first. Zero's beam saber protruded from the right side of her body. The weapon had somehow been altered, changed so that it was longer than any of they were tall, and the glowing energy that normally flowed like a whip was as rigid as a katana. Same was the way it seared the nerves that would normally tell one that they had just been impaled. Burnt flesh tainted the heavy air, and Elena singed her fingertips from touching the curved energy instinctually, wanting to push it back out, but her only possible solace was to remain entirely still. Panic prevented that, and she cried in pain at the edges of her wound being torn.

"Elena!" Rufus shouted, and lowered his old-fashioned shotgun, stepping toward her with Zero holding the energy blade from behind her back. "You coward, freak!" Shinra lost his temper. "If you don't let go of her…"

"Quiet!" Zero belted out, and lightning erupted from his palm, engulfing Rufus and hurling him unconsciously on the pillar surface. "This is no concern of yours!"

X's Buster contracted and formed a hand. "Damn you Zero!" he responded. "If you want me, then take me! Leave her out of this!"

He burst out in laughter. "Oh, I plan to take you, Mega Man X. I plan to rip out every ounce of power and strength you have, painfully and slowly, and when you're nothing but a weak shell of what you used to be, I plan to let you live and watch me destroy everything you've ever cared about and everything that everyone has ever cherished. I just need you to have the proper… motivation."

His wing pierced Elena from behind, and it pressed at the inside of her skin on her chest, protruding up like some kind of creature trying to press up through and enjoying the screams of its victim. She screamed as her skin broke and she could see the wing and the saber sticking through her, levitating her from the ground.

"Damn it, Zero, stop!"

The wing stuck through further, Elena screamed louder in tears and agony.

"Zero!" Raven and X both begged.

The wing drove further, the wound opening wider and catching a lung. She was losing control of breathing, and she hacked on blood. Her eyes curled up, choking on every bloody breath, desperate to stay awake and alive.

Raven felt the all too familiar sting in the chakra on her forehead. Burning, seething inside the tiny jewel and spreading out across her body, she sensed the unbridled hate flowing from Mega Man, and his bright blue armor shed its colors, turning as bloody as the streaks of power flowing from Zero. She dropped to her knees, clutching her forehead and barely able to see the lusting grin on Zero's eyes through her squinted ones.

The two blades ripped out carelessly from Elena, causing a violent jerk and a cough of blood. She fell to the ground and stopped moving.

The two reploids stared at each other, Mega Man having become something else entirely once again. Raven struggled to stand up straight as the two stared at each other. X no longer seemed to care for Elena's dying body or even Raven's tortured one. He cared about killing Zero. They exuded the same power, and yet somehow Zero's disposition was more insane and twisted than X's single-minded thoughts of killing.

"I've dreamed of killing you for years," Zero said.

X's arm contracted and whirred, readying his X-Buster. He remained silent.

"But I never thought it would be like this. All this power, all the chaos, and this marvelous Triforce of Power," he said, waving the symbol. "I figured it would just be the Sigma Virus making me take my rightful place among reploid kind, and that I would kill you, the Maverick Hunter."

X stood still as Zero circled him slowly, his wing flapping gently against the disturbed environment of bloody Lifestream in the distance.

"Oh, but how things have changed!" he laughed. "You, stripped of your rank, and I, I've realized a power I never even knew was inside. A legend… The God damn Legend of Zelda, as I've heard it called in my recent travels. A shame that that bitch and her legend must come to such an abrupt end and you along with it. But before it does, I want to tell you something. Something I've never told anyone. After all, if I can't talk to my best friend, then who the Hell can I talk to?"

X's posture remained rigid as the glowing streaks of light radiated from his head and torso to his metallic limbs.

Raven struggled with the pain stabbing her forehead as she was ignored by both reploids. She tried to stand, to get to X and stop him from going mad again, but she found her legs heavier than steel. She could only watch and writhe.

Zero leaned in close to his reploid brother, and their matching streaks of energy clashed, looking like the two were magnets opposing each other.

"Remember when you killed Alia?" he whispered. "I just want you to know… that it was _me_ who forced the Maverick virus onto her."

A beam of intense heat the width of X's entire body ripped out of his X-Buster and crumbled any part of the pillars that they touched.

Zero hovered above the shock wave and spun backward, bracing himself in midair with the immense wing flapping metallically on his shoulder. He screeched, and the many feathers layered upon his wing split apart and encircled Mega Man X's vengeful form, all pointing at him like bloody daggers, but he had no mind for defense. He dashed headfirst underneath the frenzied sound of Raven's warning screams and clashing shots between the X-Buster and the Z-Buster. Then he was struck down.

The feathers had created a hovering cage, and as he approached Zero with murderous intent, a cluster of them attacked. One stuck in his chest. Another slashed his face. Some missed. A smaller one ripped through his arm and stuck into the platform pillars behind. In spite of his own blood spilling and the aura around him fluctuating, he shrugged off the bladed feathers and ripped out those that had embedded within him. The wounds sealed up in seconds. Rushing at Zero again, he was struck with even more, and his blood flowed heavier. His wounds still sealed up again, but slower, and in his third flash of speed he was struck down.

Raven felt every ounce of his pain inexplicably, and she clutched at the places on her body where his wounds were open. She kept trying to stand, but the chakra on her head stung worse than the materia draining life out of her spine did and trying to resist the terrible fire burning within her body took any strength that she could have used to move. She wanted to tear it off her head, the tiny red jewel that was glowing madly as the larger gem on X's forehead flashed rapidly in sync while he struggled to stand with blades pinning him to the ground.

"A pitiful attempt," Zero snarled, most of the bladed feathers having reattached to his wing. "I'm curious, though."

He stared with burning pupils between X and the dark sorceress. "I wonder… if I could kill two sages with only one in my grasp."

Mega Man turned to Raven, then ripped his metallic flesh through the daggers pinning him at one last attempt to crush Zero, but the winged reploid arm caught his, jerked him forward with a grinding pop and nearly tore it off. X had no control as his body jolted through the air. He watched helplessly as the hand that bore Zero's Triforce mark came toward him like a claw. The hand latched to his forehead, and the resulting feeling was like nothing X had ever felt. In the midst of his rage filled transformation, he couldn't help but acknowledge this twisted new sensation, somewhere between having his face torn off and having every system in his body crushed underneath a hydra-pneumatic compactor.

Raven bore it, too. She felt as if her body was falling apart bone by bone and then she saw flame enveloping her.

And then it passed by her, tearing her mind from the horrid pain.

A great serpent of flames encircled the battlefield, trailed by a streak of white light that swirled about its flaring outbursts. It tore across the battlefield, aiming for one single target, the crimson reploid Zero.

"Impossible!" he screamed as his hand was ripped away from X's forehead, and he was swept into the air by the lava snake.

The pain lightened on Raven's body, but the searing sting from X's madness was still crippling. As she fought it, her muscles burned and shook, but a strange sight gave her strength. Enfolding flowing light turned human and stood atop the blaze, and the flaring dragon itself bore a shape at its head. Soon became visible the visage of Nanaki in the whirlwind of ember waves and the undeniable grace of the princess Zelda standing on top of the fire, ready to defend the Hero of Time.

Unable to tear free quickly enough, Zero was pierced in midair by one of the holy arrows from Zelda's pure energy bow. It struck his chest, and it was followed by Nanaki's winding flames crashing like a tidal wave across and beyond the pillars. He fell out of sight.

"Miss Raven, are you injured?" Nanaki spoke quickly and approached the dark sorceress on all fours with the flames still flickering off him for a few moments. He bore the mark of the Triforce on the back of his front right paw.

"Nanaki, you're…" Raven managed to mutter.

"Yes, I am the Sage of Fire. The mark appeared on my hand under the princess's extended presence. She has told me much. You are also fortunate that someone witnessed the Turks take you without being spotted themselves, but for now…"

They heard a vicious scrape of steel. Turning sharply, Nanaki expected Zero, but the pain in Raven's chakra told her that it was her own cherished reploid. He had swung a mad punch at Zelda.

"Calm yourself, Hero," said the princess, gripping at the pulsing, bleeding arm that tried to strike at her. X stared, confused at the power that held his augmented might. His other hand contracted into his X-Buster, but the enormous laser that sliced through the environment was diverted by Zelda's other palm against his wrist.

"Get… out… of… my… way!" he struggled, but his feet slid back. Her strength was as inhuman as his.

Suddenly his arms flew forward and he felt the embrace of the princess around his back with her cheek against his. His vision faded into illusion. Beyond her golden hair, he no longer saw the demonic swirls of bloody, maddened Lifestream, the Turks, Raven, or Zero. He saw Hyrule, free of its rains of desolation. Though filled with rage and hatred, X found himself unable to make any movement save for his eyes flitting to all angles.

Zelda held him tightly.

The scenery faded to white, and a shadow; some remnant of a person who once was, walked forward from the light that pained X's eyes. Zelda was absent somehow, but he still sensed her wrapped around his body even though he felt free to move forward. Mega Man didn't take the opportunity but chose instead to raise his X-Buster and fire upon the oncoming visage.

He watched with grinding teeth as the tidal wave of energy was split like water striking a jagged rock. The figure drew closer with his boots gently clopping against the ground and a familiar sword scratching the ground as it trailed behind him with a gentle aura around it.

"When was it?" a youthful but learned male voice. His ears went back into a pointed shape like Zelda's, and some sort of capped donned is head, containing the majority of some color of hair that X couldn't see. Even being blinded in the infinite white light, the seething reploid could see the lean definition in his arms and the tight grip on the sword. It was the Master Sword.

"When was it?" the man insisted. "When did you stop fighting to protect? When did it become revenge?"

"Shut up!" the reploid screeched, and he raised his X-Buster again, but nothing came from it. He furiously waved the opening in his arm, ejecting his hand out of it, pulling it back in and desperately trying to understand why he couldn't kill the figure in front of him.

"Answer," the man said.

"When I had to kill Gate!" X bellowed, and he felt the empty scenery rumble with his voice.

"Alia's brother…" he whispered back to the enraged machine. "Why?"

X's face twisted, and the bloody radiance around him flickered as he fell to his knees and wept between hateful grindings of his teeth. "She was in so much pain… and it was because that damn Maverick virus took him. I hated Sigma. I hated everything after that. I didn't mind bearing all the pain and suffering, even after killing my own friends turned Maverick, but when I saw the pain that Alia suffered, I just… I couldn't… and then…"

"You couldn't bear it as is, and then you were forced to take her life, too."

X cried. It felt as though all the pain and misery in the past dozen years of hunting Mavericks out of hatred had all collected in his chest; into a single, bubbling surge of intensity. The Master Sword entered his down-turned view.

"This sword believes in second chances," the man said to him. "It will still accept you if you make the first step toward rebirth."

"Rebirth," X repeated through staggering breaths.

"Yes."

"Who are you?" X whispered.

The reploid saw a mild grin on his face, and the long, pointed back ears shifted. "I'm a lot of people, including you," said the shadow, and he held out the handle of the Master Sword for Mega Man to take if he wanted it. "Choose quickly, though. You and your friends are in danger."

The bloody aura around X began to fade as his hand moved out toward the sacred blade being held in his front. He watched its glimmer while looking at his contrasting hate filled glow. His fingers trembled, and images of all the dead friends he had killed leapt into his mind. He thought of Gate. He remembered Alia's gentle smile and her kind heart. Emotions clashed like opposing explosions until his arm found a single word and a strength that was forever with him.

"Courage," he said to himself.

He took it, and in a flicker of time, the white light erased itself into reality, and Mega Man X plunged forward the Master Sword. A spray of blood burst backward from the blade's thrust, and X felt like he was watching the red shower of liquid for several seconds through null gravity before realizing that it was Zero he had struck and that somehow time was moving strangely. The crimson reploid's wing moved as if all space had slowed, and X had more than ample time to twist Zelda to the side and use himself to shield her from the bloody stream while his arm held the Master Sword in his enemy's chest.

Zelda's eyes opened slowly with the rest of existence from Mega Man's perspective, and she stared impressively and astounded at the man she held on to. X had barely realized in all the confusion that his aura's tainted glow had changed drastically to a bright emerald green, and the Master Sword had changed with him. It looked as though the blade had been sliced down the middle and curved around once like coiling snake tongues. At its tip, blood of Zero was slowly evaporating without a sound. Everything was silent, but only for a moment, and then the slow creep of screams, shouts and chaos returned to normal along with time.

Still stuck on the Master Sword impaling his chest, Zero's wing spread out to rain daggers through X and the princess, but his image careened sideways with an electrical burst and a wheel of flame.

Reno clutched his chest and stared sideways at them. "No time for cuddling!" he grinned through the searing pain of his wound, and he dashed after Zero as Nanaki was thrust off the winged reploid to the edge of the platforms with an aggrieved animal yelp.

"Hero, we must get out of here! Now is not the time to…" Zelda shouted above the noise but was drowned out by the pillars of now twisted stone that rose up from the depths at Zero's will and launched Reno high in the air with a cracking of ribs that only he could hear. As the Turk began to fall, X reached out, but the sight of Raven's astral bird invigorated the reploid as Reno was enveloped away to a safe landing.

"Mega Man, please wait," Zelda shouted from behind him, "there is no way that you can…"

Zero was already upon them. No, not Zero, but multiple images of Zero that flickered like static, indicating their forged status, but their busters and sabers looked no less threatening as they all continued to divide and encircle the remaining Turks, the princess, and the three who bore the mark of the Triforce. Every clone spoke in unison as X, Nanaki, the princess and Raven aimed weapons uselessly trying to find the original without knowing if the clones were or weren't capable of tearing them in two.

"You should have listened to your princess, Mega Man X," said the Zeroes, creating an almost blinding, gory wave of light with their combined auras, and the strands of crimson light seemed to pass through each other without bending.

They weren't real, X realized with intense relief, but if they didn't find which one was, then their deaths would be just as definite. There were now hundreds to choose from, and it was almost impossible to get a clear look at any individual Zero. Even firing upon them all would not work, for in the moment wasted from firing in the wrong direction, X knew that it would be the death of at least one of them. Zero's motives had become clear. They were to die.

"I can't even begin to imagine what it will be like to devour the Hero of Time," Zero and his clones spoke. "Don't disappoint my taste buds!"

The hundreds of Zeroes leapt at once, and time slowed once again around Mega Man. His eyes perceived minute movements in the clusters of clones as he circled fast, probably beyond any speed of visual comprehension from the perspectives of those around him. He spotted their target. The real Zero's chest wound was slowly dripping with a strange, luminescent white blood, while the others' chests remained immobile, as if clotted already by the trick that summoned them. X lunged out feeling as if the air in front of him was thick like a gelatinous liquid brushing at the sides of his body that he could somehow swim through. Zero's movement was nearly as fast as his own in this altered time-space, but the Master Sword found its home in the enemy's metallic chest once again, ripping through machinery and corrupted Maverick blood until it burst through the other side, piercing the base of the crimson wing that stood as a symbol of Zero's conquest against Jenova.

The dark reploid's eyes widened with jaw open wide enough to almost snap as the slowed figures followed X's daring stab. In seconds to X, and fractions thereof to everyone else, Raven's mysteriously summoned Lotus blade engulfed the wound with the Master Sword along side it, bubbling at the spilled blood and making Zero spit out his own fluids into the sky. His clones vanished one by one, and a sparkling arrow rippled the air with tiny, glittering sparkles dancing in its wake until it too found the open hole in the reploid. Last came Nanaki, Red XIII, the Sage of Fire, leaping overhead with the deep roar of a lion in his matured, blazing orange figure as he attached himself to Zero's head and tore at his facial features. Zero's bloody aura went wild, flaring like sun spots until the chaotic energy surged the four away from him, sending time back in its normal flow, but not for long.

Zero screamed like an animal, frothing and raging until his mad fury beckoned forth power greater than before, even as his blood drained like a faucet from his chest.

"Die! Die! Die!" he bellowed, rising into the sky.

"X, this power…" Raven shouted, but the noise of pillars crumbling around them and the quaking of unseen forces made it so only their telepathic bond allowed them to understand what the other was saying. "X, it's the same power you had before… he's going to destroy us all!"

"_Chaos_…" Zero began, and his voice echoed everywhere.

Zelda and Raven leapt into the sky. X reached out for them, but they were already too far gone.

"_CONTROL_!"

They couldn't see anything. A golden fissure of light enveloped X's sight of the three, and in seconds, all three had vanished. He screamed out Raven's name but could hardly hear his own voice. The strange underworld of Gaia was still collapsing; crumbling from their battle and from Zero's warped power. He stared until Nanaki grabbed at his leg.

"We must go!" he said, or at least that's what X assumed he said through the chaos. His aura was weakening, he realized. The courage flowing through him and giving him the strength to do things he never knew possible was fading. He used the last of it to gather the Turks and Nanaki together, and as his body dematerialized into an electric blue stream, the six of them came with him to a destination unknown above the surface, not knowing if the princess or Raven were safe.

He could still think to some degree as his and his passengers' bodies phased through solid earth and away from the impending destruction of the Lifestream realm. His worry for Zelda and Raven was passionate, yet only one thought touched every corner of his mind.

His best friend was now the most powerful evil in the Universe.

It was his destiny to destroy Zero, once and for all.


	34. Priorities

**Chapter 34 – Priorities**

"Her… no, our child… it cannot…"

Tseng leaned hard on his cane and nearly fell onto Mega Man X. The Turk looked lost, like a child being led into the forest and then deserted for a reason eternally unknown to the oblivious youth.

"Who?" Tseng asked, shaking. "Who?"

X gave no answer as he watched Elena sleeping, hooked up to all number of apparatus, life sign outputs, and other equipment of this world designed to keep her from dying. Blood infusions were constantly replacing that which still leaked from her wounds as her body desperately tried to seal the wound. People had asked the reploid to leave in order to perform surgeries that he knew were probably inferior to some of his own knowledge, but he had no authority to disrupt this world's medical progress, regardless of how much he wanted to. They had undoubtedly used materia as well to assist in the healing process. Rude, however, could not have been helped. He was beyond the threshold of saving, and he never made it from North Cave.

Tseng also watched through the thick plate glass surrounding much of the bed that she lay on. He could do nothing but cringe, hold back tears that he was too proud to shed, and pray that she would recover as he leaned heavy from his own wounds against the black steel cane, but his spirit had sank with the news that their child had perished inside her. Elena's lips were curled in pain even as she slept in a coma-like state. Somehow, even without waking she knew that when Zero had pierced through her, she felt the loss of her child. Tseng and Mega Man only hoped that the anguish inside would not crush her will to live.

"I'm not really sure anymore. He comes from my world, but…"

"_You_?" Tseng writhed. "He came here because of _you_?"

X's foot swept Tseng's cane from underneath him, and the Turk found his collar yanked by Mega Man so they met each other's faces.

"I don't have time for blame games. He didn't come for me, he came for Sephiroth."

"S-Sephiroth? But he's…"

"Destroyed?" X said. "Yeah, that was the rumor. Zero wanted to absorb Sephiroth's power for some reason. I'm not sure why or how he did it, but somehow Zero and Sephiroth are the same person now."

X put the feeble, half a man back on his feet. "I've lost someone, too, you know," he said, then froze for a moment in thought before discarding Tseng and leaving the infirmary. "Tell me if she wakes up."

Pressing his fingers against his temples was such a human reaction, he thought, walking through the pale grey corridors of a facility that had once been used for military purposes by the Shinra Company and Soldier on the outskirts of Midgar, and yet it somehow dulled the hollow gaps in his mind. The memories that belonged to Raven's past seemed blurry, untouchable, and all but absent from his own. The bond was still there, and he knew that somewhere, she and hopefully Zelda as well were safe. But that would also mean that Zero was just as alive.

His body gently clanged against the wall as he nearly fell from the thought of Zero.

Zero had the Triforce of Power sent foolishly to him from Ganondorf. He was branded by Zelda and Saria as being the ultimate evil; a force that will do one of two things: be destroyed by the Hero of Time, or enslave and annihilate everything. But how could it be Zero? All those years being comrades, fighting against the Mavericks, X just couldn't bring himself to accept it. Even in spite of the pained memories of having to fight Zero after he was resurrected by Sigma to do his bidding, the crimson reploid had fought Sigma's hold and won. But why this? Zero would sooner destroy himself than become such a dark instrument, X knew that. And the power… even Sigma would have bowed before Zero like that. X snorted to himself with his eyes half shut. Sigma probably _was_ bowing before it.

Every problem they tried to solve just created more. The simple search for the huge materia to save Terra had come to a complete halt with the emergence of their new and ultimately final threat, and now a Turk was dead and Elena might have at any moment become the second following her prematurely late child. Raven and Zelda were missing, and he could not and would not leave without them. The Dreamweaver's cloak would not last until they left this world now, and he resolved that he _would_ leave with both the princess and his Sage of Darkness.

_At least we found the Sage of Fire_, X thought.

But even with that small comfort, what next? Searching for the materia seemed pointless at the moment. He wasn't sure what the repercussions of Zero's assault on the Lifestream were, but whatever was going on, he sensed the panic. Sensed it? He had become better at telepathy since meeting Raven, he realized. He could feel fear and worry amongst the people and even fleeting glimpses of their faces from inside the facility that he was suggested to stay in shortly after their evacuation from the North Cave area. There were consistent patterns of violent earthquakes at North Cave after the battle, but he could not imagine that the damage could have spread as far as Midgar or the other continents of Gaia. Then again, the lingering dread in the surrounding populous was unyieldingly strong. Perhaps even as strong as it was five years previous, when Sephiroth nearly brought Gaia to an end. At any rate, with such chaos going on there was no hope of trying to get the information he needed, and being reduced to only a third of his original search party made things far worse.

"Such a sad face, Hero of Time," said the voice of a woman unseen.

X thought for a moment. "Saria?" Mega Man whispered at the soft tones of nothing.

"Yes, it is me."

X paused and closed his eyes, and her vision came to him. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

In the vision; no, in reality as well, Saria sat on her favorite stump in the Lost Woods, even though time and cruelty had dilapidated it along with the rest of the forest. And yet, where her feet and fingers touched, life seemed to grow forth in the dead lands.

"I though I would ask the same of you," she said.

X crossed his arms, wondering if his body did the same as it did in the vision. "Isn't it obvious? You've been watching us, I guess, so you ought to know."

"Mega Man, I know your burden is heavy, but the people need hope," she stared at him through weak but wisdom filled eyes. "They may not even know of the legends of the Triforce and the Hero of Time, but I know you can bring peace to them anyway."

"But Saria, Raven and Zelda, they're…"

She shook her head with a gentle smile and stood up, walking toward him with a gentle, reserved sway in her hips. Her hand touched his cheek softly.

"I know. You can find them."

"How?"

She felt the soft touch of her palm in his, and she lifted his hand to his face where he found himself watching the pale gold resonance of the Triforce on the back of his hand. It seemed to come alive from her gentle touch, and the bottom left triangle continued to shine ever so slightly more than the others.

"These golden triangles span much more than just the perishing lands of Hyrule," Saria said to him in the vision. "Though the Triforce itself resides on my world, I can assure you that its influence spans much further, perhaps even amongst the stars where your world is. Let that knowledge guide you to your answers."

X nodded. "I'll try."

She smiled. "You are a remarkable Hero, like none I or anyone has ever known. Your power is unreal, your courage knows no bounds, and you are very wise. I know you will find the princess and the Sage of Darkness, but please, the people of Gaia need you right now."

Saria vanished. The Lost Woods vanished. The strange, flighty feeling of the telepathic vision left.

"Holy shit!" X fell backward. A deep orange and red furred paw had been waving an inch from is face.

"Mr. X, I have been staring at you for nearly a minute now," stated Nanaki with a note of relief in his voice. "I was worried perhaps something might be wrong with your… well… systems."

X understood the Sage of Fire's trepidation. "No, Nanaki, I'm fine," he said. "I don't require maintenance. My body heals just like yours does."

"I see," said the sage, and his tail wagged in a movement of suspicion at his side. The tail then whipped at X's face, and the reploid felt the hot, silky bristles swipe beneath his eye. They were then tainted with a green, viscous fluid.

X's face went pale.

"I am sorry, Mega Man. I did not mean to offend you."

He shook his hands and face frustratingly as he wiped the rest of fluid from his eyes. "I need to do… something," he made up quickly.

"Indeed you do, Mega Man X," Nanaki said, making a move to counter X's when he stood. "We have both been sent for my Rufus's men. He wishes to speak with us."

"Rufus can stuff it," said X with a dismissing wave of his hand.

"Yes, he most certainly can," agreed Nanaki, "But we are in a position of gratitude toward he and the Turks whether you enjoy the quandary or not."

"Oh?" said X. "And how is that?"

The wolf was fixating a stern glare at him. "You were drained after you took all of us out of North Cave. I assume you could not teleport the rest of us again?"

"No, probably not. So what?"

"So, for the past few hours, the entire north continent has been falling apart. Earthquakes have caved in almost all of where North Cave and the frozen wastes were and replaced them volcanic eruptions. So if it had not been for the Shinra organization, we may have been left for dead."

X leaned back against the wall and tilted his head up with shut eyes.

"The earthquakes have spread out to the edge of the continent," added the sage. "They are expected to stop shortly thereafter, but North Cave is not the only place that has been affected."

The reploid kept his eyes shut but shook his head while angrily rubbing his face in the knowledge of the destitution to come. "It's going to change the whole planet's ecosystem."

"That is what Shinra suspects," said Nanaki. "It will be utter chaos without knowing precisely how our global environment will change. Many will need to discard their lifestyles with the changes in tidal climate systems. Others will need to evacuate permanently because of their cities becoming uninhabitable. We may need to rebuild and colonize entirely new or previously squalid regions. It shall be a truly sordid affair."

"Then we need to find Raven and Zelda," X put simply, and he walked off in no particular direction, but he felt a soft paw with massive strength behind it tug at his knee. The wolf circled around him with an accusing stare.

"If you wish to pursue personal goals, then that is your business," he glared, "but do not pretend that finding your companions and saving our planet are part of a common goal. Any kind of deceptions like that and I would even be willing to report to Rufus regardless of all this business of the Triforce and sages, and if I… Mega Man X, are you listening to me?"

Yes, X answered quietly to himself. "I have an idea. I need to see Rufus."

"We needed to see Rufus anyway," said Nanaki. "He is at the Shinra building, in the center of down."

X hurried through the corridors and out into the open city of Midgar. The industrial and residential complex that spanned a circular area of many hundreds of square miles not far from the coastline had been near destroyed by the falling meteor sent by Sephiroth years back. The people had panicked horribly then. There were few people present in their secluded area on the outskirts of the city, but X's sensitive hearing perceived a great deal of commotion in the denser parts of Midgar's municipality, and he could see smoke pluming up thinly in several places.. He looked down at the Sage of Fire traveling beside him, with the Triforce looking uneven as it highlighted the fur on the back of his front left paw. There was no doubt in X's mind that the wolf traveling at his side heard the trouble with aural acuity that was better than his own, and the reploid saw his ears perk up at the same times that X heard something particularly disastrous occurring in the commercial areas of the city. It was worse than X imagined. Already Midgar had been thrown into distress, and it was nearly at the globe's equator, far south from North Cave's upset.

They walked at a quick pace.

"So," began X, as if starting fresh.

"So," Nanaki responded.

"How did you know where we were, anyway?"

"That was Zelda's doing," he responded with a sideways glance, not out of rudeness, but simply because his head would not turn that far from his lower vantage point as they moved toward the center of the city. "She is telepathic. I suspect that you and Raven are telepathic as well."

"Yes," X answered simply.

"And was it that Saria woman who you were communicating with just a few minutes ago?"

X stopped at that and raised an eye.

"Zelda introduced me to her in what felt like a mirage, and yet it seemed so real. I believe it was something along the lines of a formal meeting to make my induction as a sage more official. I was in a place called… the Chamber of Sages?"

"That's right," X concurred, remembering the eternally spanning chamber with columns of water-like substance flowing against gravity's pull with bright light from invisible floor to ceiling and the octagonal symbol bearing the marks of each of the sages at the vertices. He imagined that the sight of it, even if only a dreamlike hallucination, was overwhelming for the wolf. At least he didn't have to stand in the center of it, thought X, which made him reach for the handle of the Master Sword at his back.

"I'm still not sure I believe all of this," Nanaki said to the reploid. "I know that the part I played in the defeat of Sephiroth is exceedingly hard to look back on in reality, as if it never truly could have happened, but this story of the Triforce, the sages, and goodness knows who or what else, goes beyond even that. I can't quite grasp it. It probably gets better with time, though…"

"Nope," X grinned placidly, trying to formulate how to communicate a brewing plan to a stubborn Rufus. "Not yet, anyway."

Nanaki hummed in acknowledgement. "But I understand you're new to this as well."

"Not even a couple of weeks, yet."

"Then perhaps it will eventually become a regular part of your life."

X paused for a moment, and the sounds of displaced dirt and scuffed grass underneath his feet filled the void. "Perhaps."

The commotion was growing closer. X wanted nothing more than to search for Raven and Zelda, but he had no place to begin, and it was likely that North cave had collapsed upon itself as they left it. He thought of the most fragile way to introduce a dangerous and improbable proposition to President Shinra, forming every word and intonation inside his head with the deepest care. He then realized that a second, very unfriendly former comrade would have to agree with it, too. He lowered his gaze to the newly christened Sage of Fire. It was obvious that he was thinking deeply.

"What's on your mind?" X asked quickly, making sure he had a chance to speak before they walked into the turmoil of crazed citizens and the even greater turmoil of bureaucratic disaster.

"I have many questions," spoke the wolf softly. "I don't know where to begin."

"Anywhere's good," said Mega Man. "It'll be nice to give answers for a change."

Nanaki chuckled. "And I have rarely been on the side of questioning since I became elder of Cosmo Canyon."

X held out his hand to the fire sage. "The floor's all yours," he said. "But make it quick."

The mild expression of deep thought wore itself on his face again as he gently left paw prints in the softer soil that they walked through.

"If I understand correctly, you are the newly appointed Hero of Time, a great being destined to take up a struggle against the ultimate evil, which is a machine also from your world named Zero."

Through an alleyway between buildings several stories high, they could see into the main streets, where people occasionally ran by.

"And the sword that you hold, the Master Sword, is said to be a holy blade designed to vanquish this great evil that you must face along with the help of eight wise sages, also chosen from the most courageous and cunning across the galaxy."

"Mm-hmm," X hummed.

"Furthermore, Zero, the new evil, is the most powerful being ever to hold the Triforce of power, which was last held by a man named Ganondorf who foolishly gave his Triforce to our enemy in hopes of manipulating Zero to release him from some Dark World."

"Spot on so far," X added neutrally, his eyes starting to take more focus on the people running in the streets ahead through the gap between buildings.

"But what about this Zero being?" Nanaki questioned on. "I understand that he wants destruction and the delusions of grandeur contained in the ultimate power he seeks, but why was Sephiroth his target?"

"Sephiroth's powerful," said X as they entered the alleyway. A small burst or explosion of some kind sounded in the distance across the city. It momentarily turned their heads and widened their eyes from many years of experience and the unwillingness to let their guards down when disorder and confusion surrounded them.

"I'm aware of Sephiroth's strength," said Nanaki with a small scowl. "And although I accept the One-Winged-Angel's valor as being acknowledged across space, why take Sephiroth and leave Jenova? Sephiroth's true mother had great power as well. Why wouldn't he take both?"

X's curiosity was viciously piqued. He had never fought either, and although he knew Sephiroth was superior to his mother, he had heard that the gap was slim between the two. One thing disturbed him much more than Nanaki's question. Zero had said something about taking Jenova's 'chaos.' In fact, remembering back, Zero hadn't actually said that he took any of Sephiroth's power, but instead Jenova's. Recalling the series of disastrous and bewildering events of that battle, it was obvious that Nanaki had merely witnessed Zero in a form that resembled Sephiroth, but the crimson reploid had clearly stated that he had taken Jenova's power but said nothing of her demonic son.

"Sorry to switch roles on you, but I need to throw out a question," said Mega Man, and he earned a nod of approval. "First, Zero didn't take Sephiroth's power. He _did_ take Jenova's. So why then would taking Jenova and not Sephiroth make him _look _like Sephiroth?"

The wolf stared forward. The time for questioning was getting short as they neared the streets. People needed help.

"I don't know," the Sage of Fire answered. "Perhaps something genetic in Jenova that made Sephiroth who he was made Zero look like that as well. But that poses the reverse of my last question. Why take Jenova but not Sephiroth?"

They entered the alleyway.

"Same difference," stated X, "and so we're not getting anywhere. I guess that leaves me with one last question before we get into the thick of this mess. Sephiroth said he took Jenova's chaos. You know anything about that?"

"Chaos?" the fiery wolf pondered for a moment. "An odd statement. I suspect it means something more than just the raw destruction and power of its definition, but I afraid I don't know what."

"Hmm," X hummed, and the solid brick walls of Midgar building alleys and shops finished passing by them and let the full sound of the destruction take root in their fighting instincts.

A man rushed by with a sizeable purse. A woman followed, shouting through honking vehicle horns and curses. Nanaki quickly pursued the man while X moved forward. He spotted a shattered window in the base of a several story commercial business where clothing and jewelry racks were being robbed on the inside. He twisted his feet to the side, let them tilt forward gently and scorched the grass beneath him as he accelerated into a dash and leapt across to vehicles whose owners yelled and made unfamiliar but easily guessable gestures with their fingers at him as he landed on each dully colored one. He made no effort to dodge the expensive, highly tailored cars whose designs of women with negligible clothing on the sides cost as much alone as some of the other vehicles cost in their entirety, although it was these drivers who made the most obscene comments, one of which X recognized as Gaian slang for suggesting that he take certain body parts which he did not have and place them in a machine much like a meat thresher.

He could not help but grin at the stupidity as he landed in front of the shattered window. A robber wearing a shoddy brown mask and reflective plastic goggles over his eyes nearly crashed head first into Mega Man's larger frame. Necklaces were dangling from a cheap sack over his shoulder, and X thought something about amateurs to himself. The man pulled out a large knife. X grinned.

"Wot you grinnin' at, bloody Soldier grunt?" said the man thickly.

X took the Master Sword and planted it in the dirt at the robber's feet. "Mine's bigger."

The robber stared at the broadsword, and X imagined the thoroughly unexpected weapon sending a shiver down his spine. The twitching, speechless lips that moved as tremblingly as his legs amused X for a moment before a man with the girth and intimidation of an angry bull rhino kicked through the solid structure of building beneath the broken glass. Crumbled bits of both brick and polyplastic building material dropped at Mega Man's feet. The massive man was undoubtedly an associate of the first, for they wore matching masks, although the second was far larger in size with bulky, rippling muscles that were obviously designed for comfort and scare tactics through ripped off sleeves. He stared at X with the daring of an undefeated brute with matching or possibly smaller brains.

"Smaller, definitely smaller," X whispered audibly.

The man X mentally noted as the slightly dumber of the two dropped his own loot sack and pulled out a black, triple barreled pulse cannon.

"Okay… not so stupid. But can you vanish?"

They two looked at each other for a moment and then witnessed Mega Man prismatically dematerialize. The pulse cannon yanked itself out of the larger man's arms and swung into his face, handle first. It took several more blows before a small blood stain began to cultivate underneath the large protrusion that was his nose. When the man's arms began swinging limply with each blow, the invisible reploid let him fall and aimed the gun at the smaller criminal. He dropped his stolen goods and ran. X let the weapon fall and snapped it with his foot as he reappeared.

"I love that ability."

A screeching siren that alternated between high and low moans sounded out and forced the drivers to pull to the edges of the road so that the Soldier vehicles could move through and enforce some little measure of order. They looked different to X, though. Like a new layer of paint was slapped on and they were labeled as something other than Shinra's former military and police force. Mega Man knew they were what was left of the materia-exposed, elite Gaians that were the backbone of Shinra's might. Normally he detested them, and perhaps it was some ironic quirk of fate that at the same time as being mistaken for one of them from the glimmer in his eyes, he welcomed the help with open arms. One of the Soldier squad cars even pulled to the side of the road and opened the window, as if expecting some report from him. They wore deep blue body armor that bore a tiny resemblance to his, but apparently it was enough.

"This area's taken care of," said X. With an awkward glare at the reploid, the geared up member of Soldier nodded and moved on with his siren blending in the chorus of car horns in the distance. X knew that what he had just stopped would be repeating itself across the entire planet, and most likely in a much less petty fashion. It made his mind sink.

A fiery tale brushed past his side. "We should press forward," said the Sage of Fire standing regally on all fours. "There will likely be no end to this. We should see what Rufus wants and let the Neo-Soldier Force deal with this as best they can."

"You sure?" X said apprehensively. "I'm not sure they're up to this, and Soldier or Neo-Soldier, they're still dangerous military."

Nanaki leered. "So are you."

X nodded. "Touché." It was with bitterness that he let Nanaki take the lead toward the center of town and the rebuilt, hardly less menacing Shinra tower, which stood as a pillar of power above the rest of Midgar's reconstructed state. Its sleek design of curved glass and steel gave messages of confidence and might to visitors, and those who used to live underneath the so-called "pizza" that he, Nanaki and now all of the citizens walked upon; they knew that underneath it all was the workings of Shinra, perhaps dark, perhaps courageous, but never known to the public. After several miles of convergence toward the monument, it was clear that parts of Shinra tower still remained haunted with unfinished fragments and scaffolding at its sides, but it still held that arching power over a person's neck until the sharp angle to stare from the smooth tar to the windows of the top floor was simply too far for a spine to stretch. Nanaki didn't have such a hold over his eyes as he aimed his expression forward.

Glass doors swished open as they neared. The inside looked much as it had before. An awkward mix between super mall and hotel reception, decorated with exotic plants, posters, the archways of several shops, a quaint information desk at the center, and glass elevators.

"We're headed to the top floor," said the Sage at X's waist.

"I hear the stairs provide a thrilling workout."

Nanaki glared plainly as he approached the elevators. "Barrett would have tried to strangle you if he heard you say that, sarcasm or not."

A gentle ding as the elevator reached their level.

"How is the whole gang of yours, anyway? Barrett, Tifa, Vincent, Cloud…"

"You really don't like to focus on solving your problems, do you?" the sage questioned as the doors swished shut on them and his tail swatted at a large '60' on the keypad.

X couldn't help but chuckle at himself a little. "Raven's often like that. Sarcastic, very funny in a dry way. Rarely ever lets anything get her upset or angry. Guess it's rubbing off on me more than I had thought."

"You care for her. You're both becoming more like each other."

X nodded. "I know. And so I don't want to think about it. Not when I don't have a clue where to start, where to look, or if she's even alright. When I was still a Maverick Hunter, the solution was always simple. A reploid goes rogue, hunt him down and destroy or apprehend if possible. New enemy technology threatens all reploid kind? Find it, dismantle it, eliminate all records of existence, but what about this? A super human reploid with unreal powers even before all of this now goes insane and has a third of some supreme source of energy, absorbs the Lifestream, transforms into Sephiroth, kills hundreds of people, then flings himself, Zelda and Raven into hell knows where and when. Tell me, what the Hell am I supposed to do about that right this minute?"

X waited for an answer, but Nanaki's eyes stared straight forward into the midday sky as they began to tower over the city at the thirtieth floor.

"You are keeping dangerous secrets, Mega Man X," he said.

A confused stare was returned to the wolf.

"You asked me if I knew what Zero meant about Jenova's chaos, and yet you seem to have some understanding of the phenomena that made your friends and former comrade vanish called 'chaos control' don't you?"

X crossed his arms, and the metal in his limbs grinded. "Yes," he said.

"Will you tell me what chaos control is?"

"No," said X.

Nanaki seemed to take a moment to stare at the tiny ants of cars below as they passed the fortieth floor. X wasn't sure whether he was angry, hurt, or both.

"I want to help you find them, though for some reason more than I ought to. I have obligations and duties in Cosmo Canyon, yet I feel compelled to assist you beyond my reasoning. But if you withhold what you know about their circumstance, then my assistance will be nigh useless. Do you understand that, young Hero of Time?"

X watched the shrinking cars with him. "I understand. And I'm sorry, but all I can tell you is that Raven, Zelda and Zero could be anywhere on this planet or even somewhere else, and they could be anywhere in the past, present, or future. I can't tell you anything more about it, and I'll have to ask you not to pry."

"Very well," the sage responded with a solemn nod. "But be prepared for Rufus to question you about it as well. He will most likely want some of the power that you and Zero somehow possess."

"Fine, I'm not afraid of Rufus."

"I didn't suspect that you were," said the wolf.

The same subtle ding signaled their arrival at the 60th floor, where polished marble and a high ceiling with the most careful of ornate patterns resided. Across the unnecessarily lengthy width of the room, Rufus Shinra leaned stiffly against the desk that also had a surface area that would never be used to its full extend. Except perhaps for today. A gathering had formed that was much grander than X expected, and full of people who on this planet may as well have been celebrities.

"Long time, no see, blue," said a soft, female voice that wore a smile that still somehow maintained innocence with all the war it had seen. Leaning up against a far wall, she wore a tight, sleeveless leather top with matching gloves and a thick, black, floor length leather skirt with open slits on the sides. It was hard not to notice the combination of the reflective leather and her large breasts, making it easy to mistake the woman for something far from wholesome, but X knew that the outfit was designed for freedom of movement and the easiest possible ways for her to kick your ass.

"Tifa Lockhart," X nodded with a soft smile of his own. "I miss that 7th Heaven of yours. You didn't perchance rebuild it along with the rest of Midgar, did you?"

There was sadness in her deep brown eyes that Mega Man couldn't place as she fingered strands of hair playfully. Her long black locks were still waist length, but it was no longer banded up in the ponytail that X remembered when he had visited her bar in the sector 7 slums underneath the surface of Midgar in the past. He remembered her as being cheerful and uplifting, even though he probably looked like a Soldier elite back then; an unwelcome kind by most standards. It occurred to X as she came nearer that she knew nothing of what he really was.

"It was rebuilt recently, yes," she said.

Rufus reacted. "You two know each other?"

"Vaguely," nodded Tifa. "He visited my bar several times five years ago. He was friendlier than other members of Soldier and asked a lot of questions. Quite frankly I'm surprised to see him here."

"He's not a member of Soldier," said Rufus, and Tifa looked between the pair of green eyed men.

"Sorry, Tifa," X shrugged. "Alien android, guilty as charged."

X took the momentary expression of shock and confusion to survey the rest of the people around him. Barrett Wallace, a massively muscular man with dark skin, a worn face of nearly forty years, and one of the only recipients of their world of a cybernetic gun arm, was staring at him with crossed arms. X noticed him when he had first come in, and it relieved him to know that the stern, grouchy looking man's arms had loosened a bit after Tifa's redeeming description of him. He and Tifa both were a part of the group that defeated Sephiroth, as were many of the other guests.

Not far to the side and excluded from that historical party was Reno, darkly depressed, unable or unwilling to focus all of his attention, and still in pain from the shallow gash on his chest. X felt sorry for him.

Next was Yuffie Kisaragi, an energetic young girl who also accompanied Tifa, Barrett, and Nanaki in defeating Sephiroth. She had a zest for two things; life, and materia. A massive, sharp shuriken was easily seen attached to her tiny frame with the points sticking out diagonally behind her. Even in such dark times, she smiled and waved at X, meeting him for the first time with a bubbly jubilance as her short, banded brown hair bobbed lightly.

There was another Turk, well dressed like the rest, less laid back than Reno but not as serious as Tseng. He had a dark goatee that was thick but trimmed carefully to make the most of his appearance. Obviously the man was a higher-up in the Shinra ranks, but he was the only person X didn't recognize.

Lastly was a man whom Mega Man had witnessed on a few occasions in the past and was certainly aware of his past exploits, but had never actually met. Cid Highwind smoked a long, thick cigar callously, and though he had once been head of Shinra's space division, you wouldn't know it from the oil-stained white t-shirt and baggy blue slacks. A man in his thirties had never been so brash or so vulgar, as X recalled, but he was the world's best pilot and a daring member of the team that eradicated Sephiroth five years ago.

"Well, I'm familiar with all of you already," said X, who had gathered all attention in the lightly echoing room after admitting his foreign nature. "Except you," he pointed to the other Turk. "But I'm willing to bet you had something to do with Sephiroth, too. After all, that's something we all have in common, even me."

"My name is Reeve," said the man with a gentle bow of his head.

X's eyes narrowed, searching his brain for the name. "Reeve… you ran the Cait Sith project, didn't you?" asked X, which earned him a second bow. "Impressive piece of technology, that thing. I was surprised that Shinra could come up with a stuffed animal android strong enough to help take on Sephiroth. Awfully unorthodox, really, but it was impressive nonetheless."

"How many of Shinra's secrets are you aware of?" asked Reeve.

X grinned widely. "More than you'd like to believe, but that's not why we're here right now."

"I think," said the attention commanding, deep voice of Barrett, "that you should tell us jes' what the Hell you are and why all of us are here together again but wit' a third wheel like you."

"Fair enough," the reploid answered calmly, then realized the implications that he was imposing upon this world by revealing his identity to even more people. He shrugged off the discomfort. This world was already in peril thanks to someone from back home. "My name is Mega Man X," he said firmly. "Like I said, I'm a machine from another world, and I'm here for two reasons. The first is that Sephiroth has been resurrected within the body of another reploid – that's my race – and the second is that Sephiroth and I are also somehow both Cetra."

A hacking cough from Cid Highwind drowned out the few short gasps in the room. X took the brief pause to again survey the room. Where was Cloud Strife? The blonde, ex-Soldier led the fight against Sephiroth. He of all people should have been there.

"So you're tellin' us that you're one of the ancients?" asked Cid, catching his breath from through the surplus of smoke he had inhaled.

X looked to Rufus. "That's what he told me."

"It's true and undeniable," Rufus glared at the edge of his desk. "Even though he is a machine and his blood his far different from ours, he still has the unmistakable genome that constitutes one of the Cetra. One of the two women with him also was Cetra, and I suspect the third and the monster Zero are as well."

"And where are they?" Tifa asked.

"Missing," Nanaki answered for Rufus. "According to Mega Man X, some power known as 'chaos control' that Zero used transported them someplace… and possibly some unknown time as well. We don't know where to start looking for them, but it's important that…"

"What's important…" Rufus snapped at the wolf then reared his rigidly staid face at the crowd, "is that we find and destroy Zero while trying to maintain order and balance as the world changes shape."

"We're going to have a lot more success with the latter of the two," X defended Nanaki. "I don't believe I can communicate to all of you how important it is to find Raven and Zelda, my companions, and I know it's selfish to ask such a thing when your world is in such danger, so I have a proposition for you."

"What'dja have in mind?" asked the gruff pilot Cid.

"Yes, Mr. X," invited Reeve. "You've apparently got access to any technology of ours that you want, so how about some of yours?"

X centered himself in the small crowd. "First, no 'Mr.' please. Just X. Second, I'm afraid it isn't going to work like that. I personally, as well as the organization I come from, have strict beliefs in trying to avoid the premature advancement of other civilizations."

"But isn't Zero from your world?" asked Yuffie.

"Yes," X sighed, "and because of that, we've already interfered and you're more than aware of mine and Zero's origins. Under that light… there's a slim chance I may be able to bring assistance from my home planet to help minimize the problems with your changing environment."

X found himself staring at Barrett Wallace, who stood several inches taller and wider than his reploid frame. A black outline of a skull was tattooed into one of his arms.

"You might wanna do better than a _slim_ chance if you know what's good fer ya," said the large black man, and X heard a gentle whir in the base of his gun arm.

"Oh, calm down, Barr," the comparatively tinier one pushed him back with a single arm. "He just wants to help, isn't that right blue, err… X?"

X rubbed his face and joined Rufus on the solid marble of the desk, several feet to his side, accommodating both X's and Rufus personal demands for space. He looked up. All eyes were on him, several looking wary and untrusting. He didn't blame them. They were undoubtedly aware at this point of the slaughter at Icicle Village, and it was his former friend and one of only two of his kind on their planet who held culpability for the act.

He looked up. Tifa stared at him with hope in her deep brown eyes, when no one else would. He seldom recalled seeing that look much anymore. It was the look of someone who had blind faith in another who they barely knew. The Maverick Hunters had lost hope of the war ending. They were all still capable of smiling, laughing, and happiness, but the fighting had lost all dreams of peace, and the effort to achieve a lasting calm had left them. Hope… something he had felt more and more since he had met Raven. Hope for comfort, for joy, and maybe even someone to return home to should the fighting ever end.

X hoped. He hoped for forgiveness.

He didn't want to address the tense group of heroes in front of him. He wanted to leave with Raven and Zelda and the huge materia and be done with it. Nanaki stared at him, too, almost like mentors had done with him many years ago when they taught him about life. He had his skepticism, but somehow, Nanaki had an inkling of faith in the symbol they shared on the backs of their hands. X gripped the handle of the Master Sword and breathed.

"I feel… stretched thin," he said to them. "I don't know what Zero's become, and I don't really know how to stop him. I'm flying blind on a legend I can barely believe and a sword that has caused me as much pain as it has happiness. But I believe that I can't do it without Raven, Zelda… and you too, Nanaki."

The wolf sat on his hind legs at X's side. "I am with you Hero of Time, but our world needs more than a hero to save it right now…"

"Yes, I know," X leaned back. "I need to go to my ship. I'm going to call for Signas. We'll try to help protect this world and look for my friends at the same time. If Zero comes… we'll fight him back again."


	35. A Thousand Words and Years

**Chapter 35 – A Thousand Words and Years**

Sand. The first sensations coming to her were the intense dryness of her mouth, and then she realized from the grainy texture and a chill occasionally swishing at her legs and hips that what was sucking the moisture from her tongue was hot beach sand at the water's edge.

Nothing wanted to move. She heard the waves crashing gently behind her, and warmth beat down on her back like a hot summer day in the sun would, not that that was something she would normally partake of.

Raven tried to lift her arms. She then tried to open her eyes. Nothing moved. An orange light bathed her closed lids from the bright sun of wherever it was she had landed, and the softness of the sand began to slowly register, but still no part of her body wished to cooperate with the equally ragged thoughts that struggled to form.

She tried to make a sound with her mouth. Raven couldn't tell if her lips moved, but a tiny grunt escaped so inaudibly that only an ear pressed against her cheeks could have heard it. She fought again to move and shortly gave up as the relaxing sizzle on her back coerced her to stop trying. There was no sound of danger, or anything for that matter, so she allowed the heat to massage her as miniscule breaths mechanically made their way through her lungs.

It felt like the blink of an eye had passed when all had been disrupted, and the dark sorceress was pulled from the beach's edge and was being jolted uncomfortably with male voices all around her. She tried to grunt again, or to move, but she was as limp as a dangling sea vine. The voices sounded panicked, and she recognized fragments of words that floated away from her thoughts before anything could make sense. Her heart tugged in her chest, striving for more life to pulsate through her veins, and she was terrified against her mind's will to stay calm at not knowing what was happening to her. Even the tiny strain was too difficult. The bright orange against her eyelids faded to black.

Was it seconds, hours, or days that had passed? Her fingers twitched. Raven shivered in the absence of the sun and heat that had somehow been taken since her last fleeting wake. It was not a dream. Even dreams had more life than this. Her eyes; the light in front of the shielding lids was colder. Her face was chilled, but beneath that was a tiny war being waged for warmth and the lack of it. A blanket? Something else was there, too. The dark sage could not see or hear, and yet words crept into her every being.

"…ka… she's mov… get her something to… get anything she might… think she's… eyes…"

Her body was gently moved, and a feeling of weak fatigue and utter lifelessness made itself known in her lower back and arms, as if they would fall apart from her body if they were not firmly attached by bone. It was a sitting position Raven realized she was being compelled into. A hand pressed up on her chin, tilting back her head, and the refreshing cool of liquid slid over her lips and onto her parched tongue, which danced in her mouth with the first few invigorating drops. Her lungs surged with breath as she drank and coughed from the clashing thirst and breathlessness both fighting for precedence at once.

Her eyes pried apart, the glue of exhaustion not letting the motion go easily.

A dark, pale face with skin like her own. Dark brown hair tightly and ornately bound above her head with colored beads and intricate hair weaving skills. Red irises, yet soft ones resembling the tints of ripe red apples. Raven felt soft fur from her clothing rub against her arm as the woman supported the sorceress's weight, and a cluster of bodies with a mesh of earthy brown and yellow hues began to un-blur beyond her face where the sun appeared to be shining in.

The woman smiled at her gently. There was subtle neutrality that held her features close to static, but Raven still felt comforted by the small gesture of kindness in her uplifted cheeks no matter how small it was.

"Are you with us?" the woman asked.

"Ugh…" Raven moaned breathily. "Where…"

"Relax, don't try so hard," she said softly.

The voice was slow and clear, like someone old and wise, but the more Raven's eyes cleared, the more the former of those descriptions lacked a match. The woman was still young, not likely more than her late twenties or early thirties. Her face did bear many years of experience, though, and Raven immediately felt even further at ease.

"Boys, could you clear out of here?" the darkly dressed woman spoke to the still blurry figures behind her near the arched entrance of what quite possibly could have been an enormous hut of sorts. The men in yellow mumbled their agreements with her and left, but one lingered in the door. Raven squinted hard. Was he wearing a pointy hat or was his hair spiked up as if a cow had licked it?

She chuckled softly as she held Raven up. "Yes, Wakka. You can stay."

Raven filled her lungs with air, and everything suddenly became much easier. The sorceress still allowed herself to lean lightly in the woman's arms while she looked at this Wakka. His reddish hair was indeed spiked up, and the longest strands of it bent back over the rest of his much shorter hair, like the pinched off trail of soft serve ice cream that always seems to form when it comes from a machine. The Sage of Darkness didn't know where the image spurred from, but the thought of his hair looking particularly amusing if caught in a rainstorm made her chuckle shortly. The woman next to her smiled as she did.

"My name's Lulu, and this is Wakka," she said calmly. "What's yours?"

Se placed her fingers against her forehead and rubbed at her own blue-violet hair. "It's Raven," she answered. "Wh… what happened?"

"You gave us quite a scare, is what happened," Lulu said, releasing her arm around Raven and letting her sit up on her own. "Wakka and the rest of his boys were headed down to the beach to practice and found you washed up there."

"Yah, you sure were lucky," he said with a dense accent that surprised her. It resembled something close to Jamaican back on her Earth. It was hearty and upbeat with heavy emphasis on many of his words and with the tones of someone who enjoyed an island beat.

"Yes, I have to agree with Wakka," Lulu said, again sounding awkward to the sorceress with such a more refined and articulate tongue. "We had a lot of work to do yesterday. If we hadn't gotten things done as early as we did, then Wakka and the others probably wouldn't have headed down that way at all."

Raven looked at the large dome structure they were in. It was a strange material. Part straw, part wood, but also part colorful metal or some other solid object that was very atypical to what she was accustomed to. And yet it was cozy, decorated with elaborate pottery, a second floor that appeared to open out to a balcony, small circular windows, and vivid tapestries and rugs that were on floor, ceiling, and even one with deep purple designs of something out of a jungle that covered her legs and had done so as she slept. Other devices that were indefinable to the sorceress but seemingly pre-industrial were situated throughout the large circular room. One device was glaringly attractive to the eye. It was a small green orb atop a small pedestal that lay on a chest. Materia, no doubt.

"Thank you," she said. "But I have to go. Back to North Cave."

"You shouldn't be going anywhere," Lulu said, her tone hardly changed by the note of concern. "You're still not strong."

Raven was about to interject, but Wakka got the first word in.

"Ya, you should listen to Lulu," he said, "and besides, where is this North Cave anyway?"

It hurt to think. "It's, uh… on the Northern Continent," Raven remembered. "Not too far north from Icicle Village."

Raven waited for their response. The two looked at each other quizzically. The dark sorceress then felt queasiness in her stomach. Had she said something wrong or inappropriate? She was positive that it was North Cave, on the Northern Continent, and that Icicle Village was there.

"You know… five years ago that's where Sephiroth was. You… do know who Sephiroth is, right?" she asked nervously, and her cheeks turned red. There was no avoiding it as their confused glances thickened and she felt more awkward.

"Err… can't say I know any Sephiroth," said the man called Wakka.

"Nor I…" said Lulu. "I think… you may still need some rest."

"No, I… I know what I'm…" Raven sensed a pinching pain in the sides of her head when she tried to move quickly. "Ngh…" she moaned slowly as her palms clasped the area around her temples.

"Hey… hey, you ok there?" asked a panicked Wakka. "Hey!"

It stopped.

"I… I, uh…" Raven stammered, lacking the explanation for the fraction of a migraine. She shook the slowly loosening face muscles that had become tense when her head had pulsated. "I need to leave… need to find X… stop Zero."

"You in some sorta trouble, ya?" Wakka asked.

Raven reached for her cloak on a nearby lamp stand near the bed and tied it around shoulders. "Yes. I need to go to North Cave, or Midgar, or Junon… or anywhere other than wherever here is."

Another confused series of stares and silent communications passed between the two. Raven suspected, although the difference in their appearances made her think otherwise, that they might be married. And odd couple, but they seemed to be able to speak worlds without opening their lips even once. Like telepathy.

"Well, Raven, I'm afraid you'll have a problem getting to those places," said Lulu.

"And why is that?"

"I… don't think they exist."

Raven's teeth gritted. This was foolish. These islanders probably hadn't even traveled far off the island she surmised from the difference in technology from where she was and what she had seen from Shinra Company.

"Haven't you heard of Soldier? Materia? Shinra company? Lifestream? _Anything_?"

"Heard of a Shinra," Wakka interjected with a shrug, "But he's an Al Bhed sphere hunter. Ain't no Shinra company as far as I know."

"Wait…"

Lulu's dull expression had sharpened like a knife, and her eyes scanned the space in front of her, as if reading information inside her own head. Raven sighed frustratingly. Perhaps these people knew a _little_ something. It was at that moment that the unrelated realization that she had healed completely and, aside from fatigue and soreness, her body was free of wounds entirely. She felt beneath her right breast discretely beneath her cloak. The scar… the thick, permanent one she received from Vile weeks ago should have been there, but Raven felt only a thin layer of material above equally smooth skin that hadn't been tainted or torn. Nothing seemed right, but these people felt too real. Her telepathy could sense them clearly, and nothing, aside from the fact they didn't know anything about Gaia, felt unusual.

"Lifestream," Lulu repeated. "Wakka, Isn't that what the Al Bhed used to call the Fayth a long time ago before Yevon became dominant? I think I remember it from stories when I was a child."

"Fayth?" Raven asked with genuine curiosity that she hoped didn't sound entirely incompetent.

"And the word 'materia' sounds awfully familiar, too, doesn't it Wakka?" Lulu went on, to which Wakka responded with a dumbfounded hum.

One more semi-telepathic glance at each other that lasted only a fraction of a second at least let Raven know that they were thinking the same thing about her, whatever that was. Impatience grabbed her and forced the slow rubbing of her fingers beneath her deep blue cloak. She heard others muttering not far outside the hut, some of which were joined by peeking faces.

"Raven…" Lulu said hesitantly. "You don't by any chance know of a place called Zanarkand, do you?"

"I… know of the Zanarkand Project," she said, raising an eyebrow at an obvious contradiction that made her insides churn with worry and a belated but unfortunately not imperative hunger. If these people knew about Rufus's Zanarkand project, then they obviously should have known about Midgar and the Shinra Company. "Is that what you're talking about?" Raven asked them.

The gentle flames of Lulu's eyes gave away the answer quickly, but cogs were whirring fast in her head. "Zanarkand… project," she repeated with awe and concern that Raven didn't understand.

"Oh, man…" Wakka said, grabbing the stuck up locks above him anxiously as whatever it was that Lulu realized struck him hard.

"What?" Raven asked, hearing her chest beat in her ears and her diaphragm pulse almost as rapidly as the two laid their eyes on her, staring at the sorceress as though she had descended from on high. "What is it?"

"Sit down," Lulu warned. Raven moved backward but not back down to the bed she had been lying in. "After I tell you this, you're going to wish you did…"

"Tell me _what_?" Raven flared.

Lulu peered down at the bottom of her simple black shoes from where she sat and had been sitting since helping Raven sit up. "Raven," she whispered hesitantly. "I don't know how, but I think that you… you may have come from over a thousand years ago in our past."

Raven felt her fists clench without wanting them to. "Wh… how can… that's absurd!" she gritted her teeth as panic made her face twitch.

"Please, Raven…" Lulu stood up and reached for her, but the dark sage girl pulled back with a dark glare. "I know this sounds unimaginable… but I assure you that this is greatly possible. Wakka and I have traveled the world, and none of the places you mentioned exist here."

"But…"

"Raven," Lulu said firmly. "You're not the first one who has come to us like this. I assure you we've had experience with this before as strange as it sounds."

Raven waived her hand meaninglessly wild at the two of them and blocked out the advice being given to her, shielding her mind from the noise and the distraction that felt so wrong, like a simulation of falseness replacing the mind and world she knew. She sought deep within her mind for her reploid. That was all she needed. Memories of Titans and fighting and the darkness of youth were pushed aside, and she looked for the memories of the blue armored hero. Beneath the breadth of her own past, she went to the place that housed her Mega Man; the place that, if she focused hard enough, she would be able to speak with the Hero of Time across any distance.

Raven shrieked in her mind, and it struck through lips with spit and agony. The place with X's memories stored in her was emptier than a clouded, moonless night sky, and it made her face tighten in dread. Her fingernails dug the sides of her face for blood. Her Hero was nowhere to be found.

Lulu had slowly approached her. "Raven… calm down, you're hurting your…"

The sorceress let a spitting and inhuman roar force them back telekinetically and she screeched through the ceiling with eyes glowing erratically crimson as she morphed into the form of her massive black bird with tendrils of energy dragging behind her and tore the roof apart, splintering wood and fabrics conically on the beachside village before Raven's astral body became completely immaterial. She felt the pain strike her shoulders and back awkwardly like being thrown through a tree, but she focused only on finding X, or Zelda, or anybody. No image or thought of an existing friend comforted the fear as her great bird began to descend against her will. She tried to pull up the phantasmal energy composing her, but Raven could not hold and her body plummeted following her vision going blank.

Raven woke again, wondering if the moments she had just experience were false.

It was not. She felt the same bed and blankets on her, but her cloak was still attached this time, and sun was shining through the hole that was still wide open in their ceiling. She was not so tired or thirsty this time, but her head pounded and parts of her body ached and spasmed. The familiar sting of fresh and fair sized cuts, scrapes, and possibly gashes lined her body. Someone was busy putting her arm in a sling and paused as she looked at the unfamiliar and unimpressive looking man wearing an orange t-shirt and yellow shorts.

"Let's try this again," said Lulu out of the corner of Raven's eye. The darkly dressed woman with crimson eyes looked no less calm than before, but the Sage of Shadows saw two men casually peeking in from a few feet beyond the door clad in a mix of brownish leather and silver metal armors. The plain black handle of a sword stuck up behind the shoulder of one. She couldn't see the weapon of the other. Wakka was in the corner of the room dimmed in the shadow and spinning a strange reddish ball on his finger that had a bladed disc around its circumference and looked particularly threatening.

"Raven, we think that you are from our past, or rather that you are in your future," said Lulu.

"I got that the first time," Raven snapped, biting her lip with spasms of pain as she tried to suppress anger. "I can't stay here. I have to find a way back."

"Perhaps then we can help you," Lulu said calmly.

"To get back a thousand years in the past," Raven snapped with skepticism and backed away from the man tending to her wounds. "Sounds a little outrageous for you country bumpkins."

"So we thought, too, the first time we got a stranger from that long ago, but it seems that you are from even further back than he was. Do you perchance know a man named Tidus?"

She shook her head briefly and stood up, ignoring the pain in her legs as she stood. Trees, she guessed as she felt her cuts and scrapes. Many times fighting with the Titans she had experienced careening through woodland areas, and she had always been helped up by Cyborg, Star, Robin or sometimes even Beast Boy if he had transformed into something with opposable thumbs. The hated loneliness that tried to soften the expression that she held hard against people who she was beginning to see as captors was intensifying when she searched harder with nothing but failure to find her Mega Man or even Zelda.

"Tidus is the other one from the past?" she asked tentatively, keeping a close eye on the guards who had tightened their stances since the moment she had stood. Wakka was still twirling his ball without any visual intervention, making sure to watch her like the guards so cautiously did.

Lulu nodded.

"And how is that supposed to help me?" she glared, her head pulsating sharply beneath the stony facial shield.

"I'm not sure, Raven, but I can sense your obvious desire to get back to wherever it was you were, and I just need to tell you… that it may be harder than you think."

Raven's eyes narrowed between an intensifying and unusual migraine and at the accusation that whatever brought her here couldn't be reversed.

"You see, Raven… I'm not sure how to say this, but… I think that you may…"

"Come, on, Lu," Wakka proposed and stuck his bladed ball underneath is arm. "No point in dawdling about this, ya?"

"How can you be so insensitive?" Lulu scolded him.

"We didn't know about Tidus at first," the red-haired villager with the ball spoke to his wife. "He was pretty tortured inside, not knowin' what was goin' on, ya. We ought to just tell her."

"Tell me _what_?" Raven scowled and earned nothing but a pair of blank stares. It seemed that not even Wakka with his bold statements could manage to speak it. "I don't have time for this. If you won't tell me, then I'll take it from you."

Raven's palm lashed out as her body soared with waving cape and she made connection tightly with Lulu's cheek. Her eyes burnt with black fire, sealing up the dome entrance in a streaking black wave, and the armed men were thrown back with yells when they tried to force through the Sage of Darkness's power. The search through Lulu's mind was swift and fierce. The gothic woman impressively knew how to protect her mind, but Raven knew far better how to shatter the barriers with pure force. It was like flying through a swirling vortex of light, splitting apart panes of glass and dodging pitiable traps set by an amateur in comparison to her.

In a flash of numbing pain, Raven felt her body and mind disconnect with Lulu's with bolts of lightning rippling at the gothic woman's fingertips replacing the euphoric vision of passing through her mind. The dark sorceress's wounded frame splintered the house a second time as she crashed through the wall and into a patch of sand and grass underneath a hot sun. She felt her spine begging for respite as knees did most of the work to help her stand, burning at the effort that it took with a second arm to claim some of the burden.

"I am…" she whispered strenuously to Lulu and Wakka as they caught up, "in a different time… aren't I?"

They stood silent, and Lulu was prepared to cast more materia magic, even though that probably wasn't what she called it.

"It's the same… as the materia's lightning. I saw X use…"

She clutched the sides of her head and screamed at the subconscious utterance of his name for a second time. Her temples beat and vibrated like a gong's crash at the simple thought of him, and she couldn't resist the commands of pain to curl up in a ball as her mind writhed. It refused to stop, and the debris and sand around her began to respond from the madness. Spikes of sand began to kick up and dissolve, threatening impalement to those nearby trying to calm the situation. Blades of grass were shredded into mulch and sent into a whirlwind that spun too rapidly to give off the scent of freshly cut lawn. The men dressed in brown and yellow like Wakka backed off while Wakka himself and his wife dared to keep close, trying to reach Raven desperately.

Raven couldn't explain at first where the soothing wave was coming from that slowly began to settle her raging mind along with the physical sensation of downward gusts that interrupted the spinning tornado of greenery and sand that she caused. As if someone were trying to fill the gaps where X's absence caused mental torture, the pain and confusions subsided like any other storm eventually did. Raven, exhausted of her strength a third time, let herself lie as a shadow came over her closed eyes with a cool breeze blowing strongly across her skin, calming wounds and all.

Strange metal sounds, footsteps, kicked sand; she heard them all but couldn't move.

A soft arm lifted her from behind. It was different from Lulu's, but definitely female nonetheless as Raven felt her head resting against someone's breast. The faint aroma of a subtle perfume or scent could only be described as pure nature's spring as it soothed the pain and made her drowsy.

"Raven, you poor thing…" said a voice that she never expected to find comforting. Through eyes tense beyond the normal human limits of tolerance, she saw a blonde trail of gentle curls and a pink top that angled and tapered off to one side.

"…Zel…da?" The dark sorceress listened to her bright counterpart. The princess had survived.

"Relax, Sage of Darkness," she said, holding up the dark, wounded girl. "I will see to it that you are well taken care of, but for now, just rest."

"Rest…" she mumbled, and lying in Zelda's arms, the sorceress felt comforted and able to sleep in peace.

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Compared to Besaid Island, the place where the princess found a crippled, half dead Raven fending for her life and stricken with panic, the heavily contrasting architecture and majesty of New Yevon was practically a fanciful utopia, and she blushed at how it dwarfed her once proud kingdom.

She walked freely along the streets, all constructed high above ground with strange metals of blues and silvers and carpeting of bright red in the places where the clergy of their religion frequented the most. Arching pillars lined many such walkways, dipped beneath water that flowed with a sound similar to a freshly flowing river in untouched nature. The architects had clearly aimed at making New Yevon an inviting place to all who visited or held a permanent residence there.

But things were far from that peaceful Zelda had realized after only a few days stay there as an honored guest after mysteriously showing up at their doorstep with no explanation as to how she got there other than a single elderly passerby saying something about a shining ball of light appearing in the night that was shooting out lightning bolts and then shortly after, the princess. Yes, as tranquil as her walk was, she could sense the tension in many of the faces in the city, especially in those who held positions of leadership. They flinched almost unnoticeably whenever some mention of things called "Farplane" and "Fayth" were mentioned. As curious as she was, Zelda didn't dare pry at the problem with the unnecessary generosity that was being granted to her. Baralai, the praetor of the New Yevon community and a young man with a frail voice but a kind and willful heart, was clearly hard pressed to help her find Raven, and yet he still found a way. Fearing that asking for additional help would snap the eggshells that she walked on, she allowed Baralai or others to make their own advances toward the plight that she and Raven bore.

She shook her head thinking about the dark sorceress and stared up into the bright sunlight of this world, recognizing it as being almost identical to the land of Gaia that they were not exactly a part of anymore. Either Raven had arrived in this new time a bit later than she herself had or had been unconscious for much longer. Regardless, Zelda was relieved that she found the Sage of Darkness before she did anything too reckless or before her mind had deteriorated worse than it had already. She had felt the signal of her pain and anguish half a continent away, and was thankful that the fading Triforce mark on her palm, though hardly anything more than a stain now, had allowed her to keep a slight bond with the sages and inevitably Raven as well.

The princess bent down, unlaced her knee-high, black leather boots and dipped her feet into the chilly water with a rush of pleasure tickling up her spine and down her arms. It was hardly the action of a noble figure, but she had briefly asked one of the priests if the water flowing there served as the town's drinking supply, and the answer of 'no' had settled her decision. It helped her think, and that was important.

As Princess Zelda Hyrule, once greatly connected to the Hero of Time in the past, she was sensitive to the flow of epochs and found herself more easily accepting of the fact that she might indeed be on the same planet as when they attempted to finish off Zero prematurely, except a thousand years or more into the future, and yet she was resigned to kick at the water underneath the pillars of this royal city instead of returning to the proper time where Mega Man X could be in any manner of danger. She knew of no way to return except by the Master Sword or the once fabled Ocarina of Time that the last Hero of Time had. But the former was with X in the past and the latter… well, no one really knew where the sky blue instrument was anymore. She imagined that it had vanished along with the last hero.

Two young women presumably in their twenties approached, one with a gentle stride and the other with a bubbly and erratic skip as the two chatted and giggled with each other. Zelda paid little heed at first, but when she noticed the praetor Baralai following directly behind, she immediately stood and laced her boots swiftly.

She finished just as they all arrived in front of her. The one with the gentle stride surprised her with excitement. She wore a white shirt of sorts was split in a V almost below her navel with a black symbol of some sort spidering and curving from one side of the V to the other. Her hair, fairly plain brown in color, was exceptionally long and braded, and yet some of her hair did not fall into the tightly rung column that swung behind her back and was instead cut shorter than shoulder length. She wore a similar half-skirt compared to Zelda's that covered her right leg with a splash of blues and whites, and she had a firm fitting garment that covered perhaps a third of her thighs at most and it met the bottom of her upper outfit perfectly. She even wore black laced knees high boots that were slightly thinner than Zelda's, but otherwise almost identical.

"You must be Zelda!" the woman said exuberantly. "I've been so excited to meet you."

"Miss Zelda," Baralai bowed gently with a gesture of his palm and a proud but soft smile, "this is the Lady Yuna, the High Summoner and leader of New Yevon."

"Oh, stop," replied the woman whose seeming importance made Zelda humble herself with a slow and deep mixture of bow and curtsy. She apparently was referring to both Baralai and Zelda when she made the reply. "I'm an _ex­_-summoner, Baralai, seeing as how there aren't any aeons left to summon."

Zelda lifted her eyes much faster than her return to a relaxed stance. No aeons? She vaguely learned that they existed in Gaia's past. Why not here? She noticed the other woman accompanying Yuna, hardly a woman except by the shape of her body that she had no problem exposing to all those around her, and she was bouncing back and forth to a silent beat in her head with nothing more than a small white bikini and a heavily pocketed sky blue mini skirt that carried everything she need since the rest of her outfit could contain nothing but small areas of skin. Her hair was intricately woven into many tiny blonde braids that formed a small tower of patterned hair on her head.

"And you know that I'm not the head of New Yevon," Yuna continued, breaking Zelda's focus away from the girl. "No matter how much you all ask me, I'm doing my own thing, and right now that's speaking with Zelda here." She turned to the lightly dressed girl. "Isn't that right, Rikku?"

"You bethca!" the girl hopped as if her shoes were spring loaded. "Nice to meet you!"

The princess found her arm being yanked exuberantly by the girl. "It's… my pleasure," she replied. "But what would someone as significant as you want to speak to me about?"

"About where you come from," Yuna stared with an overwhelming awe that made her and Rikku bounce with excitement.

"Do you think?" Rikku giggled.

"Oh, I hope so!" the Lady Yuna bubbled back.

Baralai glanced sideways at princess Zelda and bowed to the trio of girls. "By your leave, Lady Yuna, Miss Rikku, Miss Zelda. If you require anything, do not hesitate to come to the temple and ask."

They all nodded and Baralai headed back the way Zelda had come from with his jade robes swinging as he strode.

The princess turned to the two, thinking how much she would rather be dipping her feet than having something new dropped onto her. At least they seemed pleasant enough, but their giddiness had a way of irritating that she disliked much more when the realization arose that Raven would probably find them similarly annoying. Zelda, on that note, deliberately began to take a slow walking place to the building where Raven rested, not far from the temple where Baralai headed.

"So what do you want to know about where I come from?" Zelda asked them simply.

"Ooh, ooh!" Rikku piped up. "Do you know a guy named Tidus?"

"Rikku!" the Lady Yuna snapped, but with the playfulness of camaraderie and friendship.

The High Summoner? Zelda wondered how exactly she earned that title, whatever it meant aside from being able to summon aeons like people with red materia could in the past.

"Like I also told Baralai, I don't know a man by the name of Tidus. I'm sorry. Why do you want to know?"

"Well," began Yuna, suddenly forlorn at the response. "We thought you might be… you know… from the same _time_ as he was."

Zelda turned and held up her hand commandingly. Without the regal adorning that she used to dress with when she once ruled a kingdom she was worried that her attempt at taking authority would be scoffed at, but Rikku and Yuna stopped abruptly and made the hesitant and awkward face that indicated apology. Rikku even managed to halt her liveliness for a moment to listen as they walked.

"I do not appreciate the fact that you aware of that," Zelda tried to respect them while piercing them with a condescending glare too. "Please do not spread that information around. It will only cause trouble that Raven and I do not need."

"Oh, right, sorry!" Rikku grinned.

"I'll make sure not to tell anyone," Yuna added, "but won't it eventually get out anyway? The two of you look a lot different. People are bound to ask."

"Nothing personal, I assure you, but once we find a way back, we plan to leave."

Three pairs of footsteps turned into one by itself.

"What now?" Zelda grumbled with regal distaste for this world growing by the minute.

"Well…" Rikku began bashfully, "the last person who came here… wasn't really…"

"…Real," the Lady Yuna finished forlornly.

Zelda stared down at her feet and breathed deeply, biting her lip while clenching white-knuckled fists close to her chest.

"I know for a fact that the person whom you long for is far different than I am. I have traveled across light years to this planet in its past to stop an ancient calamity from taking an ultimately eternal hold on the universe in all times. In trying to do that I was thrown into the future of that planet; the land that you live in. I have witnessed timeless heroes come and go, and I hold the power to change fate in my hands, blessedly given by the Triforce of Wisdom, a power I am sure you cannot even comprehend. Do not try to convince me that I am some sort of 'Dream of the Fayth,' whatever that may be."

A tiny and frail gasp leapt from Yuna's mouth before her hands deftly covered it.

"I do not normally hear people's thoughts without deliberately listening to them, but yours are so carelessly on the edge of your consciousness that you may as well shout them in my ears," Zelda fixatedly stared.

A sharp twitch. The princess knew immediately that Raven was awake again, and her chest began to beat strangely fast.

"I must leave," Zelda said, turning on the Lady Yuna and her companion Rikku to hurry across a substantial section of the town.

It was the first time she had sprinted since the donning of her new outfit. Her half-skirt streamed gently behind her, caressing against her legs but not interfering, and she felt the tight tug of the thick leather boots absorbing the impact as she ran, ignoring the many who glanced at her pointed ears and remarkable blonde hair strangely. She gave little thought to it aside from playing out a brief scenario in her mind, shouting to the world that she thought their ears were just as unusual. But most important was Raven and making sure she was with someone familiar when she awoke for the fourth time this day.

At a small villa on the edge of that part of town, hanging high above the ground as much of the city was a construct of vertical mastery, she sensed Raven's heart rate as though it was her own, and she felt her breathing turn heavy as she reached for the door of the dome-like, multi-tiered building with its mixes of blues, whites and purples jutting out excitedly.

She hurried through the interweaving flaps of thick, colorful fabric that served as a door and she was greeted harshly by a mind tingling sting as the rays of light faded behind the curtained portal, closing with the lack of wind to keep it aloft from its neutral hanging position.

"You..." echoed a strained and bitter voice through Zelda's triangular ears. "What have you done? You've taken him from me!" he snarled.

Deep amethyst swirls of dim light spun and weaved together, mixing with crimson and the deepest black. A shadowy, seething Raven half-appeared through it in some pseudo corporeal manner. Her eyes moved erratically, trying to focus on the former princess, whose fingers fought against the urge to tremble as she bit her lip hard and breathed.

"I did what I had to do, Raven," Zelda spoke slowly and calmly to the Sage of Darkness.

"Why?" Raven insisted as though she had not heard. "Why!"

"Your link has been severed," Zelda raised her voice, and readied her arms at a wide distance from each other that would allow her to rapidly fire an arrow of light if need be.

"No... you took him from me!" she spat, delirious and staggering and beginning to become more physical than before. "If I had just had more time to search... I would have found him, but _you_..."

Zelda sensed the weakness in Raven taking hold. She could see the broken arm in its sling bearing down on her efforts to expel her rage and distress. Her eyes glowed erratically, white, blue, purple, and then ceased to glow at all, becoming a glossy mixture of bloodshot cream with deep hues of a blank night at its center. The energies that made her form intimidating wisped away, and Zelda stood tall as the dark sorceress began to shake at the knees.

"No... no..." Raven muttered before collapsing into Zelda's arms.

The princess took her and laid her to rest once again, wondering if the next time she woke she would strain herself to exhaustion once again. She simply couldn't handle the fact that Mega Man X had been taken from her; that the link had been forcibly torn when they had traveled through a tunnel of indescribable lights and feelings with Zero to this unknown place and time. Worse yet, and possibly unknown to the Sage of Darkness as of that moment, it was Zelda's own memories that she had used to replace the holes that had been made. She shook her head. It could not have been helped. Had she left Raven alone, her consciousness itself may have caved in and left her unable to function, possibly unable to even live under the mental strain. She reaffirmed herself that she made the right choice, albeit a painful one for the poor dark girl who had begun breathing normally under the warmth of a fragmented sunlight spreading through the patterns of a tapestry above the deep oak bed that she was placed with care on. Zelda pulled a blanket of deep blue over Raven's decelerating body, and a wisp of shadow and chilling air moved past her.

She spun.

"S-sage of Light?"

Without a sound, the brown cloaked figure stood upright in the entrance to Raven's bedchamber and gave a firm nod and he showed no indication that he had entered the room or the building by any standard means. The metallic red boots still peeked out beneath the bottom of his cloak, but the rest of him, save for a pair of pale but smooth lips that were only partially shadowed by the cloak and the wide black visor that covered his eyes, still remained a mystery, but one that Zelda was overcome with excitement to see.

"You're... how... it's, I..." her hands fumbled around him, wanting to touch but not quite daring to, and yet as she calmed her body language to a more regal manner, she still felt a tingling around the front of her waist at his presence.

"It's good to see you," she bowed her own head.

"You're surprised?" he asked.

"Well, yes," she smiled lightly, realizing she had been averting her eyes from him and quickly switching to making too much eye contact. "We were told that we're a thousand years into the future. I suppose we can't be if you're..."

"You _are_ over a thousand years in Gaia's future, in spite of my presence here, actually," he stated. "And I'm sure you're wondering _how_ exactly it's possible I'm here as well. The answer is remarkably simple."

Zelda angled her line of vision to the side, thinking this time instead of hiding the awkwardness of the sudden reunion. "You have the same power to travel through time as the ultimate evil, Zero?"

The sage nodded. "In fact, X, Raven, and even you have the power to do so, buried deep within. You just need to find it."

Her eyes widened. "Then we can get back to where we belong right now!" Zelda said joyously, but the sage quickly shook his head and held out his white-gloved hand to quiet her excitement.

"You have things you need to do here, just the two of you."

Zelda shook her head, confused. "What could we possibly need to do centuries away from where the Hero and everyone else are?" she asked.

The Sage moved past her with his cloak swaying delicately. He opened the blinds, extinguishing the pattern that shone through and replacing it with warm beams of sunlight that lit up the room. Zelda joined his side tentatively, wondering what his eyes looked like beneath his visor. She imagined a gentle blue and then a pale crimson much like her own. In the few seconds of silence spent next to each other, she tried on so many eye colors for the sage. They all looked stunning.

"On the very day that my..."

"Your what?" Zelda asked tenderly, and she felt for his hand beneath the tattered sleeve of his cloak.

"On the very day that Mega Man X and the other exist in right now, a man is being born. That man's son will eventually come to be the man who travels into the future; into this place. The one they accuse of being a dream... he is very real, but he is trapped between existence and its opposite. The force that brought him to the future as a savior could not make him fully real. Hence why they consider him to be a sort of illusion or dream."

"A dream of the Fayth? Tidus?"

Beneath the shades that covered his face, Zelda sensed his eyes looking toward her (the color still perplexing her), and his lips twitched for a moment into something that resembled a smile.

"Precisely. That man who is half real... he is the Sage of Water. Find him and the sacred blade called Brotherhood. It, like the Master Sword and the young Raven's Red Lotus, gives the wielder the power to change destiny."

"Yes, Sage of Light," said Zelda. Her hand still felt his. It was warm. Her heart almost skipped as their joined hands rose up, but she blushed and turned away as he stared at the scarred and scabbed knuckles on the fingers that were at one time not as worn as they were now. Her body felt as though it shrunk under his glare, and yet unusual warmth filled her along with it.

"They're healing well," he said quietly. "The scars will probably be there for years. Maybe the rest of your life."

Zelda looked at her own hands, wrought with anger she had mauled them.

"I can heal them... if you'd like," he said even more quietly, but in a way she had yet to hear escape from his lips. His voice was lighter and more caring. It sounded familiar, as brief as it was. Warm and welcoming, Zelda was tempted to nod at the Sage of Light's offer. But after a moment's contemplation, trading glances at the clouds in the sky through the open window with the blackened bits of dry scarred tissue, she pulled her hand away.

"No," she said, almost inaudibly. "I gave myself these. They have to stay, if only for the sake of reminding me not to lose control like that again."

"A wise answer," he grinned, adding some facial gesture that was incomplete beneath the veils he wore.

Raven suddenly stirred, twisting the blankets as her body adjusted itself. Then she went motionless again.

"If only I knew what to do about her," Zelda sighed, but before she finished her sentence, the Sage of Light had already moved toward the dark sorceress with an out stretched hand. Using something unknown to Zelda, he cut off Raven's cast and placed one hand over the swollen arm and the other on her face, clasping across one cheek. An aura of golden yellow surrounded both of them, the sage's flickering with more intensity than the gentle one that encompassed Raven's arm and face. Zelda heard a tiny grunt escape the Sage of Light's mouth just at the moment that whatever he had done ceased.

He stood quickly and headed for the curtain portal at the building without saying anything, and Zelda rushed after him.

"Raven will..." he spoke ahead of her, "be much more... agreeable, I think, when she wakes."

"But wait, where are you going? Can't you tell me more? Stay longer, please," she insisted.

"One more thing," he said firmly. "Find the Sage of Water as quickly as you can. Zero's presence... how can I explain this... he, in a sense, transcends time. As the final clash between the Hero of Time, the sages, and the ultimate evil draws closer, his influence will spread, but not just across planets and galaxies, but to all time, poisoning existence at every corner, every second, and every imaginable place. This world and many others are going to start to feel his wrath, regardless of the outcome between Mega Man X and Zero. That is how powerful he is."

Zelda continued to follow him with urgency, speechless at the impact of what had just been explained to her in the span of thirty seconds. "Wait... how can that..."

His body dissolved into a stream of red and brown, highlighted by streaks of reflective white, and he vanished with a snap, leaving no trace as his pure energy shot through the ceiling like a ghostly bullet.


	36. Small Miracles, Big Mystery

**Chapter 36 - Small Miracles, Big Mystery**

With the moon and the stars watching down, four Teen Titans (five if you count their slightly unwanted but slowly improving guest, Gizmo) sat on the top of their T-shaped home and base, exhausted, eyes sagging, legs sore, and armpits of some smelling rather foul after almost three break-free days straight of chasing endless peculiarities that made no sense, left seemingly no trail, and only contributed to frustration. Cyborg was thankful that showering was not a necessity for him. Still, he found his armor plated mechanical body almost unwilling to move and heavily drained from the constant effort.

"So..." Robin began, stifling a yawn that was long overdue and would have to wait a brief while longer. "What did everyone find?"

Gizmo jumped in first with his scratchy, loud voice, but only so he could go to bed sooner. "Petty crook chased by cops tried to jump across a gap between buildings. He coulda put the Olympics' long jumpers to shame. Even weirder was that one of the other cops managed to do the same thing. I had to save the other one's butt from becoming pavement paste."

"Cyborg?" Robin said, taking control of the order.

"Was at a rave," he groggily gave his report. "At the climax of the last song, the lead singer's voice let out some kinda shockwave. Blew all the speakers, shattered every bit of glass in about a fifty foot radius. Half the people there almost had their eardrums blown out. Some of them had to get hospitalized. I'm glad I wasn't there when it actually happened, but that was the story I got after questioning a dozen deaf people."

"Wonderful," Robin managed a tiny chuckle. "Beast Boy?"

The green changeling made no attempt to hold back the wide yawn that took over his face the instant he tried to speak. After a long wait of Titans staring dreary eyed at him, he finished and told them what he had found. "Well, not sure if mine counts..."

"Just go ahead, B.B."

"Ok..." he groaned on, "well, I was at a hospital, and this old lady was dying of cancer. And I mean, like... they didn't expect her to make it another hour. Her family came to be with her for the end, and then..."

"Then what?" snapped Gizmo. He tugged uncomfortably at the green jumpsuit and goggles that covered his tiny frame. He clearly wasn't happy with its smell or the feel of it on a body that hadn't felt a shower's relieving touch in almost half a week.

Beast Boy scratched his head. "I dunno... she somehow got... better. Like, totally better."

"What do you mean?" Robin pressed.

"Well, I stuck around," said the befuddled changeling, "and I guess they did some tests, and she doesn't have cancer anymore. She's totally healthy."

A culmination of impressed but tired whistles and other soft sounds responded to how impressive that tale was.

Robin glanced at Starfire. She nodded but spoke hesitantly. "Mine is... rather confusing," she blushed innocently. "Perhaps we should just finish our tales of strangeness in the morning after we have slept, yes?"

"I'd really rather hear it all right now, Star. I plan to update everything we've collected so far once we're done here."

"Oh... I see," said Starfire. It was clear to the rest that it was one of those situations that she didn't quite know how to verbalize. After living together with the other Titans for a few years, she had grown accustomed to holidays, food, the unending list of what she called "peculiar grooming rituals," and most other things human, and so when it seldom did still occur that she was confused, the Titans all knew to listen for an exciting story.

She cleared her throat. "I had gone into a dark alley to precisely the coordinates that I was given, and I discovered a vehicle shaking madly with all of the windows covered in fog. I thought perhaps a fire blaarg from the Gorthon province of my home world somehow made its way here and was attacking some helpless person inside their car, but when I got closer and rubbed the fog free from the front window, I saw something that..." she trailed of and blushed. "I... uh... do not quite know how to explain it."

"Try Starfire, this is important," Robin insisted, but then affixed his statement with, "well… it might be, anyway."

She sighed heavily, recognizing that even the deep breath strained her chest as a pop of something falling back into place audibly resounded from her back. She ignored it and sought to explain further against her desires. "Very well. I had realized that there were two voices coming from inside the car, and they were moaning constantly; I was so sure they were injured… and I thought it was very strange how they kept saying, or rather dropping the… _F-bomb_, I believe you call it, and it was frequently followed by the words 'yeah' and 'me'."

Cyborg's organic eyed widened, almost painfully with a sting of exhaustion and surprise. "Uh… Starfire…"

"…And then when I rubbed the fog away from one of the windows, I found that a man appeared to be stuck to a woman's back, and they were stuck without any clothes on! They were jerking madly, pulling back and forth, trying to get unstuck from each other but to no avail. It was very awkward to try and help them while they were not wearing clothes, but I forced myself to rip off the door but when they saw me, both of them screamed quite loudly and separated from each other, hiding themselves in clothing.

"Oh geez..." Cyborg whimpered squeamishly. Beast Boy could be seen in the dim light of Cyborg's machine body and the moon's with his mouth hanging open and his slightly pointed ears drooped in shock and disturbance that made his stomach splash with illness. Robin was staring with wide eyes that stretched the thin black strip mask covering them to its limit. Gizmo suddenly stormed off, and the other Titans swore they saw steam jettison off his spherical bald head.

"That's just freaking fabulous," he whined, not having the energy to be his usual hostile self. "Now _none_ of us are gonna sleep with that image in our heads."

"I do not quite understand," Starfire said. "While I have learned that naked people sometimes have ways of disturbing the human mind, what is it about being forcibly joined that makes it so disturbing?"

Robin slapped his forehead and almost felt the unclean, greasy film through his glove as he struggled to get the horrid picture out of his mind, but the more he focused on trying to rid himself of it, the more pungent it became. "Star, they weren't stuck together. They were… oh, never mind."

Cyborg had already left, wanting to purge the embarrassing thoughts of Starfire's intrusion while Robin looked for Beast Boy, who seemed to have vanished. He saw a greenish bat flying around erratically as though it were in considerable pain.

"Beast Boy, bats are blind, not deaf. But nice try."

A strange sound that could only be described as Beast Boy transforming (or possibly sliding the material of a windbreaker across a wall) indicated that he had shed the bat and he exchanged it for a small, hairless rodent.

"Naked mole rats are blind too. Not deaf," said Robin with a swift shudder. "Crap, I just said _naked_. Now it's even worse."

The tiny mole rat screeched as it scurried around and thumped feebly into Robin's leg.

"Beast Boy, either transform into a snake or leave."

He did both, slithering through a ventilation duct on the rooftop as fast as his scales allowed him to.

Robin glanced at Starfire, whose fingers acted as though bugs were tickling her skin. The thought of the whole event made her stretch down her purple miniskirt to try and cover more; any amount more that she possibly could.

"Uh... Star?"

The Tamaranian's hand almost convulsed as her face moved to inches within his and she made a feeble attempt to express her revulsion and embarrassment.

"EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!" she squealed, flailing her arms with her green eyes bulging. "I feel as though a million showers of flesh ripping hotness could not save me from the _nastiness_ I have intruded upon!"

"Star..."

"Then all the moaning and screaming of the F-bomb was all... Oh, yuck!"

"Starfire..."

"The _sex_ is not supposed to go in from the back side, so what were they..."

"_STARFIRE!_" Robin drowned out her panic with raw volume. It worked, luckily for him. It wasn't a conversation he wanted to have.

They waited for several minutes silently, the only two left to listen.

Starfire was trying to think about something less embarrassing that the way she had intruded on the couple, and Robin was considering all that had happened.

"Um…"

Robin almost missed it, enjoying the embrace as the wind ruffled his hair, and with the utmost normalcy he switched gears mentally to a more inquisitive stature. "What's that?" he asked.

She shook her head curiously in thought. "Do you... do you think that friends Raven and X… that they could...?"

"I... uh," Robin stumbled, trying to make sure that didn't become a disturbing mental image either, "I don't know Starfire. They've grown really close, and I know I shouldn't underestimate Mega Man, but I honestly don't know if he's capable. I'm pretty sure Cyborg isn't. Why do you ask?"

"I just thought that it would be wonderful for Raven. She's always kept to herself. Only once has she had romance with another, and as you know..."

"I know, Starfire. That didn't turn out so well for her. But I'm glad she's found X, and that he found her. As different as they are, I think they make a fantastic couple, and what's more important is that Raven seems happy."

Starfire hummed approvingly, and she looked over the edge at the earth of their little island. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I almost forgot. During the interruption of the sex," (Robin's eye twitched), "the tar beneath them had begun to split open, threatening to swallow their car and them along with it before I had the terrible misfortune of invading their sex privacy." (Another twitch).

Robin rubbed the rogue eyeball. "Now that _is_ interesting, but it's not really getting us any closer to figuring out what's causing all these little miracles and supernatural events." He sighed and then slapped his palm on the concrete and steel of the rooftop. "I swear, Starfire, I don't know how much longer I can stand to search without getting at least one step closer to finding out the cause of all this. The public's starting to notice, too. Saw on a tabloid, front cover had that eighty-something grandma who tossed a car aside to save her grandkid. They were selling a lot better than usual. Damn it! This is so aggravating."

"I agree, Robin," she said to him. "Every time we think we have... triangulated is the word?" Robin nodded, and she continued. "Every time we have searched these locations we come up empty, and I must admit that although you regard me as the most optimistic and cheerful of us all, I am finding it quite frustrating."

"It's not just that, either," he admitted, and he took off the veil over his eyes; a thing he rarely ever did. His eyes were pale blue. They clashed with almost everything else on his outfit; the greens and reds of most of his suit, the yellow on the inside of his cape. "I don't like feeling so... so small," he said. "X was counting on us to try to find this, and we've been searching for over a week without a single legitimate clue to lead us while they're out there having an adventure that feels so grand compared to almost anything we've ever done. The Triforce, the sages, the Master Sword..." he trailed off before grinning as he watched Starfire watching him. "I guess I'm a bit jealous."

"Perhaps this adventure is simply not a part of us, the Teen Titans," Starfire explained. She looked at her palms. "In my hands, I hold much more power to change things than most of the normal human inhabitants of this planet. I often have wondered if they feel the same way about us as you do about what X and Raven and possibly even Terra are being given the chance to do. But I have realized that all of us have different strengths and that everyone has power to change things. I know that I most certainly could not be one of the few gourmet chefs that we see on the television preparing food in front of a live audience."

Robin laughed warmly. "I don't think I could do that, either. I'm too goofy looking, and when I say 'Bam!' it just doesn't have the same effect."

Starfire giggled as her eyes fluttered. She stared at him as he stared at the stars. "I think that your 'Bam' is wonderful, and you are most certainly not too goofy looking. You are just goofy looking enough."

He smiled and wrapped his arms tenderly around her, feeling her burnt-orange hair tickle at the exposed skin above his arms as their warmth collided at the chest.

"Thanks, Star."

"You are quite welcome," she smiled.

They expanded with the deep breath of satiated stress that came from the most perfect of hugs. Each took turns closing their eyes to enjoy the moment. In perfect agreement, they wordlessly separated, same speed, same time.

"Let's go get some sleep."

"I agree," Starfire nodded, "but you have forgotten something."

Robin tilted to one side. "I did?"

"Yes, you did. You have not given _your_ report yet. You went again to Terra's cave?"

The young leader stood and lifted Starfire up effortlessly as she assisted by allowing her ability to hover do half the work. He grinned with crossed arms. "You caught me then. Yeah, there was an energy reading at Terra's cave again. Same thing, again."

"The strange green streaking lights?" Starfire guessed, and Robin indicated that she was right with a bodily shrug.

"It hasn't changed at all. I ought to help you all out with the rest of the things going on in the city."

"No Robin," she said to her leader and friend. "You suspect she has something to do with this, and I believe that your assumption is a correct one. She does bear the mark of the Triforce."

The boy wonder gritted his teeth. "I know, but it can't just be that. It doesn't make sense. She's not even close to the places where we've picked up energy readings most frequently. She's almost outside of the range of everything else... which unfortunately seems to be slowly growing."

Her eyes, defiantly grappling against growing more tired, widened as much as the sagging dark areas under her lids would allow. "I was not aware of that."

"Neither was I, until I studied the readings earlier today. It's a tiny difference, but it's growing. Whatever's causing this is spreading, and though I think Terra's involved somehow, I don't see how she can be the cause."

"Stop brooding over this for now, Robin. We both... need..."

They yawned widely, neither one bothering to cover their mouths. It had gone past the point of caring about appearance some time ago.

"Ok. Sleep. Now," Robin gurgled as the last yawn left him debilitated. The trip to each of their rooms were nothing but blurs of stumbling, exhaustion and the clock-work snore of Beast Boy that penetrated steel plated and supposedly soundproof doors. They both giggled before splitting ways, and Robin muttered to himself something about having those doors improved, though he was sure not to remember as he reached his bed, sloppily struggled to pull off his hero outfit and collapsed belly down in a heap, falling asleep almost instantly.

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Even though necessity demanded it, sleeping for nearly a day straight after being up for three can have some fairly profound effects on the brain, Robin realized as a pinkish beam of light tinted his eyes. The ending of a fantastic sunset, he was sure, and then he corrected his own thoughts, changing 'a whole day of sleep' to 'three quarters of one.' Lifeless and starving for nourishment other than black coffee or Beast Boy's pixie sticks, Robin struggled to shove his body up from the face down poise that he had been in since he collapsed the previous night. Or had it been very early morning when they had...? Oh, it didn't really matter. No alarm was going off, beckoning him elsewhere to fight crime or some form of personal super villain lunacy. Patrolling for three days straight had a way of alerting whoever would call themselves enemies of the Titans to keep an exceptionally low profile until things were back to normal. Few were stupid enough to try something daring with all of them so active, and with Gizmo's presence as an ally (at least for the time), it was probably making former partners and other criminals who knew the bald whiz kid rather uneasy about their secrecy. All those who lacked the intellectual facilities to recognize that it wasn't a good time to stir up trouble were easily taken care of by the normal police force throughout the city.

Robin arched his back. It hurt, but it hurt great, and his muscles loosened up happily as he finished the stretch and flipped himself over onto the soft, cushioning feel of his bedding. Sucking a flow of somewhat stale but still refreshing air that had been composed of the haphazardly strewn clothing around his room, the young leader leapt up to a steel bar than hung from his ceiling and yanked himself up several times before allowing himself to stretch his spine and drop to his feet. A number of cracks signaled that his own self inflicted chiropractic work was suitable enough to move on through the rest of his day's routine. Well, his night's routine anyway. To hell with routine, it was almost 7 PM. He would do whatever he felt like as long as it was productive.

He showered, but just quick enough to make himself smell fresh again. Once smelling awful was funny with Starfire. A second time would be distasteful, and although it could have been helpful, a long shower was too much of a waste of time even when rebelling against routine. After a quick toweling, he slid on a black sweater, matching pants and decided on skipping socks and shoes.

The hallways were void of Beast Boy's snoring, luckily, but the common room was vacant in spite of the changeling's absence of nostril noise. The kitchen, being separated from the rest of the common room only by a length of kitchen counter, was the picture perfect place to watch the sunset at a distance.

He flipped open the fridge, shuffled aside some of the sloppily uncovered food with its furry blue mold (shaking his head for a moment, never able to get used to the fact that Starfire could digest it) and found a clean red delicious apple that had clearly been bought during the most recent trip to get groceries. Otherwise it would have joined the collection of foreign life cultivating itself amongst take out Chinese and leftover spaghetti. Juicy and chilled, the fresh bites slid down happily into his stomach, satisfying the craving for something other than diuretic stimulants while he watched the water's surface blend with a setting mauve sun. Coffee be damned in comparison to this, he thought.

He yawned again as the star that greeted the world's morning said its goodbyes and slowly brought darkness, signaling the automatic lighting in their den to adjust subtly, but not nearly enough after several years for Robin to not notice. He looked around the common room. Still empty. He didn't blame them. Raven probably would be the only other one up, if she were here, but even she would most likely still be in her room.

He sat down at one of the work computers, twisting himself just so in the swiveling seat, remembering for a moment when he and X had sought answers about the Mavericks on their planet. They never had found any reason why the rouge machines had wanted in the first place, but with their base and all of them destroyed, in hardly mattered anymore.

Robin brought up the grid of the city where all of the strange events had occurred recently, disregarding some that were unsubstantiated or unconfirmed, and stared. He slid over a second screen next to the first, switched it on, and transferred the data on each incident to that one, and stared.

Unexplained natural phenomena, superhuman abilities, miracle healing, bullets suddenly having the power of cannons, strange activity in Terra's cave; what the hell was the correlation? He squinted more at the grid as his brain processed, trying to recognize something he hadn't before. The range was wide and circular, about thirty miles in diameter and less than half of that from the center to the coastline on any part of their peninsula. Much of the range therefore extended into the water, but nothing had happened out there aside from a beachgoer somehow snapping a half ton shark's skull when it tried to bite him. Lucky bastard. Less than a month ago that would have been cause for research, tests and a thorough questioning. Now it was just another blip on his screen and well within the radius of effect.

Out of the corner of his eye, a bright light pierced the main monitor with the image of Gizmo, looking tired and uptight.

"Hey bird boy! Got something you're gonna wanna take a look at."

"What's that, skullcap?" Robin candidly replied.

He tapped a few keys on his end. "Another energy reading. Out on the water on a battleship. I'm uploading it to you now."

It was good to know he wasn't the only one motivated to work. He waited a moment for his screen to update. It went black for a moment, and then reconstructed the area with each spot marked and a new one, far off the coast of the city. His eyes bored at the shinning red dot with stunned expression.

"Triangulate the new epicenter," Gizmo's rough voice suggested. "And try not to piss in your pants."

Holding his breath, Robin did so, watching the computer analyze the intensity and frequency of all the recorded events. It was a brief, but breathless few seconds, and Gizmo's remark was fully understood.

"Shit," Robin slurred under his breath. "Gizmo, that incident was over eighty miles off the coast. That means…"

"The area of effect we originally guessed just more than quadrupled."

"No, Gizmo… I know that. Yes, it blows, but… of course! I can't _believe_ I didn't think of that before."

"What are you jabbering on about?" the whiz kid scowled. "What did you figure out?"

"That's it!" Robin exclaimed. "The Mavericks, don't you see? They were after this power source the whole time, and they were looking for it underwater because it _is_ underwater. They were searching for exactly what we are now, and that's why they escaped by submarine when we first fought them!"

Robin rolled his chair hurriedly to the front control panel and shut off the oversize picture of Gizmo. "C'mon Aqualad, pick up!" he said to himself anxiously, finding it difficult to resist the urge to bounce in his seat. "C'mon!"

He took the brief moment's wait to yank a microphone from under the main computer console and summon the other Titans who would no doubt be irate. Aqualad's young, rigid face and jet black hair expanded on the main viewer.

"What's up Robin?" the dark eyed Titan asked. "Trouble?"

"Maybe," Robin answered. "There's a disturbance on a battleship a ways off the coast. I need you to check it out, pronto. In the meantime, I need you to have every fish and mammal with a half-decent memory in the area to search off the coast of the city for anything unusual. We're now very convinced that the energy source causing all the supernatural activity is somewhere out there and that it was the same thing the Mavericks wanted to get their hands on. I'm sending you the coordinates now."

"Roger," added Aqualad. "What about you guys?"

"I'm going to have Cyborg, Starfire and Gizmo keeping an eye on things on dry land to make sure there's no trouble and to keep track of the disturbances. Beast Boy and I will join the sea life in the hunt."

Aqualad nodded and Robin noticed a strong look of admonishment on his face.

"What is it?" The boy wonder asked.

The aquatic Titan breathed out thinly. "Be careful. There've have been a couple of unusual disappearances of sea-life around her. Normally we all know when a whale, dolphin, or other large animal gets taken down by predators, but some of the incidents lately have come up empty."

"Come up empty?" Robin repeated. "You mean they're just missing?"

"Exactly," said Aqualad in a dark tone.

Robin scratched his chin feverishly. "I don't like the sound of that. It's possible that there are still Mavericks around who've been in hiding." He looked up. "We'll be cautious. Robin out."

The hydraulic swish of both entrances to the common room uncannily echoed behind Robin simultaneously, and three more Titans plus Gizmo filed out in a hurry, Beast Boy doing so while struggling with one of his shoes in a fast paced, one legged hop to keep up.

"What's up, Rob?" Cyborg rubbed both eyes. "You find something?"

"Sure did," he said back, briefly acknowledging that it was Gizmo's finding with a nod toward him. "Our target's been out in the water all along, and the area that's under the influence of it is a lot larger than we originally thought."

"Meaning," Starfire began, "that it has now become even more urgent to find it, yes?"

Robin shook his head and tossed his apple lightly in his hands as he headed toward his room. The Titans knew to follow instinctually.

"Not only that, Starfire, but there's a good chance the Mavericks were after whatever this thing is, and there might still be more of them out there searching."

A deep grunt turned their heads toward the metallic member. "Sounds like a perfect opportunity for some payback."

"I'd rather avoid a confrontation if possible," commanded Robin, particularly toward Cyborg." "It'll just be Beast Boy and I patrolling the seas with Aqualad and whatever equine life he can convince for the job. I don't want to rouse them into picking another fight with us unless absolutely necessary, got that everyone?"

"Understood," Starfire bowed lightly.

"Sure thing, Robin," Beast Boy agreed, too sleep to do otherwise.

"Meh," the whiz kid at least acknowledged what was being said, and Cyborg just snorted like a bull being told it's not allowed to charge.

"Alright then, Star, Cy, and Gizmo, you keep an eye on the activity up here in case anything happens. Beast Boy, come with me."

"Uh… into your room?"

"Yes, Beast Boy, I need to brief you on the rest of the plan," he said, somewhat falsely as he hadn't formulated the rest of it yet. "The rest of you, to your stations."

Three sets of feet shuffled away before Beast Boy reluctantly followed into Robin's room which was still somewhat scattered in reality, but clean as a whistle in his eyes. He plopped down on the corner of his leader's bed as clothes were picked up in pieces all around him to form the whole of Robin's outfit, and he waited for the one-on-one explanation that wasn't ordinary for the Boy Wonder to give to him.

"So… what's up?" Beast Boy said stupidly.

"Plenty," was Robin's aggravated response. "First off, I don't want Cy involved in this one. I'm sure you understand why."

"Yeah, of course," said the changeling.

"Also, since this may involve fighting the Mavericks again, I want as few people as possible to know about the little hunt we're going on. If you remember last time…"

"Trust me," Beast Boy assured him, "I remember the brain sucky devices of mondo weirdness. We don't want someone else's memories to get us in trouble, right?"

"Right, that's exactly it. The fewer people who know about it, the better chance we have of protecting the information. If the Mavericks came all the way to our world; a world much less technologically advanced than theirs, then it has to be important, and we can't risk helping them get closer to that power source. You've seen everything that's been happening around town lately. Just imagine…"

"Mavericks getting a hold of that? No _way_ I'd want to be around for that disaster."

Robin hummed in agreement. Finished getting into his Titan outfit, he led the green skinned friend the long way around the tower toward the service stairwell so as not to provoke an interrogative argument with Cyborg about the importance of sticking together. There was a time and a place for that. This wasn't it. Many occasions had warranted the desire for Robin to shout out "Let's split up gang!" as though they were a bunch of Scooby fanatics. Then he was reminded of how Freddy was the good looking dolt of the gang. Images as frightening as him in Fred's outfit had an influential means of both terrifying the daylights out of someone and making them feel thankful that they aren't nearly that dull and dimwitted to begin with.

The mindless trudge down a poorly lit section of barren space and dull grays originally led as deep as the basement; a place of useless criminal junk in mounds of storage boxes that would most likely gather dust until the next time it became necessary to add a new container to the neglected collection. The last time anything was added was when the majority of the short circuited and destroyed Maverick technology had been confiscated from their base. Much of it was useless due to the security counter measures that fried the circuits once Vile was destroyed, but just to be safe, a brief and unspoken period of abstraction by Mega Man X took place before the rest of it was divvied up between the Titans and the government's lesser known, unnamed technological research departments.

It was uncomfortable knowing that much of the Maverick remnants, although the more impressive and clearly foreign items were taken by X, were in government hands. The technology that Vile had brought was for war. If advancements were to be made as a result of the interstellar machines, then clearly it would be in the same fields that Vile and the other Mavericks had been using it for. Robin briefly hoped that X's interjection and the Maverick base's own self-shorting sequence that occurred when Vile was destroyed was enough to keep things progressing at a regulated pace for their Earth.

The Titan leader breathed slow and deep, reminding himself that he wasn't entirely in control of it. It was the taxpayers and the government who provided much of the funding to rebuild Titan's Tower after its multiple incidents of near collapse and obliteration, and so the government demanded a portion at times. Using the argument that Cyborg had both cybernetics and engineering degrees (earned in spare time mainly through online courses) apparently was losing its effectiveness in keeping weapons out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them; a category that Robin believed should ideally include everyone, his own government particularly.

Beast Boy was quiet. Robin wondered what he was thinking as he listened to the soft clang of worn iron stairs that the green. The changeling, youngest of the Titans, had been less abused by the Maverick insurgence than anyone else. Cyborg had been manipulated, temporarily turned into a Maverick himself and nearly torn to pieces to rid him of the affliction. Raven was nothing short of mutilated and then brought to the border of full mental collapse. Starfire was stricken with a flu-like disease as a result of the Magna Centipede's sting that almost killed her, a fate apparently rare and considered terrifying on her home world. Robin reflected on himself and the body that was close to a hundred percent of what it had been. Paralysis was nearly his fate… stuck in Titan's Tower forever unless he opted for Cyborg to replace the dead limbs from the waist down with something cybernetic. But Beast Boy had taken merely a thorough beating. Robin smiled inwardly at how strange that sounded, but it was something that young changeling was well used to, like the rest of them. Even though he lacked the skills, powers, and wisdom of the rest of his partners, it seemed that circumstance left him the best person for the job.

"So…" Beast Boy desperately broke the silence that he didn't coexist well with, "what exactly are we looking for?"

Robin's thought had distracted the fact that they had descended the stairs deeper than their basement already to the hangar of their transportation pride and joy, aptly named the Sea Titan (destroyed twice previous to this model). Configured for air, sea, and even space, it was one of the devices that they were happy to test out for the generous people at Wayne Enterprises, particularly the billionaire president of the company who always spared no expense in contributing to the professional crime fighting hero groups throughout the country.

Painted black and orange, it stuck out like color in a 50's film, as did the smell of sea salt that permeated their noses from the fan-cooled room blowing off the surface of the water where the ship was partially submerged. Designed for five passengers in separate compartments, the Titan ship was normally conjoined as one, but it was capable of separating and reattaching parts effortlessly and each section had its own propulsion systems for the highest versatility. Tonight for Robin it would be a solo mission using the lead section with some form of green aquatic life form following at his side. He turned to answer the changeling as he operated a keypad that unlocked tight steel clamps on the ship's wings.

"We're looking for something weird. That's about the best I can give you. As we get closer to whatever it is we're looking for, I'm hoping that there will some sort of sign, even though the events have always been in places with people, I would think that there would be some sort of evidence at the source. It might even affect us when we get closer."

"Uh… what exactly is it gonna do to us?" Beast Boy asked tentatively.

Robin paused for a moment and tapped his foot on the edge of the Titan ship, glancing sideways and not wanting to contemplate the question he wished had not been asked, as he was trying to force the inevitable thought to the back of his brain. Beast Boy, young and still embraced by naivety should have known that answer. It was the same answer as it always was. But Robin lied to him just the same.

"I'm not sure."

With Robin underneath the bubble glass shielding of the center compartment, the ship was lowered into the water gently, and the four other sections were pulled apart with loud clanging, supported by the metal clamps while the middle leader's portion bobbed mildly in the sea water. Beast Boy popped up beside him in the unpleasant looking shape of a squid that had passed the threshold of normal size. Something of a mini kraken, really.

They dove into the darkness of the ocean cave beneath their proud tower before a moment later the moon's illumination gave shape and surface to the steady decline of soaked and submerged Earth leading out to the Atlantic. Soon, though, depth gave way to darkness. One short of a half dozen lights burst through the aquatic shadows from the single section of Robin's pod-like craft. Two pairs on the sides spread wide rays that gave dim but broad and ample vision for a fifty meter, half-circle radius while the center beam cast a mobile spotlight's force in any direction that Robin desired. Beast Boy kept a careful distance underneath the shadow of the sub so as to keep himself out of the sights of predators who would mistake the green fellow for a tasty meal, or better yet, to keep away from any Mavericks who might still be on their planet. If there were any, they both knew that it was likely that they were searching in the same place for the same thing.

Twenty or so miles off the coast was so much more of an exotic - and dangerous - trip when late at night underwater. Coral and other aquatic plants created three dimensional murals of artwork that moved as the ocean tides swayed, and smaller creatures that swam or slithered past made the masterpiece come to life underneath the focused light. Tiny bits of dust and bacteria were dusted up when the ship dropped lower, making crystal clear water look murky with plankton and krill.

Deeper.

Tiny squeaks of stress and counter-stress drew Robin's eyes around, allowing his periphery to focus on his craft for problems while his main focus stayed within the light gaze coming from it. Nothing out of the ordinary. But then, what was ordinary in an ecosystem still so foreign and unknown in many ways? Hundreds of new species discovered in the Antarctic oceans on recent expeditions and many depths too far for manned or even automated submersibles to handle had a way of unsettling the Titan Leader. Beast Boy thought nothing of it and kept the eyes of his squid wide open for anything that didn't belong.

A massive and deep moan rumbled across both Titans, halting them suddenly, sending shivers down Robin's spine and Beast Boy's tentacle arms. Eyes were useless for both of them. They saw nothing through the wide beams or even the spotlight that could have caused it. Just a humbling moan that must have gone through the ocean for miles. Beast Boy jutted up next to Robin and made the Boy Wonder clasp at his chest as he was thrown to the other side of the compartment, startled so badly that he gasped for breath. The changeling began to use one of his long, probing squid arms to do something to the glass of the ship.

"W... H...A...L... a whale," Robin understood. "But that didn't sound normal for a whale."

Beast Boy shook the body of the squid to imitate a gesture of 'No, it didn't.' He pointed the same tentacle in the direction that he thought it came from. His body began to shift again, silently from Robin's perspective, slowly growing with tentacles reverting to the long tail of a relatively large whale himself. Beast Boy moaned similarly, but far less frighteningly back at the first call and swam off ahead of the ship as he was now a much larger and mightier vessel himself, and he was nearing the end of the spotlight's range of vision before Robin locked onto him with radar and set a much faster pace to give chase. Robin figured to himself with hands tight on the controls that it might be some of Aqualad's help. But judging by the moan, he wished there had been some way to contact Beast Boy in his current form to warn that he may be running into a deadly situation.

The propulsion system ran loud as he pushed the engines to keep up with Beast Boy, but a sudden and gargantuan shape on radar dwarfed both his own ship and the size of the changeling, who had come to a halt and was now in Robin's clear line of sight. Beneath them was a narrow and jagged crevasse in the ocean that stretched the limit of Robin's sight in either direction, but he was too enthralled and terrified with what the shape beyond Beast Boy's. Another whale, easily matching his partner's size and weight five-fold and clearly mighty enough to use Robin's sub as a toothpick, floated in front of them majestically with an aura of age and wisdom great enough to penetrate the rift between it and the humanoid species and earn it respect. Barnacles had settled all across the beast in strangely particular locations, causing a striped design that may as well have been a crown of gold on the length of the whale's top and bottom, converging in both places to points near the slowly waving tale. It had to have been easily a century old.

The creature exchanged mild moans with Beast Boy's whale form. After a minute, watching in awe, Robin acknowledged as Beast Boy shrank to the much more comforting size of a standard bottle-nosed dolphin to play a grief game of charades. The dolphin flipped upside down and began to sink lifelessly with the current.

"Dead?" Robin said loudly, articulating the shape and sound of the word clearly through the glass once Beast Boy had finished. "Dead dolphins?"

The changeling nodded, and then used his fin to making an awkward jerking motion toward the fissure beneath them. Robin nodded.

Hesitantly and slowly, he strapped himself in and led the ship down through the narrow gap that barely accommodated the two of them while the ancient whale watched them closely. Robin felt the pressure of the descent as he aimed the craft downward; the tug of his body against the restraints that held him fast and the rush of blood that made his face feel swollen. But after a brief handful of seconds, instead of a crevassed that shrank in width with depth, it began to expand rapidly, growing unnaturally until it reached a smooth and uniform width that didn't change any longer throughout the descent, though water was growing darker and murkier every second that they did. The sub creaked again, nearing a distance underneath the water that was harvesting discomfort from the edges of Robin's mind. He knew something was there, and light touched down at last on the flat surface of a man-made ocean bed almost a quarter mile wide and more than a mile long. Tall poles with glowing orbs at their tops that resembled runway lights turned on in pairs as they neared the bottom, and Robin took a moment to exchange nervous glances with Beast Boy, realizing that sweat had begun trailing down his forehead and onto his uniform.

The globe light-tipped poles came to a halt, and the last two were flashing a bright red like the blinker of a car. There were also near one end of the crevasse, and nothing seemed to be there other than the lights. Robin sat with the ship upright, alleviating the awkward warmth of excess blood in his facial features as he thought and looked for something. The sensors picked up nothing but the poles, Beast Boy, and solid rock.

The dolphin form of the changeling suddenly swayed and flapped next to him, excited about something. Robin lifted up his arms and gave an exaggerate look of confusion, which earned an unusually human look of frustration out of a dolphin as he pointed toward the back wall beyond the blinking red orbs. Images suddenly registered on his sensors. Partial ones; incomplete ones, all at regular intervals.

"A dolphin's sonar... brilliant Beast Boy!" Robin said, giving his partner a thumbs up as he began to use the onboard computer to form a likely shape out of the sound wave reflections that were hitting the ship silently. Shapes began to form behind the rock - it was hollow! An underwater hangar, clearly man made rooms beneath them, natural underwater cave formations... it had to be the Maverick's underwater base. Robin pivoted the ship as more sonic waves kept making the picture beneath the innocent looking sea bed clearer. Then, his arms tightened, his teeth clenched, and panic captured his face. All of the glowing orbs were flashing red. Menacingly red.

A sharp clang and the swift tearing of metal was heard at his side, and the expanding details of the map being formed with Beast Boy's help stopped what it was doing and displayed two clear, dangerous words: Hull Breach. Robin forced himself to breathe as he aimed the craft upward, and then everything blackened. He felt around - he and the controls were both still there. The lights of his craft and the ones illuminating the deep sea path had shut down, as had the warning that compromised all feelings of safety for Robin. Nothing responded. He switched on a light at the wrist of his glove. He couldn't see anything outside.

A violent jolt, and his craft began to ascend erratically without warning, sending him forcefully into his seat, stricken with shock and the fear that his small vessel was about to be the only witness to his end. He reached with strain under the rapid acceleration to reach for his controls, to try to start the ship again, but nothing responded.

"Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" he slammed his fists across the display in fear, anger, rage, and horror as sparks shot out and light somehow came from somewhere. The lights of the Titan ship flickered on and off, as did the displays and sensors, as if they were being completely overloaded. The center spotlight audibly surged and shattered, dying completely while the other four still flashed out of control. Robin finally realized that his fists had smashed into the center display and refused to budge. He pulled back, feeling uncontainable amounts of pain ripping through his arms and head, but his fists remained in place. In even greater panic, he screamed and screeched, spitting with twisted jaw as his muscles all refused to properly obey him, and his blurring eyes watched neon green vines of energy spark from the skin between the ends of his glove and the beginning of the rest of his uniform. His brain, in excruciating agony, fathomed what might be happening; what _was_ happening. The source supplying energy to his ship... was him. It careened even faster, accelerating and forcing the looser skin on his face to pull backward toward the headrest of his chair.

A violent crash - Robin was released from the connection with the ship, and its systems normalized. It slowed and slowed, and he realized that he had just struck the edge of the narrow crevasse. His arms wouldn't lift. Smoke wafted from him. His body felt burnt and smelled that way, too. Only his heart, pumping through his chest more violently than a drummer's beat, told him that he was still alive. That and the warning light that had returned, suggesting a hasty return to the surface before the ship could not take the pressure from the hull damage. A second light he realized through the haze that was his vision had also shorted out on the way up. Then, his spirits, though numb with what had happened, lifted as his craft slowly tilted downward back toward the crevasse's edge and he saw Beast Boy, still a dolphin, but with something small and web-like embedded in his side. Then came something else emerged from the darkness beneath as the green dolphin's nose pressed hard on the ship from underneath. It was thin and long, and bubbles blew out from the back as it and a twin of the object fully came into view, both of them methodically moving toward Beast Boy and Robin's ship.

Robin couldn't lift his arms to move the ship faster. They were completely limp. He could only watch as the missiles closed in quickly. It would only be a few more moments until they collided, the Boy Wonder could see. They weren't going to make it. They were going to tear him and Beast Boy to pieces, and their bodies would be forever lost in the sea, eaten by all those who would smell the thick and sweet smell of food from miles away.

A crest of barnacles and reflective blubber flashed by, and a second later, in the time that Robin had to hold what little breath he could intake, the water was engulfed in a massive cloud of mutilated flesh, blood and bone, making the ancient whale's front half unrecognizable as it faded with distance. It was beyond lifeless, and the missiles had gone with it. He could not pull his eyes away from the blown apart fragments of the whale sinking into the deep until his eyes failed him and exhaustion gripped him to sleep.

The next sensation Robin felt was a fresh breeze blowing against his burnt body, filling his lungs with the strong scent of salty water. He could see Beast Boy clutching his side painfully in human form with a slow but contained flow of blood as he winced into a Titan communicator and groaned through pained speech as someone on the other end gave response. As Robin lay there barely able to do anything but watch the stars and the moon through his foggy sight, he coughed out a small sigh. He tried to perceive and replay the vision in his thoughts of his arms, his body, his mind; all of them somehow becoming for a brief moment connected with the ship. His body had released energies that should have been impossible to do, let alone survive, he knew. Fatigue garbled his thoughts, but the conclusion was clear. They had found what they were looking for, and the Mavericks were clearly well ahead of them in unearthing the source of the power that had coursed through Robin's veins just moments ago.


	37. Lunatic High

**Chapter 37 – Lunatic High**

Quarrel was breaking out across the marble white conference room of Shinra headquarters. Tempers were short, as was time, but despite the level heads of those who bore the cross of fighting Sephiroth in the past along with the Hero of Time and the professional manipulator Rufus Shinra himself, little was being solved.

"We're spread too thin already," Rufus glared across the circular table with his hands interlocked and eyes near shut.

"Well that's jes' too bad, ain't it?" Barrett slapped down his massive, dark-skinned fist and imitated a similar movement with the gun arm on his right. "If you think I'm gonna sit here while you and your kind let Corel go to hell and back for the second time, then I'm jes' gonna evacuate 'em myself."

Rufus crossed his arms with shut eyes and a bland tone. "By all means, do. It'll get your stench out of my conference room."

"Wut chu say?" the man asked as he stood, his muscles pulsating underneath tense layers of skin.

"Sit _down_, Barrett," Mega Man X commanded from the seat next to Rufus.

"I don't take orders from you!" he bellowed back, spitting on the white marble with a decided sneer and almost as much distaste for the reploid as he had for the white suit and blonde hair of Rufus.

X crossed his own arms quietly, resembling the motion of the Shinra President next to him. Did it make him look just as arrogant? No. Rufus had earned that trait over many years of demented governing practices.

"If you want any of my soldiers to help you," X lectured, "then yes, you do take orders from me."

There was a long pause for everyone involved. Nanaki was sitting quietly, keeping a perpendicular line of sight between the arguing groups as he listened. Although oldest of all present, he found his one working eye shifting towards X more often than his experience and level headedness could ignore. The reploid looked calm. Unrealistically calm, Nanaki could distinguish. It was obvious since their first meeting in Cosmo Canyon that he cared very much just for the two young women he traveled with who were now missing. Undoubtedly, Nanaki surmised, the machine man held that same care for most, if not all life. It was also apparent to the old wolf that he was exceptionally good at hiding the fact that he was conflicted between searching for Raven and Zelda and helping to save a world that his enemy was responsible for.

The Triforce mark glowed strangely from beneath the table. Sitting upright on all fours in a human chair, it was well concealed from the awkward staring contests that the others were having over who was taking commands from whom. Second of his unintentional tattoos (though many other tribal ones had been etched into skin and fur of his own choosing), the three radiant triangles made him reflect upon the insignia on his shoulder, the large numeral 'XIII.' It seemed that every time something catastrophic was beginning, a new tattoo was given to him against his will. But this new one, the one that marked a journey across worlds if Gaia found peace from the natural disasters that were to come, made him tingle with a youthful wonder and even a subdued and hidden fear.

He glanced up at X who still staring at Barrett through the few seconds of thought that had passed in his mind. The Master Sword was still with the reploid, always with him and attached firmly to his back. The deep purple of its handle and hilt with the elegant yellow triangles were captivating.

Nanaki also could not help but study the bright green irises that gave the reploid a stunning impression on those around him. Though on this world, it was more fear or discomfort that most people felt. The materia, the wolf knew, was still lodged in the reploid's arm for safe keeping, and there was a constant urge to tear it from him, taking the whole arm too, if necessary. He knew from the eyes and the symptoms that Mega Man had exuded that using the red materia could be deadly to him, and yet he still carried it vigilantly, as though it were something to protect. It bothered the wolf endlessly.

While the prolonged silence lasted Nanaki took the moment to survey the rest of the faces in the room. Tifa Lockhart was also sitting quietly, not one to give orders but to suggest peace. Rufus had shot down her idealistic methods of trying to save everyone some time earlier, and she had remained quiet since, occasionally taking a moment to readjust her waist length black hair with a subtle twist of her head. Her muscular arms tightened now and again, signifying a terrible urge to interject that was clear through the sleeveless black leather top she wore.

Cid Highwind had already left, settling before the meeting began on two things. First, that he hated political or social meetings of most any kind. And second, that his time would be much better spent warning and evacuating those living on northerly costal cities, like Kalm, Costa Del Sol, Junon, and his own home, Rocket Town, so that the predicted tsunamis and tidal waves from tectonic displacement wouldn't flatten them into beach sand. Captain of his own airship, he enlisted the help of some of Shinra's lesser troops and planned on doing the same with the inhabitants of his birthplace once they were safely out of harm's way. Nanaki imagined that Rocket Town, Kalm and Junon would not be very difficult to evacuate, but Costa del Sol, a raving tourist spot for youngsters and elderly alike, would pose a complex challenge.

Barrett, of course, had a flaring temper that everyone including the briefly acquainted X was aware of. It in fact reminded the reploid of Cyborg. They had a lot in common between cybernetic parts and a streak of violent brute force when it came to fighting enemies, debating, and… well, everything.

Reno was off to the side, giving no input as he wore a dark and forlorn expression and a hairdo that was more ruffled and unkempt, contrary to the intentional disarray that he normally fashioned it in. His shoulders were relatively slumped, and when Nanaki made attempts at studying him more his nose picked up something that surprised him. Through the sensitive glands that sensed fear, anger, excitement, and most anything else, he picked up a scent that was bland, empty and weak. Like a lack of any and all endorphins caused the behavior inside of him.

Though it was the keen sense of smell that clued Nanaki into Reno's discontent, X could sense it in his mind. Everyone gave off a sort of aura that fit somewhere in a spectrum, partially like the hues of a color wheel, but instead of a circular continuum, emotions often fit better in the context of a ladder to Mega Man. Reno was nearing the bottom of that ladder, and despite the typical Turk professionalism, it was obvious that the loss of his friend Rude and the mental breakdown of Tseng and Elena after the female Turk lost her child and had her pregnancy with Tseng exposed was too much to make him care for professionalism. But no one, not even Rufus, had the audacity to comment on it.

Nanaki perked up slightly as action began to pick up again in the conference room.

Barrett grunted with upward inflection, holding his agitated breath and teeth tight with the glue of rationale before sitting down and staring off to the side with his bottom lip outstretched bitterly.

X tapped lightly on the table in front of him and summoned the holographic image of a green reploid with a human face and silvery white hair trailing out from the back of his helmet. He recalled the face, but the friendliest greeting he could give to Rayden, the young man he had met at the reploid ball two weeks ago, was a hidden smile and a nod to ease his discomfort and the juxtaposition of excitement.

"Ensign Rayden, how many troops do we have left?"

"Six, Commander X," he responded quickly, either unaware or of or unwilling to recognize Mega Man's excommunication. "Left to guard the Antares, sir."

The Antares, similar in construct to the Dreamweaver. It would be dangerous to leave it alone, X figured. His green eyes flickered briefly downward and from side to side with considerations and ideas.

"Ensign, can I trust you with a very serious responsibility?" X asked with a stern face.

He stumbled. "Uh… yes, anything… I mean, yes sir!"

"Rayden, we need every soldier available to assist with the problems around here. I want you to send the other five with Barrett Wallace to the desert city, Corel, and the establishment known as the Gold Saucer. The tectonic shifts are going to disrupt hundreds of feet deep of sand, and the Gold Saucer is built on top of the desert. They, and the citizens of Corel need to be evacuated as soon as possible… but we can't leave the Antares alone, either."

"I understand, Commander," he said firmly with his mouth mildly open for the constant need of nervous breaths. "I can protect the ship. I won't let anyone touch it."

"Good. If anyone does try to get past you, call for help immediately. Understood?"

"Absolutely, sir."

X looked him straight in the eyes and gave a gentle nod. "Mega Man out," and the image fizzled away.

"Go, Barrett," the blue armored reploid told him without adhering to eye contact for more than the fraction of a second that it took to give him the approval. Barrett Wallace snorted with a discontented hum and took off with his boots clopping loudly as he subjected them to the macho way in which he was used to carrying himself and his broad shoulders.

A standard and uninteresting ring tone came from Reno in the corner, and he pulled out a rectangular black cell phone that snapped open vertical extensions with the click of a button.

"Yes?" he asked. He then turned toward Nanaki with dull eyes. "Fine." He shut the phone deftly.

"What is it?" said Rufus.

He lifted his chin toward the fiery wolf. "His ride's here."

Nanaki bowed to the table in general and hopped off his chair gracefully as he headed for the entrance.

"Fine then, this meeting is adjourned," Rufus declared, and the remaining few shuffled out except for President Shinra himself and the reploid sitting next to him. Tifa Lockhart looked back at Mega Man who waved her off in a manner that said he would follow shortly. The two remaining then turned toward each other as the doors shut.

"You're an idealistic fool," said Rufus to X.

X returned the insult with a sharp, quarter smile and a retort of his own. "You're a fascist dictator."

Rufus leered at him. "You need to decide who lives and who dies. Spreading your forces so thin will only make it more likely that everyone will die instead of just a few. Then what will you do? Cry to Raven and Zelda and have them console you when you know you're responsible for the deaths of thousands that didn't need to die?"

"Shut up, Rufus."

"I can't believe you're a leader among your people. I can only imagine how weak the rest of them must be if you can't make the big decisions."

"Damn you, Rufus!" X blurted out. "I have to try! I can't condemn one innocent life over another."

"Then what do you plan on doing when all the problems arrive on our shores?" Rufus shot back. "What happens when we make some sort of miscalculation and one disaster or another hits sooner than we…"

"I'll find a way," the reploid said with stern and unyielding definitiveness. "I have before when things seemed impossible. I can do it again."

Rufus scoffed as he straightened himself in his seat. Mega Man X expected some sort of cheek in return, but President Shinra was quiet and folded his fingers together at the edge of the white marble desk.

"What?" X asked him, disliking his silence.

Rufus made a gesture of unknowing. "I've never been much of a heroic type. But I certainly have had years of experience with citizens and how to both control and protect them. After all, what is an empire without its people? Delusions of grandeur at best. And I know that the effort to rescue people successfully looks a lot better in the public eye than having many more die because of poor leadership and idealized judgment. Contrary to what you might have learned, focusing on the needs of a small few… or even just one… can sometimes be the wisest choice."

X froze and thought. His natural instinct toward someone like Rufus, a power greedy man who used fear to instigate his desires, was generally to disregard them altogether, or as was the case five years ago make sure he and his ilk are stripped from their power, if not more. He knew of the dirty work that Turks had done under his orders, and it all seemed so clearly wrong at first. Now Rufus spoke of the needs of those other than himself. X wondered, was it the white-suited tycoon he stared at who had changed in five years? Or was it himself?

"You really aren't like your father," X stated with a harsh slant in his voice but with a few ounces of common courtesy on the tail end.

Rufus raised an eyebrow and cocked his head with a smile on his pallid-skin face. "A welcome compliment."

"That speech wouldn't work on a crowd, you know," said Mega Man.

"I know," Rufus answered. "But it works on someone who's willing to listen to reason."

X's right hand, the one with the Triforce mark shining ever radiantly on it, found its way to the handle of the master sword just behind his right shoulder. He wasn't ignoring Rufus. The reploid took the comment to heart, seeing that it was the greatest compliment he could probably get from him.

"I'm going to Wutai," X said.

"Are you now?" Rufus replied. "To do what?"

"To help. The volcanic activity is less predictable than anything else. The mountains around most of the major cities that have been lying dead for years could burst in hours in the worst case."

Rufus kept a motionless expression on his face with a grin hiding somewhere underneath it. "By all means do," he said. "As I recall, that's where I've been focusing the majority of my time and money the past thirty-six hours. You'll be taking your ship?"

"Of course."

"Fine. Do try to come back alive. Your technology won't be any use to my Zanarkand Project if you and your troops are incinerated into a fine mist or reduced to a liquid state."

X glared. "So you can have your empire and your power back?"

The man shook his head astutely. "This world is going to fall apart one way or another. After that, someone's got to rebuild. It couldn't be a better time for Zanarkand."

"I hope you mean that."

"Would I lie?" he grinned deviously.

X immediately followed up with, "Only if it benefited you."

The metallic ring of X's reverberating footsteps filled the strange silence between the two as the reploid left his conference room. Rufus sat in silence thereafter.

Mega Man found his face swiftly changing expressions when he discovered that Nanaki had been waiting for him outside in the plain white halls of the Shinra building. They exchanged awkward and serious glances as the double doors creaked upon the final inches of shutting. In silence, the wolf sage made a slow pace along the speckled black tiles as his tail made a tiny blazing wave as his hind legs moved.

"I thought your ride was here, Nanaki."

"It is," he said gruffly. "I told them to wait. I have things I wish to discuss with you about the Triforce."

"What do you want to know?" the reploid responded, following him.

He grumbled quietly in an animalistic way. "Perhaps it is not a discussion so much as an imploring statement."

X chuckled lightly, watching the Sage of Fire arc his head up to make eye contact. "I'll listen either way."

"There is too much unknown here. I fear Jenova and Sephiroth may only be two parts to this war. The way that creature Zero vanished along with Zelda and Raven is beyond the grasp of this world, and though you have indicated your knowledge of what that event was, it is clear that you know no means of reversing it, and I sense other confusion as well."

"I'd say you're spot on, Nanaki," X told him. "Nothing about this is obvious, and why Zero chose Sephiroth and Jenova over any other place in the Universe is a mystery to me. It's not the only mystery, either. There are other worlds involved in this, like the place I met Raven. There's a lot of unusual things happening on their planet too, and I feel like they're all connected, but we're all blind to see how."

"Yes, you had mentioned that your friend was turned to stone and that huge materia was how you planned on reversing the effect?"

"One that would be in our best interests to solve."

"Agreed."

They came to a circular elevator that opened with their proximity. Half of the wall was made of thick glass and opened to the outside world at Midgar's core the sight was reminiscent of five years ago for both of them. The wolf for the two times he had been in the Shinra building, the first as a test subject and then to stop those aiding Sephiroth, which, ironically, meant that between those two times Rufus had changed from enemy to ally due to his common goal of stopping Sephiroth. For X it had been merely to abscond with as much knowledge as he could get, and although he had been successful it had only been after fighting through the Turks at their first meeting.

"I also have both a warning and a favor that are quite similar regarding the materia that you intend to procure," said the wolf.

"I know what the warning is already," Mega Man said quietly. He had just wiped away another greenish, sticky tear from the corner of his eye. "I know that the materia sickness is killing me. I know I need to find some way to use the huge materia without a living person or else it will probably kill me or anyone else no matter how little or how dense the Mako energy is in their blood. As for my red materia…" he looked at his arm and clenched tightly his fist. "If I have to use my aeon, I will."

The Sage of Fire nodded, almost bowing as the elevator descended past the half way mark.

"What's your favor?" X asked curiously. The warning had been obvious, but as X watched the wolf's narrowed brow begin to soften and the pupils in his eyes to resemble something puppy-like, Mega Man was stumped as to what he wanted.

"Before you… before _we_ leave this planet," he said softly, "could we try the huge materia on one other person?"

"But you just said that…"

"I know it's exceedingly dangerous… but my species…"

"You don't really believe that you're any less susceptible to materia, I know that," X gently cut through his stumbling phrases. "So why don't you tell me who's so close to you that you'd be willing to risk it like I am with my aeon?"

The wolf sage sighed heavy and sucked a lung full of air in his chest, then rubbed at tearing eyes with the side of one of his furry front legs. "My father," he answered. "He has been nothing but a stone statue within the depths of Cosmo Canyon for decades now, unable to do anything but stare at the moon through the open view of his deep precipice. I have to try."

A meaningless ding sounded as the elevator hit the third floor and sank into an interior design once again, and behind the glass now was merely white concrete. A short few moments later, they came to a steady halt at the bottom floor.

"Alright," X agreed with him. "When this planet is a little calmer and I have Raven and Zelda back, we'll see what we can do about your father."

"Then I am in your debt," he nodded upon exiting.

The two walked briefly together through the Shinra building's bottom floor which was the one designed to be the most aesthetically pleasing, but there was little thought on either of their minds for gift shops, billboards, or anything of the like.

A large red buggy with a somewhat rustic looking middle aged male driver waited for the wolf at the curb.

"Good luck at Wutai. I will be tending to things at Cosmo Canyon," he said to X.

"Thanks, Nanaki. Good luck to you, too."

"Please, call me Red," he grinned. "It seems much more fitting as that was generally my name when I traveled with Cloud, Tifa and the others five years ago. Another grand adventure such as this makes me reminiscent of the last one."

"Alright, Red. See you later."

X waved a casual wave and Red returned it with a lilted hum and a slow nod.

With a deep breath and shoulders slightly sinking, Mega Man looked to the sky and allowed himself to return to the Dreamweaver in an energy form. The tingling and disorienting sensation had all but gone in twenty years of life and dozens of times having performed the reploid teleportation that most of his kind had, and even the finger snap speed in which the smell of fresh air turned to artificial oxygen and the way that humidity either dumped on or lifted pressure from his metal body parts wasn't the slightest bit unusual. Nor was the feeling of coming to an empty ship out of the ordinary spectrum of mindsets for him.

But now Mega Man found a new loathing for it. Without Raven or Zelda, the only companionship he could hope for was a holographic facsimile or the mechaniloid drones that were both lifeless when it came down to it.

Slamming his fist into one of the walls of the dimly lit, cerulean, narrow teleportation bay came with a snarl. Holding up a hand as if toward some invisible reflection of himself, X clamed his tense nerves. He stated to himself the problem.

"Alone."

He stated the solution.

"Find someone."

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At the helm of the Dreamweaver and in a slightly better mood, Mega Man X stared at the view screen's images of hectic ocean water being passed my at several hundred kilometers per hour. He tapped the touchpad control on the arm of his chair.

"Yuffie? This is X. Come in."

A few moments of static passed.

"This is Yuffie," the young girl's voice returned the call. "Your ship almost here?"

"I'll be there in twenty," X responded, leaning over to speak toward a communicator in the right arm of his captain's chair. "What the status on the Wutai evacuation?"

"Not gonna be done in twenty minutes, I can tell you that much."

He exhaled heavily through his nose, holding back frustration and disgust as he whispered "Damn it," under his breath. "What's the hold up?"

He waited for the answer, cursing the problem before he knew what it was, though he had a good idea. He cursed Zero, too.

"People are terrified out here. My dad's trying to help calm and organize things, and the reploids are being a great help rounding people up, but some people aren't willing to believe that…"

"I don't care what they believe," Mega Man X snarled. "The entire Wutai mountain range is going to erupt within days, if not sooner. Everyone's going to die if we don't get them out of there soon. Lie to them. Have them arrested. Get Axl to have his troops force them from the villages. I don't care what it takes. Just get them out of there!"

"X, we're talking about nearly a hundred thousand people," Yuffie said, sounding disappointed and strained. "Most of them don't have vehicles. They walk, X. They're a very old fashioned culture, and…"

"I know, Yuffie, I know," X sighed and rubbed at his face. He stared off to the side at nothing on the main bridge of his ship and slouched heavy in the chair. "Do your best. I'll be there to help, soon. X out."

Mega Man slammed his fist on the other armrest. "Damn you Zero," he clenched his teeth.

"You're not just angry that he caused this," leaked a soft voice from behind him.

He spun, startled, and his cheeks turned a little red. "Tifa. Sorry, I didn't hear you get back from your walk of the ship."

"I wouldn't think so," she said with crossed arms and a stern look. "Those fists of yours make pretty loud sounds when they hit things."

"I'm frustrated," he said simply to her, then craned his neck up and added, "So do yours."

"Yes, but I can't remember the last time I punched something that wasn't threatening me. And honestly, the arm of your chair doesn't look like much of a villain."

X chuckled weakly.

"Besides, if your Colonel Signas hadn't sent the reploids, things would be a lot worse. You should be thankful."

"Ex-Colonel to me," Mega Man unhappily corrected the mistake. "Yeah, but a hundred extra bodies can only do so much, reploid or not. Trying to evacuate a hundred thousand people with that many…"

He sighed. "I suppose I should be thankful that he didn't have those reploids come to arrest me for stealing the Dreamweaver. The only reason he didn't is because I told him that Zero's gone Maverick. Even in spite of my crimes, Signas knew there was no way I could lie about that. Still, I wish I knew what exactly Zero is planning."

It was far more than that, though. Zero had the Triforce of Power, foolishly given by the late Ganondorf, and now he also somehow had either Jenova or Sephiroth, or both, under his control. But what was the point? Mega Man X thought clearly through every action that he remembered during the battle. Systematically scanning each image overlaid with the sound that accompanied it. Jenova, Sephiroth's biological mother, was killed. Why? Two logical scenarios presented themselves to Mega Man. Either Zero needed to kill Jenova to get to Sephiroth, which didn't make a whole lot of sense since he said he had stolen Jenova's power, or Zero had to kill Jenova to take something specific from her.

A brawny grip squeezed just inside the shoulder pads of his armor at a place where X's body was somewhat malleable compared to the solid titanium alloys elsewhere. Tifa moved into the gap between seats so she could get both hands on him. A tiny moan escaped his lips as her hardy fists massaged his aching muscular systems. He felt cool tingles moving from his shoulders and neck down toward his chest, and the a gentle warmth spread out through the rest of his body, relaxing the tension and making him close his eyes as his upper arms gyrated slowly with the fierce therapeutic compression.

"You enjoyed that," said Tifa after a minute, putting her firm leather gloves back on and taking a seat next to him with a placid grin.

"Yeah," X replied, in somewhat of a daze. "You know, you're probably the only woman I've ever met who can do that. Even most reploids don't have the kind of strength you have in your arms and hands."

She laughed and smiled. "And you're the first person I've ever been able to use my full strength on. Even Barrett complains that I hurt him."

The reploid laughed back. "That brute of a man? You must've made Cloud scream, then."

X watched her face sink quickly then smile feebly before turning away from him.

"I suspected," said X in deep tones of respectful sorrow, "but I didn't think it could be possible. Cloud was even stronger than…"

X pursed his lips together. It sounded so insensitive, and realizing it made him move his curses to himself. "I'm sorry. But I have to ask…"

He turned away when she didn't move an inch, and he watched the pain well up in her eyes and cause her indomitable arms to look meek and lonely as they found a pose of hopeless sagging that X had never seen in her before. Tifa held one arm in the other and found her breath thick and hard to swallow.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have."

"No, it's alright," she said, attempting to make it sound like a mundane topic. She stroked her long black hair. "It was a little over a year ago. Cloud had… well, Cloud had started paying less and less attention to Strife delivery…"

"Strife delivery?"

"Oh, yes. After we destroyed Sephiroth and exposed Shinra, there wasn't a whole lot of employment to be had, especially around Midgar, but we both felt partially responsible for helping to rebuild and put things back together. So he started a delivery service. It wasn't much, but it paid the bills well enough."

"And helped you support a couple of orphans, too."

She smiled thoughtfully. "Yes. We were happy to take care of them. A lot of people had to. Lots of lives were lost between the whole Sephiroth crisis and the Diamond Weapon's attack on the city before it was destroyed, too. And we were responsible for some of that when we broke back into Shinra Inc. Headquarters. Those Soldier men and women… some of them were parents, too."

X pursed his lips. "What about..."

Tifa shook her head upsettingly and realized that she had inadvertently twisted away from the subject. She was even slightly angered, X noticed from the way her temples twitched as she gritted together frustrated teeth and leather clad palms.

"Cloud... like I said, he got less involved with Strife delivery. And more involved with…"

"With what, Tifa?"

She fumbled with her fingers nervously. Her breathing became rapid. X's also in turn did as the realization struck him that this was suddenly about far more than his death. This was about something dangerous. Something horrible and out of place that shouldn't have happened.

"It was… it was a monster," she said, almost starting to tremble, not knowing why. "Towns, ships and expeditionary caravans were dying, mutilated be a monster. According to the descriptions by survivors, it was… the same monster that left you for dead five years ago. The Ultima Weapon."

X shot from his seat and without realizing that the X-Buster cradled beneath his hand had quickly revealed itself, with silent sparks of white spattering slowly out of it as the pupils of his eyes dilated and contracted the portion of white that faced the frightened woman. Images of a creature that exuded the blackness of night with deep wine hues highlighting its silhouette grew like vines in his mind, until he swore he sat the beast in front of his face. An eyeless face with mixes of dragon's teeth and human cheekbones was what it used to paralyze most prey, choosing close combat when it could easily rend villages from a distance. As the scene played through X's head like a video recording, he wondered whether it was honor or the joy of sucking in the scents of seared, acrid flesh that led the Ultima Weapon to choose that approach for its victims. The reploid's nose began to remember the bittersweet tang that came from a bloodstream made purely of materia and Lifestream's essence, followed by the charred odor of his own crippled body. His spine tingled with the urge to contract into a fetal position when the memory of the Ultima Weapon's roar; violently loud, the sound of metal shearing easier than paper amongst a giant lizard's dying screech was the sound that clamored across open plains and a sandy beach five years ago, and X braced his body, realizing that those events were to come once more if indeed the planet's Weapon lived again.

"Impossible…" he heaved with heavy breath, barely able to force any coherent words from his mouth as he fought reality's grasp from taking hold. "The Ultima Weapon… was destroyed… by you and Cloud! How…"

"I don't know, X, I don't know," she wept, holding her arms tightly around her huddled body. "But when we found… when we found Cloud… he was dead, and his body had been infused with more Mako energy than ever thought possible. He just… he just couldn't have survived it, and the only thing I can think of that has that sort of power is…" she trailed off, not knowing why the circumstance of his death felt so cold and filled with such miserable pain. She rubbed away tears and made a grimacing face as if trying to make the salty streams flow upward. They both thought inevitably of the young man with the spiky blonde hair and the eyes of Mako green. His death had already spurred more pain than Tifa had ever experienced, but knowing that it was the Ultima Weapon, the beast created by the planet itself to supposedly judge Gaia, filled her heart with a hole that was replaced by some charred black substance that willed itself to spread like a snake's venom. The Ultima Weapon had been destroyed, years ago. How could it have returned? And Cloud Strife had tried desperately to stop it, once again, but why had it been so important that he would abandon Tifa? No explanation came.

"Since that…" X murmured, "has Ultima been seen?"

She shook her head, rubbing her eyes carefully but inevitably reddening them. "But we didn't find any clue that it was dead, either."

"Then where has it…?" Mega Man said mostly to himself.

From the arm of the captain's chair, a startling and terrible voice of panic mixed with high pitched, ferocious static made both of them tighten.

"Mega Man X, come in!" the voice panted. There were screams in the background.

"Axl, is that you? What the hell is going on down there?" though his pulsating eyes and beating chest felt sure of the incoming reply.

"X, you have to get down here, now! The volcanoes are all beginning to erupt. The earthquakes have gotten really bad, buildings are collapsing, roads are splitting apart. I don't know what to do down here! Thousands of people still need to be evacuated. We aren't gonna…"

Silence followed.

"We just need a few minutes," Tifa tried to reassure him with reddened eyes. "We can make it."

"No, we can't. They're all going to die. Almost a hundred thousand people are going to… _damn you, Zero_!"

Thrashing his fist clean through the plastic and metal of the arm of the chair, a shower of sparks and fire tinged his blue armor with black stains as the impact of sound forced Tifa's hands to her ears.

"Zero…"

His body began to blur with aura.

"…I won't…"

Tifa gasped. Green streaks of stringing light began to emanate from him like protruding pillars of defiance and might, mixed with righteous rage.

"…let you kill these people!"

The Triforce on his hand went mad. The green aura of courage enveloping him began to glow brighter, until it turned near white. The tips of his metallic boots barely touched the ground as his body began to levitate. Without one word, an afterimage that imprinted itself on to human vision was all that remained as the normally swishing doors of the bridge were torn through, bent back completely. The reploid's body streaked beyond the corridors no more recognizable than a rushing mass of light as it shorted out the hologram to the memoriam entrance and bolted to the top floor, surging beyond the second false wall that lay concealed by the case of materia. He stopped finally to look at the six large jewels resting there that began to react intensely to him as he stared at each one in turn. The all glowed heavily, as if acknowledging his presence with a shinning bow. One caught his eye especially; the blue one, radiant as the sky's cloudless beams with luminosity and reflective surfaces that were second to none. Reaching for the jewel, a mighty force field, one to protect outsiders from taking the jewels, slowly formed a hole at X's will, and the jewel hovered into his hand and welcomed the tight grasp around it.

A moment later, X's body dispersed as if his molecules were packed tightly to an explosive, and they all synchronously passed through the walls of his ship at far greater speeds. The streaking light bolted across open ocean waves and blurring, steeped mountains until Mega Man reformed almost instantaneously at the base of the Wutai Mountains and heard the screams of the people and the deafening earthquakes. He stared at the billowing smoke, and then felt it beneath the soles of his feet as the sulfur tried failingly to choke him. Images were exploding at him as the tremors shook legs and vision. It was beginning.

"_Chaos_…"

A shockwave and mile-high lava bursts formed pillars in the sky.

"..._CONTROL_!"

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There was sudden wisdom. A small understanding.

That was what Mega Man X felt fill into his thoughts.

A tsunami of smoke, debris and wind, along with hundreds of screaming people and an upheaval of vehicles were frozen in time, halted by his will. A fragile few feet from his face was the trunk of a tree, one that would have crushed or impaled him so that there was nothing left but a bloody blue and red mass of foreign scrap.

Only he and the shining jewel appeared normal in his sight.

"Zero…" he whispered. "I can feel it. I can feel a piece of your puzzle in my hands."

He stared at the jewel with wide eyes. "This… one of seven which I secretly vowed to protect… the _chaos emeralds_… _that's_ part of what you're after. That's what you meant when you said you took Jenova's chaos. So she had something to do with the chaos emeralds, and you've taken that from her. How? Why?"

It was only a second later that it became clearer. "Because there's a connection to the Triforce. There is no other reason. The single minded desire that Ganondorf gave to you with the Triforce of Power makes it that way. There's a connection between the Triforce and the chaos emeralds, and now Jenova, the Ultima Weapon and this world, too. I'm going to find out what, Zero. And then once I find the rest of the sages…I'm going to put an end to you."

He turned to the immobile city, one hand held still against the impending nova of death and debris. His other hand, suspended in the opposite direction with the chaos emerald's vigorous beams rippling against the light waves of Mega Man X, sent forth a stream of globules that sought out the fated souls of Wutai. In turn, each one streaked like a bullet to its target, making them vanish with a snap and a lingering streak of azure blue. Dozens turned to hundreds, and hundreds turned to thousands. Mega Man saw his own body, whitening, becoming a transparency as the last of the people vanished. He saw the machine that he was through the armor on his surface. He saw the red materia orb lodged in his wrist, reacting, responding, and pulling toward the emerald. He felt his body waver

A final spark of life popped out of the jewel that now began to flicker as X's aura also began to, and the massive trunk that threatened his life began to reacclimatize into real time.

"And… and one… for me…"

The colors in front of his eyes bled together for a moment. A moment later, he was miles away from Wutai, surrounded by confused and panicking thousands as the hilltop that they crowded on gave view of countless generations of work and culture torn into splinters.

Hot, gusting winds blew their way from the residual bursts of molten earth that dissolved what little wood chips were left of their city as the mountains in the distance erupted one by one.

And still, in the thick of it all, a dense barrier of shocked people gave a wide place for Mega Man X, who lay with armor discolored to white and with a bitter smell emanating from the pale smoke clouds that puffed from his every joint.

"Everyone step aside, everyone!" shouted the girlish voice of Yuffie Kisaragi. She was still as confused as every one else, having instantly traversed miles without explanation, but her sense of direction and years of martial arts discipline helped her distance herself from the rest of the anguish and confusion of crying families. Skin tainted with smoke and sweat, the skinny girl ignored that her black headband was awkwardly twisted, and she pushed her way through the small rift just wide enough to shove through to Mega Man. She knelt down, touched his arm for a moment then jumped back when she felt the skin on her gloved palm burn.

Yuffie then noticed the blue jewel near his hand. Her eyes widened as a white glove pried it out of X's hand through the blinding smog, and Yuffie quickly armed herself with an oversized shuriken that she always kept on her back. It may as well have been a sword. Through the smoke, she aimed it at the figure and threw it with all her might.

And then she gasped, drowned out by the simultaneous reaction of the rest of the crowd.

A darkly cloaked figure with boots of red shuffling in and out of sight at the edges of his veil pushed through the smoke carrying two things. The first, clearly visible, was the dimly glowing jewel that he had taken. The second was her shuriken, held comfortably in his palm. Yuffie could see nothing of his face above his mouth, and he tucked away the jewel confidently, staring down at the girl.

She held her breath tightly, masking a heavy panting, and she reached slowly for the two kunai daggers at the waist of her black shorts, but then, upon watching the man bend the thick steel of her shuriken effortlessly into a state of unsightly deformation, her hands would do nothing but grip the tiny blades as they shook.

"Tell Mega Man X…" his voice rang out deep, commandingly, ruthless and with loathing to her, "…that he should have let these people die, and he will pay dearly for his mistake."

With a swaying motion of his cloak he discarded the ruined weapon and raised the emerald above his head.

"Chaos control."

The Sage of Light flickered and vanished.


	38. Zanarkand, Part I

**Chapter 38 – Zanarkand, Part I**

That special spot when moonlight and dawn's full rise blend together in a sweet serenade of battling lights pulled Raven's eyes open even on a strange new world where a greenish moon paired with a smaller pale red moon colored the sky far differently from the white luster of Earth's. Sky… such a simple three letter word, and simpler still was the appearance on most occasions, but as superficial as an appealing sky felt to her, this brief moment, lasting for only minutes and sometimes not foreign at all, was undeniably attractive.

Waking up was painful. Her arm was sore, but she quickly tore away the cast and stretched it with tolerable agony. The bone was, at least, no longer broken. The sorceress wondered why her short term memory was full of awkward fragments, blurs and fleeting sensations that didn't add up, but upon feeling her tongue pry away from the rest of the inside of her mouth, the arid oral sensation brought back the pieces and gave logic to the properly separated moments of time between consciousness and the lack thereof.

There was no glass in the window to her surprise as a sudden gust blew at the thick, blue and purple drapes that curved inward and overlapped once the wind subsided. After readjusting her eyes, she realized that the moment of mixing lights had gone by, and it was just a sky again with a bright sun taking its turn and the pair of moons relinquishing the command over light. But this time, rather than allow the sight to fade, she held it as long as she could. Her mind felt hollow with most of Mega Man X's memories having vacated through the trip in time, so the memory was merely hers, but it was one of the few things that she could find inside her that felt comforting.

Her hand resting on the window sill began to resonate gently with the glow of the golden triangles peeking out the edges of her glove. She then swore at it under her breath and pulled the fabric over it. It had made her lose the consoling image she struggled to keep.

Her movements felt hollow as she stood, pulled on her cloak and hooked the ruby clasp near her collarbone. The Lotus? She opened one of two dresser drawers to the left of the large bed. Empty. The second… also empty. She then felt subtle warmth at one ankle that wasn't present amongst the rest of her. Raven knelt down slowly and with aching muscles reached underneath the low wooden frame of her resting place and pulled out a blanket that had been used to wrap the unlit sword and radiating with dry heat. Strapping it into a loop in the back of her undergarment, she sighed heavy and began to set off, only to stop a second later.

Pursed lips and narrowed lids adorned her face at the realization that she had no place to go and barely knew where she was in the first place, aside from that it was probably not the seaside village Besaid, judging by the drastic change in décor. There were many mild blues and purples. Most of it was pleasing to her eye, though not quite as pleasing as the early morning light. Would others be up at this time on a completely different world, she wondered? Zelda was most likely her only source of information at this point, and though it was with an urge to reel over at having to depend on the princess of Hyrule, Raven calmed herself with the knowledge that she had been somewhat saved by her and once again calmed the next and most recent time she had awoken, whenever that had been.

Her head felt like a jigsaw puzzle that had been taken apart, mangled, warped out of shape, ignited, and then put back together in some viciously inappropriate and ultimately nonfunctional way. There was less trauma and despair than almost a month ago when she had first bonded with Mega Man, she realized, but that was the sole comfort of it. Now there were holes that had been filled in with something awkward, and bits of Zelda's memories that were garbled worse than the unintelligible zombie speak in the horror movies that Beast Boy tortured himself with back home.

"Damn it all… where are you, X?" she cried to herself.

She wanted to see the sky. Even though it was not the sky of her home, her moonlight passion with X, or that special time between night and day, that was what she wanted.

Phasing through the ceiling was effortless and she was on top of the villa, plunked down and staring at the bright sunlight cascading across the towering mountainside city. Of course, one wouldn't think of it as a mountain side normally. Every square inch of varying elevations and mini-plateaus were covered in artificial pathways of elegance and regality, and many of the buildings at the highest places had perfectly curved steeples of bright blues and whites. At the edge of all of this architectural genius, Raven could clearly see a drop off into a rambunctiously rippling body of water that probably, if she got closer, crashed against the rocks a quarter mile below. In the distance to one side, a wall of strange forestry that reflected the light almost as well as the metals of the city began to consume the rapidly descending mountain side. Looking in the opposite way gave views of merely rocky cliffs that hid their heads in the clouds and rose even above this chic and proud city.

But gathering all those images only took a few meager seconds before she changed her view to the sky she longed at. She wondered if, some centuries in the past, Mega Man might be looking up at the same sky. Her mind whispered the thoughts she wanted more than anything to keep herself from thinking. What if there's no way to get back to home, and to him?

"Worth living?" she whispered to herself and the covered Triforce. "I don't know."

A small cluster of people approached.

Raven made no effort to hover as she instead leapt to the ground simply, sending a strong but certainly tolerable surge through her knees and ankles. Zelda could be seen leading a group that contained her and five others. Three were female, one dressed similarly to Zelda since her clothing change on the Dreamweaver but with dark brown hair and a ponytail that was braided and extended well beneath her waist, while the one she spoke with playfully was somewhat scantily clad, wearing a bikini like top, very short shorts, an unnecessarily long scarf of orange and yellow that matched her small top, and strange sleeve like articles with numerous white bows on each arm that were very similar to Zelda's. Two of the remaining three she recognized as Wakka and Lulu. Upon closer inspection, Raven was slightly unnerved by two particularly large handguns on the first woman's hips, but regarded their manner of approach too casual to be a threat. The last person, a man following more quietly at their side, was dressed in green and blue robes and had an awkwardly slicked up grey hair style that made him look even taller than he already was. Apparently the hair that he and Wakka shared was a popular one on this world.

When she locked eyes with Zelda, the long-eared Hylian woman rushed toward her. "My word, Raven! You're awake! Are you alright? Are you feeling well?" she took the dark sage by surprise with caring. Zelda almost looked like she wanted to hug the dark girl, but her tense and unsteady hands backed away and allowed Raven a wisely chosen hug-free response.

"I'm… ok. Thanks." She then glanced to Lulu and Wakka. "Sorry about your house."

"Don't worry about it, ya," Wakka said with a smile that shouldn't have been there in Raven's opinion, and yet he seemed hardly phased that a huge hole had been torn in the roof of his and Lulu's home the previous day.

"Honestly, it's quite fine," Lulu reassured her in the relaxed pace of her voice as she neared slowly, her thick black dress swaying as she did. "It's probably already fixed, after all."

"Besides," hopped the less-than-half dressed girl with a startling enthusiasm, "we've got a trip to go on!"

Raven attempted a smile that resulted in something resembling a bee sting to the face, which she promptly tried to conceal with a downward tilt of her head. Zelda was the only one who took notice of her while the giddy girl spoke to the other three about her excitement and the 'trip' she spoke of to a place named Zanarkand.

_That name again_, she thought as Zelda neared her and gently placed her hand across the breadth of Raven's left shoulder.

Zelda sensed the deep and pronounced internal thought and whispered to Raven during the momentary distraction of excited chatter.

"A man named Tidus is the Sage of Water," she said, withholding excitement of her own. "They're going to help us find him in Zanarkand. Then we can leave and reunite with Mega Man and the others one step closer to stopping Zero."

"How did…" she muttered and winced. "We're in the future, aren't we?"

The princess nodded.

"But how are we supposed to get back?" Raven said as she shook her head in a mixture of squinting confusion and disbelief. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Not more than a day," Zelda said, slightly relieved at the second question after the realization that she wasn't sure how exactly to answer the first. "I'm amazed your arm healed so fast."

The dark girl didn't acknowledge the change in subject as she answered while keeping an eye on the five others. "Healing is effortless as long as my mind isn't falling apart. Who are these people?"

Shifting away from Raven and into an open position toward both her and the four other natives of the region of time, Zelda began the series of introductions that the Sage of Darkness wanted little to do with, but if it was going to help find a sage and home… it was worth tolerating, she decided. She had questions and was in need of answers. With a non-descript and void lip expression, she followed along.

"Raven, this is High Summoner Yuna and her compatriot, Rikku."

"High Summoner," Raven bowed.

"Oh, please, I hate formalities," she told Raven as she bowed back happily. "Just Yuna will do."

Raven did all she could to ignore the bubbly Rikku. The dark sorceress awkwardly reached for her cheek as it began to twitch upon having to recognize the annoyingly bouncy girl. And for Azarath's sake, why couldn't she wear more clothing? Apparently it was not considered unacceptable in any way Raven realized as the others of group smiled happily at her boundless fervor. All except Lulu, who remained rather expressionless, save for a small smile at the sorceress that she tried to hide.

"Nice to meetcha!" She bounced and then shook Raven's hand unnaturally wild. "Wow, you heal real fast!"

She was so near the hopping girl that for a second, even in spite of the inability to keep her still for a moment, Raven noticed a peculiar trait: the green irises that stood out powerfully against her a dark blue headband and the golden shades of her chaotically braided hair appeared to be different from the eyes of the others. They looked as if they were mechanical.

Then an even more unusual sensation occurred that numbed Raven's body for a moment. A slow breeze of blurred images slowly popped in front of her eyes, blocking out Rikku while they made her forehead sting. Nearly all of the rapidly accelerated mental pictures were of people; Raven did not know why it was happening. They began to accelerate more until her face felt like a waging war of hot and cold.

She pulled away quickly and placed a hand on her face.

"Hey, you ok?" said Rikku very seriously.

"I'm fine, just a bit woozy still," Raven replied stiffly with a conscious effort to keep her facial expressions from jerking. It took a moment, but the sorceress eventually turned her attention away from the possibly cybernetic (and maybe even telepathic) girl, and she then noticed the last person, the young man in robes with the silvery hair that was held by a deep blue headband of sorts. Seeing him was exceptionally awkward. Though most of the images that Raven had just experienced gusting through her inner perception were barely distinguishable, this man had been among the first few that had been more discernable and memorable even in the fractions of seconds that they appeared in. His demeanor was, although accepting of Rikku and the others, far more reserved with undertones of a humble importance that he probably didn't like to brag about. Raven also perceived gentle warmth from him and hoped that he would be coming along to balance the scale of the average behavior away from the two vivacious girls. Taking note of his voice, the Sage of Darkness was surprised at such a fragile tone in a man of his young appearance.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, lady Raven," he said with a strange circular gesture of his arms followed by a deep bow with his palms clasped together in front of him. Raven had to awkwardly hide a slight blush with a mild frown instead as he continued. "I am Baralai, Praetor of New Yevon. Please allow me to be straightforward. From what I understand, there is a great likelihood that you come from the past. Are you aware of that?"

"So we're told," Raven answered. "And now we're going to help search for this Tidus guy because he's supposed to be some link to the past as well?"

"Right. I'll be coming along with you," (Raven breathed an unnoticed sigh of relief), "because New Yevon has an interest in the recent happenings at Zanarkand."

"Which are?" Raven pressed.

Baralai looked at a loss for words, but Wakka stepped in. "Weird stuff, ya," he began to explain. "Strange monsters, the Fayth being active there, people getting weird visions. It's gone crazy, ya!"

"We think," said Zelda to Raven, "that there's some connection to it and the Sage… err, to Tidus. We think he might know a way to get us home."

There was some skepticism amongst the crowd of five. Raven and Zelda were both fully aware as to why, but they ignored the notion that they did not truly exist and that they were merely 'dreams of the Fayth' as they had both been told already. If alone, one or the other might have believed that, but together the princess and the sage refused to accept it, not when their journeys were the same before and after their transport through time, if indeed that was Zero had done to them.

_Too many damn questions_, Raven said with gritted teeth and asked two of the many on her mind. "When do we leave? And how?"

"Normally we would leave by airship," Lulu said darkly, "but strange currents have been disabling and driving ships away from Zanarkand, and traveling on foot would be too dangerous, so we settled on chocobo carriages. We'll take two. Wakka, myself, Yuna and Rikku will be in one. The two of you," she indicated the princess and Raven, "will be traveling with Baralai, if that's alright with you."

Raven nodded and said she did not mind at all, as did Zelda, and with the introductions finished, Baralai led the group, and with somewhat awkward silence from everybody, down the architectural marvel of blue hues and tall pillar like monuments and buildings that lined the mountainside city of Bevelle. Only a few brief stops on the way to gather food and other basic supplies for the seven of them and a number of people greeting Yuna and Baralai shook up the silence that was clearly becoming intentional. Lulu, Wakka and Baralai offered to carry the odd, black backpack-like objects strapped onto both arm and shoulder on one side only. That brief interaction to decide who would carry things broke the silence again, but only for a moment, though. The lone disruption that kept it from being intolerably quiet to the dark sorceress and Zelda were the relatively constant and unfamiliar tunes that Rikku and occasionally Yuna hummed. There was a youthful skip in their steps all the way which Zelda became quickly accustomed to and even joined in at one point despite the cold shoulder they were suddenly being given. Raven scoffed to herself at this and only postponed final judgment over Rikku's personality for the time being because of their strange altercation earlier and the unusual flood of image that had entered her mind. As she recalled it, it was obvious that Rikku had not experienced the same thing she did. It only generated more questions that she felt too uncomfortable to ask in the deliberate silence. Most of the images had already left her short term memory and now meant nothing. She was at least glad that things were not too loud, or thinking clearly would have been far more of a mental contest.

Still, the silence bothered her. Even though her mind was plagued with questions, she constantly felt the urge not to, and comprehending how Rikku and Yuna managed to shut up almost the entire trip down seemed impossible. Then for a moment she caught it. She noticed Wakka and Lulu, the husband and wife, lean in toward each other briefly, but Baralai made discrete eye contact with Lulu, and the crimson eyed woman gave a terse glance back toward her before going deliberately silent. Baralai was orchestrating the lack of speech.

Though it pained Raven to even delve for a moment into telepathy, she stared at the back of Zelda's head in front of her and spoke softly into the princess's mind. "_Baralai doesn't trust us_," was the whisper.

Zelda's head became motionless as she replied. "_I got that impression, too_," she said. "_But he is kind and fair. I think he knows we're hiding a lot of things. I haven't told him of the Triforce, our quest to find the other sages, or even of Zero. I wanted to wait until you were awake so we could both do that_."

The further they descended, the more nature began to take over the landscape. Grassy embankments sat on the edges of heavily trodden paths and trees grew out of solid gray and brown rocks. The light fog of clouds that they descended past began to obscure the view of Bevelle and the home of the New Yevon believers. Both of the telepaths thought individually of what other faiths there might be on this world, for where there was one, there was always bound to be another.

"_Why are you being so… kind to me, all of a sudden_?" Raven asked, and she felt as though a heavy brick had dropped into her stomach after asking it. Guilt swept in, thinking of how much they had bickered, fought, and in general detested each other. And yet in the past couple of days, through all of Raven's pain and suffering, Zelda had been there and been kind to her as though they had been friends for a long time. Raven's eyes softened and she strangely felt the urge to remove her hood as she waited for the telepathic response to softly resonate in her mind.

"_I… understand a little of what you are going through_," said Zelda nervously. When she sensed a skeptical return from Raven's mind, she explained further while trying to keep herself focused on Yuna and Rikku physically. "_I have lost my Hero of Time. It pains my heart so deeply to not know whether he lives or is dead, or perhaps is something that transcends either. I feel as though there is a rent in my soul that belongs to him that I am not whole without, and it is even worse when, as I was once the ruler of Hyrule, I must maintain my composure even though sometimes…_"

"…_you want to_," Raven began, then had to take a deep physical and trembling sigh before adding: "…_to break down and cry_?"

"_Precisely_," Zelda whispered back to her mind. "_When I see you feeling the same way for your Hero of Time, Mega Man X… I cannot bear to be cruel to you, no matter how little amity there has been between us since we met_."

There were sounds of small gasps and breaths coming from Zelda, but they were still telepathic. Raven swore she could feel the princess's heart beating thickly from the same heavy weight that sat in her own midriff.

"_Can you forgive me_?" Zelda asked her. "_Can we start over_?"

Raven began to open her mouth, but with a sharp reflex and Baralai's blue eyes turning her direction, she quickly shut it and cursed herself for coming out of her silent conversation. Eventually she chose not to answer Zelda as they continued to walk amongst the group at a distance from each other, and she saw the princess grip the edge of her skirt tightly with her head hung low after a prolonged wake in the clairvoyant conversation.

Several minutes more transpired on the trip downward, and it was clear that Rikku was having difficulty holding her tongue because the humming was becoming less structured and progressively more childish. Lulu apparently found it just as obnoxious as Raven did, because after she released a breathy groan, the gothic woman kindly asked Rikku to hold one of the sacks. The dark sorceress grinned, and a short walk later she spotted the chocobo stables where two fairly regal looking carriages of a deep aqua hue with black steel wheels sat ready.

The two Triforce bearing outcasts of the group had expected something far different. These carriages were sleek, hardly boxlike at all, and bore the same intricacies of the rest of Bevelle's architectural elegance. Swirling purple streaks matched the directions and lengths of alternate shades of blue that ran in horizontal waves. The wheels looked like they were made of some sort of elastic metal that was far thinner than rubber tire and yet appeared just as durable. After looking past the thick spokes at broad metal devices that bore a likeness to hydraulic pumps, Raven gave up the attempt to try to decipher the details of their technology. It was worlds apart from what she knew whether it was superior or not. Still, it was ironic that they were about to be dragged along by the same giant yellow birds that existed in both their original time and the displaced one that she and Zelda were stranded in.

The dark sorceress and the princess climbed into one carriage with Baralai, still in silence, while the other four clambered into the other. It was cool on the inside, and Baralai immediately drew the silk shades over each window and pressed his hand against a green sphere above their heads; the lack of light was reversed with a pale emerald glow that was warming. Baralai's stone expression deftly crushed the welcome mat of light, but Raven was more interested in the small green orb and only pretended to give him her full attention. She was positive that the tiny device was far more than a lamplight and that Baralai might not have realized it.

"We have a lot to discuss," began the New Yevon Praetor in the unmoving vehicle. "I'll let you begin wherever you feel like, but the beginning and all inclusive would be good."

"You were right, Raven, he doesn't trust us at all," Zelda said with a raised eyebrow and a subtle smirk.

"We're too unusual looking to be together and be trustworthy," Raven responded, playing along even though there was an awkward conversation between the two of them on hold.

"Is it the ears?" she said, rubbing her fingers across the breadth of her pointed Hylian lobes.

"Enough," Baralai interrupted calmly. "Your arrival is too precisely matched with the occurrence of the strange events at Zanarkand to be a coincidence. I don't want to accuse you of anything, but I have a duty to protect the people of Bevelle and New Yevon from anything that could harm them, and as you said…"

"You don't trust us," Raven filled in the silence now that she was free to.

"Yes, so explain, or you'll get no further help from me or New Yevon."

The carriages slowly accelerated with the driver's shouts followed by the chocobos squawking loudly. After the initial jolt, the ride was physically smooth and only noticeable by the sounds created from the chocobos' stomping feet and the light grinding of the wheels against the flat earthy terrain.

Raven was in no mood to be asked questions with dozens of her own building up like a kettle's steam pressure in her head. She took the momentary disturbance and snatched the small green orb on the roof and pressed it against her forearm where it slowly began to fizzle into her cloak and skin with green smoke and a painful burning sensation that urged her to itch and scratch at the area until it was fully within her. It glowed underneath her skin and clothes, leaving neither depression nor expansion in her arm before it faded and blended in as though nothing were there at all. Baralai sat, shocked. Little did he know, the dark sorceress felt similarly astonished. It was the first time that she had felt materia within her.

"That answers one of _my_ questions," Raven said to Baralai, who sat wide eyed and defensive, ready to fight in some manner if need be, but the dark sorceress gave him a calming look that weakly settled his tension.

"Who exactly are you two?" Baralai insisted with an inability to take his eyes away from the still-fuming material covering Raven's arm. "And… what was…?"

"Materia," Raven answered simply. "This world seems to have plenty. I saw it in Lulu and Wakka's hut, too, but you don't seem to know what it is."

Baralai's eyes were still fierce, and his hand was kept near the folds in his robes, ready to reach for some unknown weapon in an instant if need be. Sweat became visible at his temples, just barely beginning to seep from his pores. With a flick of Raven's hand and a light sparkle of static energy in her eyes and along the surface of the silk curtains, she flung open both. The increase in brightness was enough so that she could see a reflection forming against Baralai's slightly dampening skin. She would not be intimidated.

"Materia is a concentrated and rarely occurring crystal that contains knowledge from the past and endows the wielder with additional powers. It is created by condensing Mako energy, which is harvested from a source of incredible power known as the Lifestream."

"Lifestream…" Baralai repeated in a whisper without taking his eyes off Raven or moving the hand within his robes. "And what exactly does that… materia…do?"

But Raven was already inspecting that herself. It was as though she simply _knew_ how do use its power. Shining lights of pale yellow were nearly blinding within the confines of the carriage, but as Zelda and Baralai squinted underneath their own hands as make-shift visors, they saw vicious electrical charges coming from the arm that Raven had the materia in. Gentle but constant winds swayed the hair of all three and brushed at Raven's cloak. The surges leapt from point to point on her outstretched arm, never leaving it unless she willed them to. For the sorceress, it was like a rush of adrenaline localized in that one arm, a foreign visitor warming the limb like a blanket, and harmless pin pricks signified the arcing waves of miniature thunder strikes that lathered her arm.

And with an excitingly unknown and yet familiar motion of her thoughts, the light show dissipated, leaving the thin and delicate hairs on her arm to stand out and proclaim themselves.

"Lightning materia," Raven said. "But materia has been known to heal and protect, alter localized flows of time, endow the holders with new physical abilities, or even summon creatures to fight."

"Oh," Baralai answered blankly.

"I don't think there's any point in hiding who we are after that, is there Raven?" Zelda asked calmly. Raven shook her head in agreement with a one-sided grin and gave her the go-ahead nod. "Very well," the princess continued in a slowly declining state of awe. "It has already been established that Raven and I are from another time period, but we are fully aware of how we got here and simply lack the current means to return."

Baralai seemed to struggle to keep the fingers of his free hand from making an anxious gesture at the front of his hair. A squawk from one of the chocobos and a mild bump brought his focus together. "And you're also… aliens or something, right?"

Zelda and Raven glanced at each other with raised brows.

"That came out awkward, I apologize," said Baralai. "You're very mismatched in appearance, and so I am to assume that you are from other worlds, too?"

"That's right," Raven answered, "but the way you put it the first time would be a much more accurate way to describe me. I'm half of a human species similar to your own, and then half arch-demon."

They both stared at her. Raven mentally pinched herself when she realized that Zelda did not know that either, but she maintained her physical composure so as not to let Baralai get the upper hand.

"I don't suppose I can say that's neither here nor there, but it really is," said Raven at the wide eyed glares of curiosity and mild fear. "Zelda is Hylian. Different from me. We'll just leave it at that."

"And… you have some sort of common goal, of course," Baralai pried.

"Mostly just to get back home," said Raven, and then Zelda added, "But we also need to take Tidus with us."

Baralai reacted with slow gestures of his face and the subtle tilt of his head. Raven shot a passive glance at the princess that bore the smallest amount of irritation that she could muster without making it obvious. For a brief second, she opened the telepathic link again.

"_Telling him everything could overcomplicate things_."

"_Lighten up, it's hardly more than an in-depth history lesson. Besides, it's no worse than your fireworks display_."

Raven snorted in real life, but Baralai was still focused on the complexity of what he was just told and had seen. The strain of his anxiety was either becoming easier to conceal over time, or he was becoming readily more accepting of what he was being told. Both women figured that the former was far from likely.

"So you do know Tidus, and you're saying you need to take him back… to the time period that he came from? But I thought that Tidus was a creation of the Fayth?

"Don't make assumptions," Raven told him. "We don't know Tidus, and we don't even know what the Fayth is… or are… or whatever. It might help if we did."

"The Fayth are spiritual essences, vessels of the afterlife and history," Baralai explained to them, but it was clear that he had made given the same answer so many times that it had become an ingrained reaction when posed the question. "They possess powers and knowledge that are sometimes beyond our understanding, but its common knowledge that once a person dies, they or at least a part of them joins the Fayth."

"Sounds similar to the Lifestream," said Raven.

"Yes it does. As a matter of fact, the Al Bhed race used to call it that a long time ago, but I don't think it's been used for decades."

The dark sorceress nodded. "That's what Lulu said. Do you think they're the same thing?"

"Probably," Baralai answered. "Why is it important?"

_Because there's supposed to be a connection to the Triforce_, Raven thought briefly of her encounter with Reno's aeon Axel, but she remained silent. She knew that Tidus being a sage was clearly a connection in itself, but that didn't explain why Zero so adamantly sought and eventually took it. Perhaps the Triforce came from the Lifestream, or vice versa? That, Raven concluded, would be a logical reason to kill Jenova and absorb its power.

"What about Tidus?" the Praetor continued his interrogation.

"We need to find him and take him with us," Zelda answered.

The New Yevon man narrowed his face. "Why?"

Raven's pale skinned face scrunched up a bit and the small adjustment moved deep blue strands of hair against her cheek irritatingly. Baralai's tone was accusing. She brushed her hair with bitterness to the side, making a subconscious note of its length having passed her collarbone with a natural curve just beneath her chin.

"Because he has been chosen as one of eight sages," Zelda answered Baralai with reluctance. "He has a duty along with us to assist the Hero of Time in vanquishing a great evil."

Raven shot another aggravated look, and the Praetor did not seem convinced. "A Hero of Time and a great evil?" he said. "Sounds far fetched."

"So does some of the history of your planet that I've learned since being here," Zelda argued. "A massive one thousand year old wizard who lived within an aeon and devoured your world of Spira time after time, but is now extinct thanks to your former High Summoner Yuna… is a bit far fetched to those who have not lived it, don't you think? That is the story of the creature you call 'Sin', isn't it?"

Baralai narrowed his eyes, but nodded. "Point taken."

"We're trying to stop a terrible being named Zero from destroying everything we know and beyond. If he succeeds in defeating the Hero of Time, then all peace as we know it will slowly cease to exist."

"And so Tidus is part of the group needed to defeat this… Zero creature," Baralai concluded.

The princess nodded and Raven explained more. "There are many worlds that are playing a huge part in this in our time period. We don't know why Tidus, someone from supposedly a thousand years away from our own time, needs to be involved, but once a sage is chosen, I believe the only way to give up that duty is to die. We need to find him."

"Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that he's from your time?" suggested the Praetor as he rubbed is forehead in thought and tried to grasp the enormity of their story.

"Actually, he isn't from our time," said Raven with her own confusions at forethought. "Zanarkand hasn't been built yet where we come from. The plans are in place, but it doesn't exist for us yet."

Baralai gritted his teeth. "Scratch that theory. But tell me more about this Lifestream and materia from your time. I'm curious as to how such important information has been lost over the course of a millennium."

"To be honest," Raven began, "I don't think either of us are qualified to answer that very well."

"Please try."

Raven released a hard sigh through partially pursed lips. "It's almost like… a kind of spiritual, living energy, like you said about the Fayth. It gives us strength, but it somehow can communicate. It gave us warnings just before…"

The hiccup in her speech seemed somehow dramatically unavoidable. "Before we last fought Zero." The pause was unbearable as thoughts of the bloody battle and the separation of her link with X stung at her eyes. She desperately tried to fill the hole of silence as Zelda discretely slid an arm to her side to comfort her. "M-materia comes from it," Raven managed to stutter, "but usually only by human intervention and force. And now Zero…"

The sorceress realized that her face had turned down and had flooded with deeper emotion and in the pause; Baralai waited intently for her answer but with a compassionate and attentive ear. Was he weak against a young woman's cries, or did he truly believe her?

"Please, go on," he encouraged her softly, but Zelda was the one who took over the conversation.

"Zero has taken the Lifestream for himself. Its power seems to be in his sway, and on this planet one thousand years in the past… well, because of our journey through time we have no idea what the state of the planet is. It may be crumbling as we speak."

"But if the world were to fall apart a thousand years ago, then how can we be here?" the Praetor posed to them. "Doesn't the fact that we exist mean that you were already successful in defeating Zero?"

A hopeful rush filled their chests, halting breath and heartbeat for a moment like a skip while listening to a record. Their thoughts were chaotic and maddening as the internal traffic of their minds lost control at the definitive idea that Zero had already been defeated, that all of this worry was wasted and the quest of the Hero was already determined. Jubilation filled them, even Raven, who had the barely resistible urge to tackle hug Zelda and scream with giddiness. It was only the mental image of doing so that stopped her, but the held in emotions traveled instead to her eyes, which dilated and grew larger than she had ever known them to. Zelda's face was a clutter of exasperated emotions that struggled for a stranglehold over its various parts.

"Then..." Zelda addressed Baralai out of breath, "Then everything... will be fine! No planet will have to suffer again, and your Zanarkand will be built and, and..."

Baralai interrupted with a confused glance and asked: "What's Zanarkand?"

Dumfounded faces glared at him.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Zelda asked with trepidation. "Zanarkand. The place we're all headed for. To find out why there's strange activity there. That's what you said."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Baralai answered with clenched teeth as though he were being viciously insulted. "We're going to the Dark Realm to find Tidus. I've never heard of Zanarkand."

"The dark realm..." Zelda repeated, confused. "But Lulu, Wakka, Yuna and Rikku... they all mentioned it, too."

"How dare you!" Baralai suddenly raised his voice. It shocked and sent shivers down Zelda's spine and made Raven's hands clasp tightly at the edge of her seat, but not for fear of the Praetor. Puzzling and awkward questions made their muscles jerk and tighten of their own accord as Baralai continued to speak harshly with a reason unknown to them.

"Rikku and Wakka died almost five years ago in the battle against Sin, and Lulu has been paralyzed ever since. How dare you joke about them," he spoke with solemn anger.

A monstrous and unprecedented writhing of his head sent the two girls to the back of their seats, terrified. His face suddenly bore a crescent moon scar across his cheek, his attire had been changed to a portentous hue of black robes, and his silvery hair stretched out, laying straight and falling just beneath his shoulders in an ominous manner. The weather then sputtered from a bright, cloudless day to a raving burst of aquatic bubbles, forming a strange and spontaneous rain which suddenly shot back up into the sky and turned into a slow snow as Baralai's face began to change even more. His general expression now turned dark, hardened, and virtually unlikable in comparison to the one Raven had initially judged. The landscape was warping between a mountain path and an obscure forest trail with spatterings of television-like static throughout the intervals before each scene became whole. Each change subjected them to a barrage of temperature and pressure changes and a smell that reminded Zelda of dead foliage. Baralai did not seem to notice that anything was wrong, but the unnatural shifts in his facial features made it impossible to understand what was going through the Praetor's mind. Raven felt horrified in the simple carriage prison which felt inescapable in her terror, and her only clear thought was the curiosity about whether or not this man was still the New Yevon Praetor Baralai that they had met.

"What the hell is going on?" the dark sorceress finally managed to speak.

"I do not know," stated Baralai darkly with an octave descent in his voice and surprising Raven with an actual answer. "But I sense that something strange is happening. Similar to déjà vu but..."

Baralai's face jerked once more, and he jumped in his seat, startled. "Who are you?" he asked, pulling out a long, serrated knife with jewels of onyx on its curved red handle. "How did you get in here?"

Raven instinctively gritted her teeth and waved her cloak in a wide arc so as to momentarily blind the man sitting in the carriage across them while she enveloped Zelda and herself to safety in her astral form. The weather, though irrelevant in a pure energy form, had changed back from snow into a thick and dreary rain with clouds so dark that light became scarce even at the height of the day.

Raven, soaring across the sky as a black burning creature of the skies, spotted a particularly large tree with many outstretched limbs and pale green leaves. She landed with a gentle skid at the base of the trunk and released Zelda gently; the princess was panic stricken as her body became physical again, and Raven was in a rage.

"What... the _hell_... just happened?" the sorceress screamed out into the storm from the dry spots beneath the tree. Her voice died not far from her mouth after a thunder crack effortlessly drowned her out, chastising her with nature's scolding imitation of: 'Quiet!'

"Zero."

"What?" Raven snapped back.

"It's Zero."

"How?"

"I don't know," Zelda said. Tears had filled her eyes, not nearly camouflaged by the raindrops that made their way through the gaps in branches. "Zero, I don't know how, but he... he has somehow poisoned this timeline. And that means that... that X... and everyone... they..."

She cried. Her hope, crushed beneath the crimson reploid's actions.

More rain suddenly leaked through. The leaves began to crumple and shrivel away until they were no longer there. Zelda cried harder, and Raven knelt down to her, fighting her own tears and barely succeeding.

"Look at me." Her hands took hold of the Hylian woman's wrists and gently pulled them away. "_Look_ at me, Zelda," she pleaded with the weeping princess as the chilling rain started to bite at their skin.

"Zelda... we still have each other. No matter what happens, we can fight our way through it together."

Raven's eyes managed to pull Zelda's in hers for a moment. She tried to muster a smile for the princess, and it made tears fall from her cheek as she did. "Come on, now, I'm terrible at consoling people. Don't make this worse," she said, with a teary grin. Zelda's lips trembled and made some fragile facsimile of a smile in return, but it would not hold.

"Wh-what are w-we g-going to d-do?" she wept.

Deep breaths gave Raven the courage to smile on at her, desperately trying to get her to return it. "We're going to find Tidus, find a way home, and then jam something really pointy in Zero's ear."

"He doesn't h-have ears," Zelda replied.

"He will when we're done with him."

Zelda almost grinned, Raven could see it, and it strengthened the will to comfort her. Realizing that the cold was making them both shiver, she took the Lotus and aimed it horizontally above their heads. It was natural after having grown accustomed to the blade to brace oneself for the initial sting that accompanied a firm grasp of its handle, and yet no such pain came to Raven. The flames of the Lotus blade remained all but completely silent, releasing the faintest sizzling sounds as the falling rain evaporated above them. The flames moved slowly, comfortingly, and touched shivering skin, not like a wild blaze, but as a comforting friend's embrace.

The warmth pushed Raven's heart forward, and she could not tell where the compassion inside her came from. She stared at her hand intently and formed a shell of its shape to levitate and hold on to the Lotus above their heads while she opened both arms and drew Zelda against her.

"You're a terrible influence," Raven said between tears. "What will the other Teen Titans think of me if I turn all huggy?"

Zelda half sobbed and half laughed. They held the embrace for some time, listening to each other's tears and laughs, smiles and sorrows, until their hair began to dry from the even stream of the Lotus's dry warmth.

"Raven?" Zelda whispered. Raven pulled back and met her eyes caringly as she rubbed away the itchy remains of salty drops.

"Can I share something with you?"

The sorceress nodded at the princess, whose cheeks and eyes had become red and splotchy.

"You know that while the Triforce mark is on the hands of all of the sages, there are three actual pieces of the Triforce, Power, Wisdom, and Courage."

"Of course," Raven answered. "And Zero has the Triforce of Power from Ganondorf."

"Yes," Zelda said, wiping away the last of her tears. "But the other two..."

"X must have the Triforce of Courage," Raven said with confidence, and Zelda managed a weak smile in return.

"Just like Link, the Hero of Time before him, he bears that piece. But do you know who holds the Triforce of Wisdom?" she asked.

Raven thought for a moment and came up blank.

"It used to be me," said Zelda with pride. "For years I had carried it, only to be devastated when it left me for someone else. I didn't care for the reason at first; I was so blinded by anger. But I think I'm starting to understand why the Triforce of Wisdom chose you."

"Me?" Raven said, wide-eyed. "I... I hold the Triforce of Wisdom? But I never even... felt anything!"

Zelda took Raven's right hand and moved the dark blue part of the uniform that covered her Triforce symbol and its gentle glow. "I think I understand that, too," she answered with a proud sniffle, and the tears finally subdued. "I was jealous and hateful toward you at first. Having the Triforce of Wisdom taken away after losing everything else I had was too much to take, and I refused to give you my blessing. But now... you have it."

The bottom right of the golden triangles on the back of her hand brightened to almost white as a rush of what felt like ice water spread through Raven from head to toe, stiffening every hair along the way as her body smoothly curved with the flow of the sensation. She felt almost out of breath as it ended, and she swallowed hard after several gasps. The place on her hand that represented the Triforce of Wisdom looked like a jewel shining beneath transparent skin. It took several minutes and Zelda's calm hands to cover the symbol away from her sight with a meek smile.

"Thank you," Raven broke through her speechlessness. "Thank you so much."

"You have more than earned it," Zelda bowed back.

They sat for some time solemnly underneath the withered tree with the Lotus over their heads. Even with the blackest of skies enveloping the heavens of this place and the clouds snapping furious thunder, staring out at it helped bring order to their thoughts. Though there was a deep joy between Raven and Zelda after what they had just exchanged, the dominant confusion of the spontaneously altered future of Gaia (Or Spira, as they called it in that era) loomed overhead with the storm clouds. People suddenly dead years ago, the ominous warping of Baralai and their environment, and the non-existence of Zanarkand posed a unique question. Were their Sage of Water and the blade Brotherhood that the Light Sage had asked Zelda to obtain still parts of this world? And despite a growing bond between them, it did not make them miss their own time and Mega Man X any less, nor give them any insight as to how they would get back from such a twisted place.

The locked glances they gave each other were resolute, both thinking the same thing; nothing could be done by sitting and waiting.

Zelda had been playing with a notion for several minutes. "The dark realm," she said. "We should go there."

"You think it's the same place as Zanarkand?" Raven asked.

"I don't know, but it still sounds as if it is at the heart of this world's problems. Baralai had intended upon taking us there before he changed that last time."

"Alright, I'm fine with that," Raven said, standing and taking the Lotus in her actual hand again. "And how do you propose we..."

Her eyes sharpened as she planted her foot and splashed at the mud in a brusque fighting stance while she held the Lotus in both hands. The princess then swiftly shot up and pulled her fists apart, and a bow and arrow appeared respectively in each hand, aiming at the dark figures that were mucking through the soaked terrain toward them.

"Whoa, whoa! Hold your fire!" shouted a familiar woman's voice, and as the black masses came nearer the two lowered their guards in surprise.

"Lady Yuna?"

She was atop one of a small army of jet black chocobos that had the most incredible tactical advantage. In an entirely direct assault in this type of dark, rainy weather, if the riders leaned close to the chocobos' backs and held their legs in tightly, they would be, for all intents and purposes, practically invisible until they were within seconds of their enemies. In fact, even at close range, Zelda and Raven could barely see the birds whose eyes were dull and did not reflect as most do. Many of those following the former High Summoner angled themselves to the side, making those who were more distant to appear to be hovering in midair. There were dozens, possibly a hundred or more, who were also partially camouflaged in dark garments. As their gazes were drawn back to the High Summoner she looked at them strangely.

"_Lady_ Yuna?" she asked, showing them a massive scar that went from the corner of her lip and traveled across her cheek toward her neck. It hadn't been there an hour ago when they last saw her, but aside from that and much darker clothing that included a knee length black trench, she was barely different.

"I haven't been called that in years," she said, balancing astonishment and irritation at the title. "Just who are you, anyway? I feel like I've met you before, sort of like..."

"Déjà vu... but not?" Raven filled in, and then she jumped on a hunch. "You headed to Zanarkand?"

Raven watched her squeeze her chocobo's reigns tightly with a look of shock. It was if the name was cursed. "How do you know about Zanarkand? Who on Spira are you two?"

"Friends," Raven said back, "and if you're headed into battle, we can help."

"And why would you want to?" Yuna pursued them.

"Call it a rescue mission."

Yuna nearly laughed out, but realizing that they were serious, she instead eyed them with an awkwardly devious grin. "A rescue mission, huh? Most of us are expecting to die, and you plan to get in and out with someone else in tow?" Yuna gave a straight-faced grin of admiration. "You must have more guts than the Al Bhed, the way they charged in and got themselves slaughtered last week. Rikku, bring these two chocobos!" she shouted back, and to their surprise, the bouncy girl stepped through the crowd with free rides for them, but like the others she was vastly different than before. Her golden hair was cut short, dyed black, and plastered to the side of her head from the soaking rain. The expression of piercing glares that she gave the princess and the sage borderlined gothic craziness and shared a resemblance to Raven's own facial features, except much, much less sane. Her body was covered in deep blood and black shades of leather, and it had tight black laces that exposed small amounts of skin from her wrists to her shoulders, her feet to her thighs, and at one point her waist to her neck, but the last set of laces had been sliced away and removed leaving the lace holes to create a V-shape, accentuating and exposing her slim and muscular midsection and a great deal of cleavage that was unusually larger than what the previous version of Rikku had. Raven and Zelda mentally shook their heads and joked lightly to themselves about no matter how drastic the world had become, some things just didn't change.

"Heard you were dead," said Raven.

Rikku grinned darkly as she handed over the reins of the chocobos. "A great exaggeration," she said in a seductive voice. The Sage of Darkness smiled back as she took the thin cord and vaulted onto her giant bird, and Zelda climbed onto the chocobo behind her which squawked and flapped its flightless wings.

"Hang tight to your birds, stay concealed!" Yuna bellowed out to the battalion of men and women that stretched beyond the normal eye's abilities. Raven heard the faint shouts of someone behind them repeating the message to those in the back. "We'll reach our target in less than an hour. Riders move out!"

Yuna kicked at her chocobo's side and heaved a sharp 'haiya' from her lungs, and she bolted across the mucky wet fields while the other chocobos followed behind needing little encouragement to stay in a triangle formation now that their leader had resumed pace.

"_I feel like we're being dragged every which way_..." Zelda initiated telepathic speech that was immune to the shivering of her skin and the galloping movements of her enormous bird mount.

"_It's annoying_,_ but it seems to be working in our favor for now_," Raven answered and looked back to Zelda, whose blonde hair darkened with the dampness of the rain. "_As long as we find Tidus and make our way home, I'm willing to take the emotional strain_."

"_As am I,_" the princess meekly answered. "_As am I_."

Raven didn't push the conversation anymore. Although the layers of dark clouds could very well have been miles thick, she tried hard to replace it with the sky and that perfect moment between moonlight and dawn's full rise, for until she found Mega Man X again, that image and Zelda's companionship were her only comforts in this dark world.


	39. Zanarkand, Part II

**Chapter 39 – Zanarkand, Part II**

Traveling through the dying land of Spira, Gaia's future, thoughts of many things swirled amongst the anxiety and fear of what was to come. It was hard to grasp how the landscape and the people had changed so fast; they had never imagined that Zero could have such a powerful and strange pull on time. The longer they rode, the longer Raven and Zelda had to wonder if perhaps it was all an elaborate ruse, and that they were unconscious or in some distorted state of mind that was keeping them from seeing the truth. The alternative, accepting that Zero's powers were great enough to break down the barriers of time to achieve whatever it is he desired, was the easy way out, but was it the right one?

The rest of the sudden change in their journey was filled only with the sounds of pouring rain, lightly skipping chocobo tracks in puddles, the occasional thunder snap, and each individual's own chattering teeth for those who were not dressed well enough for the cold or could not handle it. Raven easily formed a barrier in front of her face which deflected the frigid water drops, but looking back she noticed that Zelda had no such protection, and even though this princess had proved herself to be battle worthy and enduring, her mouth soon gave way to the unstoppable typewriter clack of her jaw. The dark sorceress woman undid the dark ruby clasp across her chest and tossed the cloak back to her, and Zelda gave an affectionate nod of thanks, quickly throwing it over herself to block sharp winds and create a layer of dry for a brief time. Raven found the chilled blow of the air invigorating across her arms and her hair without the rain able to attack her, and she had the urge to drop out of the battalion's triangle formation to rush ahead.

Reminded sorely of Hyrule, Zelda had tried very hard to hide her crying, and Raven knew it. Raven, however, had her own pain to hide, wanting more and more to see her blue armored reploid once again. The fear of not knowing if he was alright could only be subdued by her newfound relationship with the young Hylian princess for so long. She desperately wanted to release the focus on him, but with a blackened sky spread out like a blanket across all their heads and the repetitive gallop of the birds dulling her senses, she found Mega Man X the only person she could think about. The soft skin of his face, the strong lips and the bright emerald eyes flashed through her mind as though it were a projector, looping endlessly through minor variations of the same handful of slides. She worried as she held close to the back of the black chocobo's neck. His materia poisoning came to mind, and Raven could not repress the image of his face, plastered with the sticky dry residue that had leaked from his eyes as they were held prisoner by the Turks. She wanted desperately to be with him if it had gotten worse, to take care of him like he had done for since the day they met.

Another thought periodically consumed the dark sorceress, and although it was not free of the hardship involved with thinking of X, it was a mystery that helped distract her at least a little from the sting of both the reploid's absence and the cold water drops endlessly falling. Rufus had said they were the same race, she and X, called the Cetra. It made no sense at all, for she was half human, half demon, and X was a reploid machine. The very idea was so absurd that it might have made her laugh if she wasn't so distraught.

Raven held her chocobo a bit tighter.

What did it mean if they were the same race, and what connected them? Rufus had tested their blood and found something common, that much she knew as impossible as it seemed. For him to come to that conclusion there would have to exist a race on Gaia that also had that trait in common, and it would have to be powerfully distinctive. According to Shinra they were also the same race as that creature, Jenova.

A sharp shudder followed by an acceleration of her chattering teeth dulled her senses even further. Thinking of the massive, mutilated female corpse in that strange place beneath the planet's surface reminded her of Zero, which reminded her of X. Great fear and horror at the remembrance of Zero's malicious intent did not mix well with the heart-collapsing desire to be near the blue reploid again, and she squeezed even tighter to the large bird, seeing as it was the only thing she could grasp.

She wondered if those two Turks, the bald dark skinned one and Elena, had survived their injuries. Surely X had escaped. He must have. He must.

Raven staggered with a jolt as her chocobo swung its neck. Her fingers had dug into the bird so hard that it was almost bleeding. After she released the unintentional claw-vice, the chocobo didn't seem to mind even though Raven was still startled with tightened breath. She shook off the jolt to her accelerated heart and held the reins instead of the bird, but she had garnered some additional attention from one of the other riders.

Raven's empathic awareness sensed the glare in her direction and she returned the side glance to the rider next to her. Rikku was staring at the dark sorceress with a wide-eyed desire and licked her lips, avoiding the common courtesy of looking her in the eyes and instead wandering towards the exposed skin of her legs and other parts of her body that had become very easy to envision unclothed with the rain tightening the bond between flesh and fabric. The initial reaction that Raven, shocked beyond speech, gave back was a mix of awkward repulsion and embarrassment, but a telepathic call from Zelda made it even worse.

"_You should feel flattered_," the princess said with a mental laugh that was very audible. She had been watching the small exchange just behind and between them.

"_Flattered_?" Raven said aghast. "_She just looked like she wanted to strip me down and have her way with me_! _And we're in the middle of heading off to a battle where no one's expecting to live_! _How is that supposed to be flattering_?"

"_That's exactly the point,_" Zelda returned, still holding Raven's cloak tightly, and Rikku turned back and gave the princess a much more neutral stare. "_She may not be very appropriate or tactful about it, but the fact that she's willing to express that attraction for you in such a deadly time is probably a huge compliment coming from her_. _Link and I had expressed similar things toward each other at times of war, and I believe that you and X have felt the same things for each other_."

"_So what are you suggesting I do_?"

Zelda wore a weak smile underneath the sorceress's deep blue cloak. "_You've got the Triforce of Wisdom now_. _You tell me_."

The Sage of Darkness thought for a moment as the rain and wind inevitably slid past her barrier of energy and slowly soaked her outfit. Fighting the cold breaking its way through and keeping a clear head simultaneously was a fierce strain, but when Raven closed her eyes and envisioned the newly christened alteration in her hand's golden mark, things became clearer. It was a compliment from the dark Rikku, Zelda had suggested. Raven had trouble looking at it that way, but as she turned toward Rikku, she noticed that the leather-clad woman was still staring at her. The eyes that Raven looked with felt more able to penetrate through the brutality of the storm that they had at first glance. Rikku's expression no longer seemed quite so suggestive, but genuinely interested in her; there was a deep longing coupled with the desire for her sex. Even deeper than that was a much stronger emotion, wrapped in layers of the superficial surface ones of attraction. It was fear.

"_She's afraid_... _of dying alone_?" Raven said to herself.

A subtle lean coerced Raven's chocobo to near Rikku's. She tried to begin the unusual conversation with acceptance and understanding. Raising her voice enough to trounce the volume of the storm but enough so that no one else would hear was something that Raven was very careful to do. "Sorry. I'm… taken," she said with great difficulty. Bringing up Mega Man X was becoming more and more painful with each occurrence, and she strained to keep a strong lock between her eyes and Rikku's.

"Not interested in girls, either, I'm guessing," the gothic version of Rikku replied with a little disappointment, but the attracted stare stayed. "Shame. I bet you're a fiend in bed. Maybe even teach me a few things with those powers of yours."

Rikku clacked her teeth together in an animal's biting motion and then reverted to a more innocent grin.

A hot flush warmed Raven's face effectively against the near freezing raindrops. The dark sorceress had expected herself to be offended, but there was something gently playful underneath the dark-haired woman's exterior looks of seduction. Rikku smiled humorously in her own way, and for a moment she resembled the bubbly bouncing version of her that Raven and Zelda had briefly known not long ago. It had been annoying then, but it was inviting now.

"I, um, really don't have any experience… in bed, actually."

Rikku laughed. A few others heard it, and it slightly startled her chocobo who squawked and gathered even more attention. "Damn," Rikku said. "With a body like that I would have thought you'd have seen more action than a martial arts flick."

Raven blushed even more heavily and had an urge to cover herself up for modesty's sake. A great body? She never thought of herself like that.

"Hey, it's ok," Rikku added, reading her mind. "You don't have to flaunt it, but you sure as hell shouldn't hide it either."

"Thanks," Raven managed to mutter just above the rain's pattering noise.

"So… never been in bed with anyone…" Rikku began, more to herself at first before turning toward the dark sorceress. "I don't see you as the overboard wholesome type… so I'm guessing that where you come from isn't a place where you fit in as well as you'd like."

"Yeah, the second one."

"And yet you've got somebody," the gothic girl said with an impressed smile. "Well… good for you. Hold on tight to it. If it's that deep and meaningful then it's worth fighting for. But… if it doesn't work out between you and him, you should look me up," she winked with a gentle gyration and a finger sliding down the skin of her chest and abdomen. "Because I'd be happy to teach you the ropes."

Raven couldn't believe the words sitting in her mouth on the verge of coming out. It was as if someone entirely new was speaking for her. "I… might take you up on that," she said, and half of her almost immediately regretted it with an inward grinning laugh. The playfulness was exciting even if she had no intentions of actually committing such an act.

"Shake on it, now," Rikku insisted with her eyes expanding and shrinking like a heartbeat's pulse. "None of this might or might not stuff. I want to know whether or not I can expect you sprawled across my bed sheets or not."

Raven couldn't believe that her hand was slowly stretching out to take Rikku's in such an agreement. Was this version of Rikku a complete nymphomaniac? And if she was, Raven wondered, why the hell was she about to consent to join her? Extending her palm, she almost believed she had lost her mind, and she thought to herself that she would never actually go through with this despite her lack of hesitance. With an awkward feeling in the dark sorceress's stomach, they made the agreement (Rikku did so with a lip-biting joy), but another sensation stung at Raven's mind that was almost as much of a surprise as it had been the first time around.

Images began to flood in once again of people and places she had no knowledge of, but she recognized many of the same ones that she had seen when coming into contact with the alternate Rikku's hand not long ago. This time she held on and refused to let go as the images accelerated to a blinding pace, showing images of a city of lights and desert scenes of people, many of whom had been mechanically altered or adorned in some way. Eventually the flashes of seemingly unconnected figures and landscapes became too much of a blur for Raven to comprehend and made her skull and eyes sear. A final image shot like a bullet at her head, but no amount of speed could have deterred her from recognizing it. The armored reploid in blue, the former Maverick Hunter and the one whose heart, body and mind she longed for snapped into her vision, striking her balance with a jolt, and she began to fall from her mount.

She felt a cold spray of rain and then two arms, one shoving at her left, pushing her back the way she came from, and one from the right, gripping and pulling strong along her wrist and lower arm that had flailed.

Her eyes opened slowly, pulling against a gluing force like a bad hangover, and she had the feeling of nausea and a constant, miserable throb in her forehead and temples. She realized that Rikku and Zelda were at opposite arms, riding alongside with the utmost concern for her on their faces.

"Man, what the hell was that? You ok, babe?" Rikku asked as Zelda attempted to help steady the lightheaded Sage of Darkness.

"I felt that as well," the princess added. "What happened?"

But Raven was entirely focused on Rikku. She tried to direct her muddled vision toward Rikku's face. The lightly sprinting motion of the chocobos didn't make it any easier.

"You, your race…" she moaned. "The Al Bhed, right?"

Rikku nodded and kept an arm lock with the sorceress. "What about us?" she said.

"Your ancestors, do you know them?"

"My… what?" Rikku said almost inaudibly.

"Your past, your ancestors," Raven repeated as she pulled away from the arms holding her up so she could rub her temples. "Is that what we just saw?"

"Didn't _see_ anything," Rikku answered. "Just felt funny. But ancestors? I don't know. We lost a lot of history in the war with Sin. Why's it important?"

"I'm not sure," said the sorceress to Rikku. "I just… that was what it felt like."

A voice bellowed backward to them. "Stay in formation!" Yuna shouted to them, and when they focused to the front, all of them, Raven, Zelda, Rikku, Yuna, and every other rider on chocobo, could see the enormity of their target. There was little time left for chatter about lineages and history or the visions Raven had seen each time she had touched the Al Bhed girl whose race did not exist a thousand years ago. That was when Spira was called Gaia.

The dark cloud, like a tainted mist of poison, outstretched its tendrils high above the mountains that were apparently the last obstacle of travel in front of them. Even at a distance, some areas of stone rising hundreds if not a few thousand feet in the air seemed blackened somehow when the lightning lit the sky, like the waves of threatening mist had painted the rock face that aimed at it with an explosive shade of warning to those who would dare challenge it. Apparently the Al Bhed had not heeded those warnings.

Raven watched as Rikku's face contorted and narrowed with vengeance as they neared the mountain paths and the body of the first fallen comrade was passed by, slain and left for the carrion that would soon resume feasting on him and rend what little flesh was left from his exposed skeleton. Was he Al Bhed? Raven could not tell with such a quick glance as they rode forward, not that she would have really known anyway, but from Rikku's glare she assumed that yes, he or she once was.

The sorceress was barely able to focus on what was in front of her between the cold that had now brought goose bumps to every inch of her skin. She wanted her cloak back from Zelda and to find out why she had seen X in Rikku twice; she wanted not to be riding in the frozen rain to some place that spelled death to all the other riders here.

Another body passed, more recently killed, with thick, yellow leather armor stained in two completely different shades of blood. No one had wanted to see it, and it caused a surge of clashing emotions that was far stronger and very noticeable for the two telepathic women. Some wanted their just revenge, others were terrified, others sorrowful and sullen, and the most noticeable, including Rikku, felt one very intense emotion while trying to display another that hid the fear. It brought a heat to their cheeks that was only pleasant in the face of such cold rain to try to remain neutral and calm, and they both failed.

As they entered a small elevating artificial path at a vertical mountain's edge, they were graciously shielded against the rain and temporarily out of sight from the outskirts of the Dark Realm, but other, much darker forces weighed heavy on everybody, as if the happiness was being sucked from their skin the closer they got. Was that a part of the fear, or did the Dark Realm truly exude the stench of misery that strongly?

They had to stare upward into the rain to avoid what came next. The bodies increased as they rode cliffside along the mountain path that narrowed their formation. Some of the dead came in pairs or trios. Raven saw one skeleton wrapped tightly around another much smaller one, the skeleton of a small child, and she gnashed her teeth tightly, looking away. Zelda reacted much worse, covering her mouth with her hands and struggling not to cry, and one of the riders sidled close to comfort her.

Rikku looked even more intense than before, infused with rage. Her heartbeat was audible to Raven. It pounded with enough emotions to explode. Rikku removed from her back – and Raven could not believe she had not seen it before – a long silver sword with a four foot blade. She lusted for battle with murderous intent as she stared straight forward following closely behind Yuna. It was the former High Summoner who was the only to wear a blank expression across her scarred face, turning back for a brief moment occasionally to look at her troops or at the soaked corpses they passed.

They reached a high elevation quickly, and the Dark Realm was visible again, slowly growing with a menacing pull as more of it and more of the bodies became visible. A slim javelin of stone hung another person, dead not more than a day, a few meters off his feet in the face of the stone wall. Something with incredible power and intellect had deliberately jammed the person in the chest with enough force to make the pointed rock pierce several feet into the side of the mountain. People swerved to avoid the slow drip of the body's remaining blood flow.

Raven felt the Triforce glow warmly on the back of her hand that held tight to the reins of the chocobo. A realization struck her. After several minutes of travel through what was probably the only path made to traverse the mountains, the bodies had begun to look as though they had not been planted as warnings. Some were strewn messily in the distance and one would actually have to be looking to see many of them, which Raven, to her displeasure, did to confirm her building apprehension and the caveat that the resonating Triforce of Wisdom mark was giving her.

She kicked her heels into the black chocobo's side and rose up to meet Yuna quickly with the urgent message weighing heavy on her tongue.

"We have to turn around!" she commanded vehemently. "They know we're coming. It's a trap!"

Yuna gave her a sideways glance and said softly, "I know."

"You know? How could you lead us into a trap?" the sorceress raged back.

"A trap though it may be, the forces of the Dark Realm are weaker since their battle with the Al Bhed," Yuna said to her. "This is our only chance, and they know that as well. So of course it's a trap. Unless of course someone with very special powers was able to seek out whatever devices or ambushes were ahead of us…"

Raven stared at the summoner's suggesting glance and understood. She leapt off her chocobo and Zelda shortly thereafter followed suit, latching on to Raven's arms as they rose up ahead of the small army. After a moment, Zelda released the sorceress's grip and flew on her own energy, high above the path they had been on. What followed for the two of them was truly a portentous sight. The giant sphere of purple haze stretched for miles in every direction, and nothing, not even the combined senses of the two telepaths, could perceive what was beyond it, but their extrasensory awareness stretched out to the path several minutes ahead of Yuna's battalion to see what was laying in wait. With fingers at the sides of their faces in their own individual methods, their eyes emanated opposite lights. Raven's was dark, Zelda's was white. Praying that they were not seen through the density and frigid rain of the storm, the joined effort of their telepathic skills created a framework of the environment in their heads, and clusters of figures other than the riders could be seen by them very clearly as if a telescope lens was focused on everyone and everything.

In moments it became all too deathly clear as the rigid, metallic figures came into view, hiding in two rocky alcoves, one on either side of the path less then a minute's ride from the periphery of the Dark Realm. They were not human. They did not belong in this time or place, and yet they were there.

"Mavericks – dozens of them – waiting to strike easy targets," Raven whispered. "Did Zero bring all of them here?"

"There's no time for guessing games. We have to warn Yuna and Rikku," Zelda shouted. "They're almost there!"

They snapped downward, creating a spherical shock that launched rain aside as they bolted for the mountain path. Raven did not bother to remount as she took Yuna's arm and flew alongside her, and the look she gave must have told the entire story, because Yuna's shield of void expressions shattered into a grimace. Her mismatched blue and green eyes gave way to an anxious trepidation and a blood curdling concern that would have crumbled the morale of her comrades worse than the strewn bodies did if they had seen her.

"Raven, I want you to give the signal."

"Alright," she agreed with Yuna. "They're on either side just short of the Dark Realm, and they know we're coming. Even worse, I know who our enemy is and it doesn't make me feel very good about our chances, but I'll let you know right when we get there."

"No," Yuna argued, finally giving Raven full eye contact since the ride had begun. "I have a plan. You need to give me exactly twenty-five seconds before that."

Raven stared at the path ahead, and she felt her spine shriek with cold and fear. "Alright," she nodded, not understanding, but trusting.

"This is it," Rikku said from her other side with sword in hand. "Zelda's filled me in. I'm ready. I'm going to kill every one of those bastards who hurt my family."

Raven prayed that she did last that long. The leather dressed woman of Spira slowly slid out of her volcanic rage to give Raven an affectionate and beguiling face.

"And if all goes smoothly," she added to the Sage of Darkness, "well…" - she licked her lips - "…you know."

She couldn't help but laugh a little while shaking her head, and Rikku joined in weakly before taking Raven's hand and wrist in a firm grasp of worry, which Raven returned to her.

"We'll fight close to each other," Raven reassured the youthful terror that found its place on Rikku's face. "We'll make it."

Her features were soft, afraid. She nodded and released the grip, breathing hard with her chest thumping as Raven left her to warn Yuna that the time was coming.

"Are you ready?" she asked the dark armored version of the woman that was so light and friendly before. Lady Yuna gave a subtle downward jerk of her head, splashing water from her nose as she embraced a long blink and clasped a hand over her chest, which expanded with the pursing movements of her lips.

"Alright," Raven said inaudibly over the downbeat of the storm "here we go… in five, four, three, two, one…"

A pinkish steam that was scattered by the rain began to flow from Yuna's chest as if she had been scorched from the inside out. Her eyes stung with pain at the incredible sensation as, slowly, through her skin and black garments, a small red orb of materia appeared. Before it had even finished leaving the cavity in her chest that it had come from, Raven stared in awe at the materia that had not been a part of the pre-twisted, pre-altered Spira.

Yuna began the words that she had said spoken many times.

"Majestic beast of the sky, dragon above all others, protect with thy almighty body and set asunder mine enemies with the breath of the mightiest that has ever lived. Come, Bahamut, King of Dragons!"

A tunnel of spiraling energy streaks split the sky. A bellowing roar answered Yuna's call. The spinning mass of dark rainbow colors that shot through the vortex was converging on the High Summoner's path, angling itself toward the spot where the Mavericks prepared to enclose upon the charging contingent of black riders.

"_My God…" _Raven whispered to Zelda.

"_This is going to be close," _she called back.

The moment drew closer, every second causing the swell of fear and adrenaline to capsize their senses as the spiraling aeon dove to make up the final third of the triad about to clash.

It happened within the tiniest receptacle of mental comprehension, the single second when the Mavericks leapt from their hiding positions, the riders met the aim of their deadly projectile Busters and guns that would have torn through the front half of riders in an instant, and Bahamut, recoiling from his corkscrew with both fists plowing into a dozen or more reploid Mavericks, sending them and their weapons airborne as those not struck were momentarily stunned by the aeon that stood more than four times the height of them.

Layer by layer, the riders leapt from their mounts with fierce slaps on their chocobos' behinds, causing them all to stampede past the mighty dragon and into the robotic crowd. Raven rushed past, catching much more than the colorful silhouette of Bahamut at a distance as she hovered past the creature's leg which was reflective with natural cobalt and ruby colored scale armor that looked thicker than the sorceress's own body, and a shining yellow ornate disc with rose patterns somehow spun behind Bahamut's back without touching him.

Flashes of energy and fire and sparks flew everywhere in the rain, and in less than a minute the ground grew bloody puddles. Some of the smaller Mavericks were trampled underfoot by the chocobos, but most of the birds were slaughtered, shot by plasma weapons, carved by sharp talons or blades, and one Maverick with fangs and the color pattern of a massive tiger was even ripping through the crowd of birds, tearing out their bones and using them as spears and clubs to impale the rest as he covered himself in carnage and a sadistic glee.

A massive crunch throbbed against Raven's ears, stabbing at the hollows on the sides of her head with pain. She saw Bahamut's face and the dragon stared at her, his face covered in the same bluish plate armor, and Raven quickly realized from the crushed Maverick – less than a foot away and lying in a heap - that Bahamut had saved her. She nodded to the creature with a hurried smile and leapt into the fray with Zelda at her side.

Back to back, sidling through the crowd, the princess and the sage shot their way through every metallic figure that came for them. Zelda's light arrows stunned the large and the small. Bursts of fire, ice, and lightning soared overhead from the magically inclined of Spira to strike the halted targets while Raven's dark bolts of telekinetic power aimed for vital limbs and animalistic caricatures of the Mavericks.

Two human bodies flew overhead, but it was impossible to tell if they were alive or not with the explosions of water, rock, and bodies covering the sky more thoroughly than the storm. A Maverick shaped like a lizard leapt into the sky and dove for Raven during the distraction, shrugging off her dark energy like weak punches as it collapsed her to the ground and drove her head beneath the shin-deep puddles by the neck. The sorceress struggled and choked at the sudden loss of air and vision, and, barely able to see through puddles of diluted blood, she loosened the Lotus from underneath her back and drove its spouting flame into the Maverick's chest. It held on even tighter, threatening to crush her windpipe, oozing a strange black liquid from its chest and mouth as it refused to acknowledge the pain. It wheezed and laughed, and from her blurred and panicked viewpoint, Raven could see that the black ooze was moving across the Maverick's chest as though it had life of its own.

Holes ripped through the side of the lizard rapidly, and then its head was cut cleanly from its shoulders. It still did not stop moving even though it had been completely decapitated.

Raven's instinct took control. Surrounded by a circle of shining green symbols, her right arm began to glow green, and her eyes turned the same vicious lime color as her materia activated. The lightning burst that emanated from her arm fried the Maverick's black blood and finally killed it, letting her gasp rain drenched air as Rikku and Yuna lifted her free and to her feet.

"You ok, babe?" Rikku shouted, taking a moment to look her up and down for serious injuries before turning back to where Yuna faced. Raven realized that she, Rikku, Zelda, and Yuna along with a small handful of others had somehow forced through the enemy lines and were now very close to the edge of the Dark Realm, a fact that had caused every remaining Maverick to swarm on them.

Bahamut stomped to the ground in front of them, acting as shield and sword. He was bleeding badly between the gaps in his natural armor, and he leaned heavily to one side as projectile fire of green and red continued to strike him. Chocobo bodies were everywhere, some of them mutilated beyond recognition save for the clutter of blood stained feathers that indicated what was left. Screams, roars and hisses came from those Mavericks and humans who were either injured or dared taunting. The few humans still on the other side of the crowd were fighting one on one, lucky to have the attention drawn to the dragon and the four leaders, but it barely helped, and Raven witnessed one person's head simply cease to exist as an energy weapon from a black eagle Maverick's palm engulfed it.

A machine rogue that looked like a futuristic suit of silver armor with a lance charged at Yuna, only slowed by the dents that her massive guns made. He thrust his spear; she dodged and jammed her gun underneath his chin, fired, and his head exploded. The Maverick oozed the same viscous black liquid, and, headless, his fist collided with Yuna's face, breaking her nose and sending her back several feet.

Raven had images flashing through her minds of the last time she was in a war zone with Mavericks, and she was quick to recognize that it was not the same. "They've mutated!" Raven screamed to Zelda, who was fending off two cloaked Mavericks with flaring white energy swords. They deflected her light arrows with ease and caught her skirt with one of their blades, almost catching her legs as the draped cloth was seared off at the knee. Bahamut crushed one into scrap with a single blow and then returned to defending himself against the thirty-odd reploids slowly pressing him back toward the hazy rift of darkness as shots and screams rang out from all angles.

Yuna stood with body covered in mud and face dripping blood and returned to her firing, but a hopeless click followed her trigger pull, and at that moment a searing bolt of energy cut into her shoulder, burning her leather armor and flesh at close range from a humanoid Maverick with a laser pistol, the one she had been aiming at. She dashed at the machine with empty guns past Rikku who had been slashing and hacking off limbs without noticing that she was bleeding badly from her face and right leg, and she jammed the butt of her gun into the fleshy and hateful expression of her enemy, which, to the Maverick's surprise, stuck there as a grinding sensation tore the insides of his skull.

The short sword that had erupted from the back of her gun cut off his entire face after driving deep into the brain cavity, and with a tiny explosion of insignificant shrapnel that stung Yuna's face, the Maverick collapsed, thankfully dead, and she then climbed up onto Bahamut's bent knee, drawing her final pair of guns and aiming into the crowd that threatened her aeon. Bullets shot through the sensitive eye sockets of her enemies, but the Mavericks, somehow mutated beyond their normal strength, did not quickly fall from shots that would normally kill.

"Zelda!" Raven shouted, but she couldn't see where the princess had gone. She looked around, panicked, not seeing the blonde hair with its gentle waves or the pink angled top she had been given by X. There was no sight of her, and Raven dashed beneath Bahamut's limping, withdrawing legs with a raging force inside of her. She used a mind throbbing force and activated the materia once more in conjunction with her own powers. When her two hands came together, the shockwave launched every moving object away from their convergence. The bubbling burst of shadow energy and materia lightning annihilated those directly in front of the blast, leaving many Mavericks dead and many more shambling and leaking the black ooze like zombies once they managed to stand.

Raven found herself against Bahamut's chest, and the mighty titan itself was knocked to the ground with Yuna barely able to hang on to its shoulder as the ground shook from the crash. Other reploids and a few humans along with numerous dead were tossed into the darkness of the rain that halted for a brief second under the shockwave. Raven clumsily leapt off in more of a fall, and for just a moment, only the patter of the rain and the rasp of her strained breath were audible.

The dark sorceress helped up Rikku, who was still more than ready to fight despite bloody wounds on every limb, and then resumed looking for Zelda in the brief opportunity of their assailants' incapacitation. When her eyes failed to find her and the Mavericks rose to their feet again, she sought for the princess telepathically, desperately, fighting the notion that she might have died in the time between then and the few minutes when she had last seen her. A tiny moan of telepathic origin called back, terrifying her, making her stomach pulsate in horror that she was dying somewhere in the crowd, that perhaps she had struck Zelda herself without knowing. Mavericks were closing in slowly now, and even Bahamut backed away, not having any choice left with its aeon body failing.

Fortune struck in the extended flash of nature's flash bang, and Raven spotted a hope-instilling object just near the edge of the Dark Realm's flowing aura; a pale skinned hand slowly moving.

"Zelda!" she screamed as she stumbled across chocobo parts over to the princess. She was bleeding badly from a wound just near her temple. Her blonde hair had been tinted a deep sunstone orange from her own depleting veins, and she moaned, trying to move.

"I'm sorry," Raven whispered to herself, and she placed her hands on the wound and on Zelda's chest. "You can't die on me!"

With a psychic thrust, one of healing to her head, the other of invigoration and adrenaline to her upper body, Zelda was wrenched from her semi-conscious state into an ear piercing scream of spitting pain, but she stood and stared insane between Raven and the Mavericks. Gratitude would have found a place in her expression if the intensity of the waking shock and the onslaught of Mavericks did not make her wheeze saliva through her teeth as she grasped her chest.

The entire battalion was reduced to four plus Bahamut, but they finally began to press the machines back. The twisting, warping forces that made the Mavericks strangely resilient did not keep them moving fast under grievous injuries dealt by the claws of Bahamut, the armor shearing rounds of Yuna's guns and the break neck slashes of Rikku's oversized blade. Raven shifted her focus to protecting the dragon aeon Bahamut, who was only withstanding the fight with Yuna's words of encouragement.

But whatever force that transformed the Mavericks into even less holy monsters realized that the fight was not going in its sway. The last of the reploid machines lifted their severed and pierced arms willingly as a whirlwind force sucked up the body parts, dragging the organic materia of mutilated chocobos and dead humans who were caught up in the cyclonic action. First a sphere of shifting proportions was formed, and then limbs began to sprout.

A body was being formed, and a weapon. The body was humanoid, composed of the dead of both sides and layered in the bubbling furious ooze that dripped off its extremities. It grew and grew from every dead reploid it absorbed until it stood just above Bahamut's height. The machine bodies of the most powerful Mavericks screeched and twisted together into a giant mallet which the monster then aimed menacingly at the dragon aeon.

Everyone left charged. The dragon roared with the High Summoner on its shoulder and tore through the arroyo battlefield as armor ripping bullets from Yuna's handguns tore chunks of ooze from the amalgamation's face that merely grew back. The light arrows and dark bolts did nothing to faze the conglomerate being as it swiftly reattached body parts with some magnetic will inside the ooze. It slammed the mallet against Bahamut's face, and both Yuna and the aeon were smashed into the rock face where the monster took the handle of the giant weapon of corpses and pressed it against the dragon's neck. Bahamut's crippled limbs could not press it away, and the dragon began to cough blood that sizzled against its assailant and killer.

"No!" Rikku screamed, and she somehow leapt a dozen feet into the air and hacked at one of the creature's arms. Raven telekinetically attempted to manipulate the massive hammer in the opposite direction. Bahamut, weak and dying, managed with a final effort to push the weapon from his neck.

"Bahamut, now!" Yuna roared out from next to the aeon's face. "Mega Flare!"

At her command, the golden disc behind his back began to revolve. Static charges pulsated into the dragon's body from it as he began to push the creature's weapon further away from choking. It spiraled like a helicopter, blurring and brightening everything around it. A buildup of force began to shine from within Bahamut's open maw; at ground level, Rikku knew to run, taking Zelda and Raven with her in a hurry to the edge of the Dark Realm.

The overwhelming illumination highlighted the dragon's brutalized form and all the lost blood staining its titanium scales as a high pitched shriek came from the energy buildup itself. Bahamut thrust the junk robot away and braced a massive, armored leg against the mountain crevasse wall. Then the dragon aeon released the flaring upsurge.

An earthquake shook everything as the inferno of raw energy and flaming breath ripped through anything it touched. Further than the eye could see in the downfall of rain, the mountain was blown through, creating a messy flood of fragmented stone everywhere which Raven quickly put up a barrier for herself and the other two. Everything in the path of the catastrophic reign of power was annihilated. When the blast settled, water began to fill in the massive hole in the earth, and all that was left of the monster was a frame of white hot metal that fell with an ear ringing series of clangs. Anything frailer than the strongest of alloys on it had been completely liquefied.

Suddenly… the rain had taken over the realm of sound again. It felt amazingly quiet, hearing their own heartbeats and rapid breathing.

There were no more Mavericks. The adrenaline that kept everyone fighting began to subside, and everyone fell to their knees, including Bahamut, who heaved with pained breaths of dragon-sized proportions. Yuna looked up at him with loving eyes.

"You were wonderful. Thank you so much," she said and held her body against her dragon's face. The aeon's pinkish blood stained her clothing, but she didn't care as she caressed Bahamut's face. She and all the rest of them were already stained with the life essence of their own veins and the veins of those who had died on both sides, so the little extra did not matter.

The never-ending drops of water tried to wash away the travesty that was suddenly laid before the remaining five, the victors, but there was no comfort. Try as nature might, the rain only pooled everyone's blood together into a miniature lake of carnage. After one look, all of them refused to set their eyes upon it again. Each one of the women took their turns holding Bahamut's face. As the dragon's breath calmed, it seemed to gently coo from the affection.

"Rest, my Bahamut," Yuna said finally as she held out the red materia, and the dragon's massive form slowly fell into spiritual wisps and returned to the shining orb. Five became four.

"We have to go," Raven commanded over the silence. "Into the Dark Realm."

"We won't survive another attack even half the strength of this one," Rikku said, clutching the wound on her right arm as it slowly bled through the fingers of her tightly pressed palm.

Raven stared the leather clad girl in the eye and saw the pain of surrounding death hurting far worse than the damage to her flesh. "I know," said Raven. "But Zelda and I have to move on. We have to, with or without you."

Rikku leaned heavy on her sword as she tangled her black hair within a clenched fist. Her lips pursed together. Raven could see that she was so scared, but Rikku nodded slowly and said to the dark sorceress, "I won't leave you."

"I'm out of bullets," said Yuna. "And Bahamut can't fight anymore. Even though an aeon can't die like we can, I can't bear to put him through anymore. He needs to heal."

"You sword, the one made of fire," Rikku suggested to Raven. "Let me use it. Yuna can handle mine just fine."

Raven hesitated, exhausted with pain and stress. She pulled the Lotus off her back, looked at the unlit handle and ornate petal design that glowed brightly. She looked at Rikku. There was a tender willingness in her, not to take the sword, but to protect. Perhaps it was that and the experience of seeing Mega Man X somewhere within her memories that softened Raven's heart for the provocative girl. Without wasting more valuable time, she handed over the Lotus blade.

"Only use it if you absolutely need it," Raven warned her. "It'll sap your strength if you hold on too long."

"I understand," she said with a thankful half-smile

"Let us go," Zelda directed, ignoring that the right half of her face was plastered in the stains of blood and her whitish skirt had been tinted maroon. "We must find Tidus."

"Tidus!" Yuna cried with growing bulbs for eyes. Rikku responded too with a sharp gasp.

Raven quickly judged that it wasn't worth explaining to a brand new Yuna and Rikku.

"Yes, that's who we're here for," she said, "but there isn't time for talk. Let's go!"

But although their words were courageous, no one was left without a foreboding sensation as they neared the edge of the Dark Realm, its hazy vines of fog slowly passing across the spherical shell that composed it for many miles beyond the rain.

They all leapt through together and instantaneously found themselves somewhere else. The rain had stopped, they all noticed first. They sky was not grey, but instead a violent and livid shade of fuzzy indigo. The grass was brown and dead beneath their feet despite a dampness surrounding it from when weather had apparently been torrential. Bushes and trees were leafless and contorted into shapes of nature's shriveled up agony, while the air they dared to breathe was stale and reeked of rotting plant and animal life.

And there was no return portal apparent from where they had just come from.

There were also bodies on the ground. Just a few. A small enough number to make three out of the four feel more content than to be present with the corpses of over two hundred Mavericks and humans. But Rikku knelt down to one of the dead, a bleached white set of bones with mechanical ocular implants and a torn yellow-green jumpsuit that once belonged to an overweight man.

"Daddy…" she cried, and all her rage hate could not stem the flow of tears that fell for the fallen Al Bhed man. She shared her blood and the stinging streams of her eyes with him.

Raven knelt down and held her gently around the shoulders. It felt strange. Rikku was older, but it somehow seemed the other way around, and more so than just the caring embrace. There were no images this time. Just the crying woman whose weeping body she comforted.

Rikku stood and breathed heavily, wiping hard at her face.

"Zelda?" Raven called out to the princess who was slowly walking away from the group toward the top of a hill. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I know where we are," she said, still climbing the steep embankment. "This is the Dark World, the one I was imprisoned within for one hundred years… though it seemed like only seven from my perspective. We should find what we came for quickly and then get out of here. Every minute we dawdle is more than a dozen in the world outside."

"What's going on?" Yuna asked angrily, following Zelda's lead along with the others. "How can this place come from another world?"

She didn't answer the summoner. It was clear that it was Zero's doing, but the specifics were beyond her comprehension. Zelda merely pressed on, climbing until a glimmer came into sight well beyond the dead-grass hilltop.

"What is that?" she asked, mostly to herself, and Raven managed to catch up.

"It looks like… a tower? Wait, I think I see something at the top."

Raven flew upward slowly so as not to give away her position so easily, and she could spot a blackened frame of something with two legs at the top of the distant tower, but that was not all. To the dark sage, the tower was uncannily alike those that she had seen on X's world. Cylindrical in shape and giving off a warm glow of turquoise even in this esoterically dark land, it was without a doubt from the planet of reploids.

"That wasn't there before," Zelda told her as she hovered and flew to the sorceress's level.

"I'm not surprised," she said. "Any idea who the guy on top is?"

"It's too far to tell," Zelda answered.

"Then I guess we should find out."

Zelda raised and eyebrow for a second before realizing that the motion aggravated her wound and made a few additional drops seep out. "It could be a trap," she said, clutching the side of her face.

"No, I don't think so," surmised Raven. "They threw everything at us all at once. Whoever's in charge will probably face us now. But I don't like the way this feels either."

They flew back down and explained to Yuna and Rikku the tower and the figure standing on top of it. It was obvious that the simple discussion was a strain, but for good reason.

They were all wounded, all bleeding and battered from the previous battle just moments ago. Hoping and praying that the coming one would be less arduous than the previous massacre gave them a few diminutive ounces of courage to go with their fear and hesitances, making the beaten muscles in their arms tighten against the shivers that rode their spines and pricked at their necks. The air was humid and stale, but it felt so cold against them.

Rikku felt a notion as she held the unlit Lotus. She clasped both hands around it, and the wave of warmth burst forth with such fervor that even Raven was surprised by it. The cascade of heat that it gave off during battle was exhausting, but the flames produced by Rikku's hold on it blew slowly like swaying reeds. The sorceress didn't understand, but as she and the others gathered around the heat, they felt comforted as though some enormous being had enveloped them all in a loving grasp.

They knew that they could not let time race by them in the world outside this darkened one, and so Rikku did not let the moment last long.

"I'm ready," she said, releasing the grip on the Lotus.

"As am I," Zelda chimed in.

"Me too," Yuna confidently added her voice.

The Sage of Darkness hesitated. The most important thing was to find Tidus, she told herself, but there was no way she could abandon this planet or the people of it, despite her own needs and what might possibly happen to the timeline once they succeeded. Whoever that person was, be it Zero or someone else, they needed to be destroyed.

"Raven?" Rikku nudged at her.

The sorceress returned her glance and gave a pale stare toward them all. "Alright. Let's get him."

They all nodded, unable to resist the deep, shaking sighs as each made the mental confirmations that these could be their last few minutes of breathing, but they decided that now was the time. They would stop the killer and find Tidus or die trying.

Raven traced a wide circle around them with her finger aimed at the ground then clasped her hands together with interlocked fingers.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!" she chanted loudly, and the outline she had drawn cracked and crumbled, lifting them all into the air on a large mound of earth.

The trip was short, and the figure somehow did not become clear to any of them even though in their sight it was growing with proximity. Nearing the tower's edge, the could see that it descended possibly a mile downward to the ground, but the blackened figure was still just a blur until they set foot on the tower's circular top and left the flying earth.

Raven swung her arms with a strained yell and let the mound of rock and dead grass fly away with a resounding crash once it hit bottom. She approached the dark figure several meters away at the center, seeing that it was the same dark ooze as before, shaped into the body of the Zero she had known when they had first met; the Zero that was once a hero, not this monster.

But suddenly, the dark slime dissolved and dissipated into nothing, startling the four of them backward as the tower began to shake violently. They fell to their knees, desperately hanging on as the freak earthquake shook their sight and bodies.

Elongated, piercing tentacles of pure steel crushed up through the center of the tower, crashing loudly enough to make the women shout in pain with their ears being forced to withstand the vicious grinding as their hands struggled to keep them in place. More came, half a dozen in total, launching machine parts and dead reploids onto the roof from the depths of the tower.

A face and an emerald chest plate came into view as the probing vines of metal vanished from sight and the thumps of pain began to subside in their heads, but for Raven and Zelda the pain was far outweighed by the enemy rising up from the torn ceiling. With eyes of pure blue from edge to edge and a circular jewel on the forehead of his symmetrically scarred face, the Maverick laughed with a rasping, metallic fury.

Raven's shrieking and angered voice was amplified by telekinetic wrath as she called out the name of the unforgettable and inexorable shape-shifting Maverick leader.

"Sigma!"


	40. Zanarkand, Part III

**Chapter 40 – Zanarkand, Part III**

"Ah, the little sage and the princess, we meet again," Said Sigma with a harsh lust for their blood in his eyes. "I'm so glad you recognized me. After all, I was such a mess when we last saw each other. I'm sure I look far more… _real_ this time."

Raven was not thinking about the fact that Sigma strongly resembled a human being in appearance now with tones of natural skin color on his bald facsimile of a non-artificial face. Nor was she considering that Sigma's humanoid frame stood more fiercely than any of the Mavericks that had ambushed them or how their last encounter had come close to killing them even with Axl and Mega Man X to aid in the fight. She simply thought of how much she feared for their lives.

Rikku charged.

"You killed my father!" she screamed, brandishing the flaming Lotus as she rushed within striking range and swung it.

Raven reached out and called upon deaf ears. Nothing could be done.

From seemingly nowhere, one of the sharp extensions leapt out from behind Sigma's back. Everyone watched as the silver limb of metal stained red and tore through the front of her belly, piercing through flesh and the leather at her back. Her body began to slump over onto it.

"No…" Yuna choked on faint breaths, and her legs were heavier than steel from shock.

They stood in horror as they watched Rikku hunch further and lay her hand on the impaling weapon that wriggled within her torn abdomen. The Lotus's flame began to die.

"I…" she whispered. Blood dripped from her lips.

"Hmm?" Sigma hummed, dragging her closer as she winced and opened her mouth with a silent scream.

"What was that?" He repeated.

"…I won't… let you hurt anyone else!"

The Lotus burst out into an explosion of light.

The Al Bhed girl gripped the extension of cold steel and yanked her body forward on it, covering it with more of her own blood as she closed in on the wild eyed Sigma, who appeared stunned and taken aback, trying to shake her away, but she held tight. He thrust a second spear within her in the same place as the first and widened the flow of blood, and yet she still came. A third piercing vine lashed out to sever her neck, but it was cleaved off by the Lotus into a spurting hose of softened metal and reploid vital fluids. The column of flame, now resembling a great blooming flower of molten light, was thrust into Sigma's body igniting him with an explosion as the bloody tentacles holding Rikku flailed her away toward her comrades with a squelch as she landed in Yuna's and Raven's arms and soaked their hands from her wounds.

The heat of Sigma's engulfed torso spread to his limbs faster than dried pine needles. His voice screeched and fizzled out unrecognizable slurs as bubbling liquid sprayed from his mouth. He staggered towards them, waving crippled limbs and scorched tentacles feebly, but soon he fell into a heap and stopped moving. Seconds later the flames completely extinguished themselves.

A single fast paced breath came from the one person whose eyes also refused to look upon Sigma's incinerated corpse, while Zelda, Raven and Yuna were still held tight in shock. It took several moments and a weak moan of Rikku's pain to shake them.

Convinced he would not move again, the three gathered desperately around the dying Al Bhed girl as she was laid to the ground, but she resisted and coughed up blood as she held tight against her chest the unlit Lotus. Raven knew there was no healing such a wound with her powers. The other two stared equally bleak and stricken with misery. Even Rikku began to accept it as she laid down, face paling quickly as the life left her. She dragged Raven down next to her and fought the blood in her throat.

"Rikku," Raven wept, holding the bloody body against her.

"Raven, I… I saw… I saw Sigma, when I touched him," she choked. Her chest erratically shook. "I saw… everything, like you did with me. All the pain Sigma caused… and to… to him, to… _Mega Man_."

The dark sage's lips trembled.

"I saw… how much he and Zero hurt all those people. I saw their lives… and all the people they've known and killed."

Her breath waned. Her hand, though slippery with blood, latched onto Raven's. "I feel like… I've known you for so long… and I've never seen… anyone with… the will to fight them… like you. And I… I swear…"

Rikku grew paler, and a deep red puddle started to form behind her back.

Zelda's fountain of sad tears had dried up, but the well of empty, pained feeling that brought all the pain and sorrow had no bottom.

"I will… I will protect you," Rikku promised. "I will never… never let them hurt you again."

Yuna bit her lip hard as they salty tears fell to Rikku's body. The summoner took one of her hands, and Rikku returned the glance with a smile.

"Even after I die… I… swear," she whispered to all of them. Her breath began to fade.

The scenery suddenly burst with swirls of spiraling light and shadows. The stench of evil and death was swept away by floodwaters of tree life. All around them, the tower was replaced with rising forests with luscious green tints and soft grass underneath them. The darkened sky vanished, and the heavens filled with bright blue solace through the cracks in marvelously dense cover foliage. Lastly, beneath Rikku's upheld body, a cleanly leveled stump arose inviting her fading life, and Raven set her slender figure down against it gently, not knowing what was happening or why.

Soft footsteps brushed grass aside, and all spun, startled but somehow not afraid. The young woman of the forest, the Kokiri child who was never supposed to growl old, was a beautiful woman now with sweet green hair that hid part of her hair and blended in with her slender Kokiri garb.

"Saria…" Zelda whispered in awe as the Sage of Forest paced gently with sadness and caring through her woods, but only for Rikku. She ignored every other stare, familiar or foreign as she shed slow tears for the girl and her limbs wilted.

"You brave child," said Saria, kneeling down to her, and Rikku stared at her with wondrous eyes, listening to every word as though Saria were an angel.

"There is no greater love you can show in this life than to lay down yours for your friends. You say that, even after this life has passed, you would still give yourself for them?"

Rikku worked her dying lungs until she began to slowly shake, just to manage one word as she pulled the Lotus tight against her chest. She glanced to Raven tenderly, then back to her forest angel.

"Yes."

Saria smiled and touched Rikku's cheek gently as she lay on the stump. "In your heart, Rikku, daughter of Cid, lays the courage and the power to sway the stars. The beauty of your compassion has touched those who watch over. And so if it is your wish to live beyond death for those you love… then your wish is granted!"

Life sprouted from the tree's embedded roots, and fresh branches and leaves began to lift Rikku and the flaming sword toward the sky. The concave cavern of overhanging branches creaked aside, letting the light of Hyrule's bright sun join them.

Rikku's limbs hung limp, but her expression began to turn into joy as the arching treetops left few, and all that was visible was the sky. She was rising up into heaven, she thought. The light engulfed her eyes even as they fell shut; the branches and vines lifted her carefully onto a pedestal as she felt the last breaths soothe their way out. There was no pain anymore.

As the last moment of life left her, glowing lights began to hum where the others stood. Streaks of shinning emerald converged and danced amongst them all. So many essences and fragments of the past began to fill everyone gently until they were all bathed in the light, and soon Saria lifted up her hands into the sky, directing their paths.

The flow of Lifestream, free of Zero's grasp under Saria's great care, filled Rikku's body until it began to shine a bright peach color, whitening her hair, and then the Lotus suddenly ignited, spreading white hot heat that melted the leather on her body. The flames stroked and enveloped her bare skin in a sheath but did not burn. At the final climax of blinding pulses of luminescence, Rikku vanished, and as the lights faded the column of trees slowly came down with the Lotus in its palm. The crawling vines reached out to Raven, giving the blade as an offering, and Raven could see that it had been changed.

The flaming Lotus blade shimmered with a glowing presence, and a hollow had been cut near where its powerful discharge erupted. Within that hollow lay a small, round red jewel with life swirling inside it.

In awe, Raven gently rubbed her fingers across it and plucked out the small orb of materia.

"Rikku… she's… an aeon?"

Saria walked past them with back turned. The Triforce mark on her hand glittered from the rays of sun as she shot Raven a fleeting look of compassion before turning away entirely. "Only a few spirits throughout history glow as bright as hers does. It does not always show beneath the veil of flesh, but for Rikku, her love for her friends runs deeper than death itself, and so she, like the few others of her rarity, can live on as an aeon."

The forest lights began to flicker light a disrupted reception. The toxic purple sky started melding with the bright blue Hyrulian one.

"My power within the Lifestream has only brought you here for a moment," Saria cautioned as she and the Kokiri Forest began to fizzle away from sight. "Sigma is not dead. He is fueled by a power that has plagued him with false crimes for years."

"_Zero,"_ Raven thought knowingly. "_Sigma has always been innocent, then. Just a useful puppet for Zero's dark ambition_."

"Saria," she called out to the Sage of Forest as the scenery had nearly dissipated. "Is there some way I can free Sigma of Zero's hold?"

Saria turned toward her and glared with a startling hatred that Raven had never expected out of the frail forest girl. "Crush him," she said.

"There… must be another way," Raven narrowed her brow, but Saria shook her head, then suddenly held it with a pause. The princess Zelda was the object of her eye for a fleeting second before her expressions softened with another possibility for the dark sorceress to try.

"Zelda is the only one who has the power to purge the evil, but Zero cannot and will not be forced from his host unless it is on the brink of death. You may give Sigma a few moments of himself back, but that is all before he dies. Trying to save him would only give Zero back his ally once again. You know this, Raven. It was evidenced by your own friend Cyborg, who only survived the dark plague with the immunity of his organic parts that Sigma could not reach at the time."

A sharp flash of green signaled the end of the momentary excursion or vision… or whatever it had been, but it had been fully real. The scent of Mother Nature's dense foliage and freshly processed oxygen still lingered in their noses while the stench of the Dark World's decay forced it aside, and the heavy haze of smog and humidity pressed on their faces again.

Saria had said that Sigma was not dead, and yet he lay there in a crumpled heat nearly as incinerated as his morphing mass of reploid underlings had been by Bahamut's molten plasma breath. The three girls cautiously circled around him, forming a triangle defense with swords, materia and Zelda's light arrows at the ready.

The body lay stiff.

Yuna gasped. "Do you hear that?"

Zelda immediately shook her head, but Raven was moving closer within a meter's distance from the center of the charred reploid corpse, passing by the inert tendrils that were still slightly stained from Rikku's blood where they were not blackened by fire.

A squishing sound? Raven thought that, if a slug were large enough to make an audible sound when it slithered, that would be the sound. A strange, squelching sound of something very sticky sliding along. It sounded like it was coming from Sigma's chest or torso.

"Shit!" Raven shouted and ignited the Lotus, but a simultaneous yank at her ankles lofted her from the ground and loosened her grip on the materia-laden sword of fire. The weapon slid from her palms as the blurred sky passed her by, and the stunning blow of her body striking the tower's rooftop stung her face and mind along with cracking her jaw.

Crawling to her feet the side of her face throbbing, Raven watched the strange ooze consume Sigma's burnt frame, moving the limbs like an inexperienced puppeteer while Sigma's head hung limply. From the center of the Maverick's back burst a fountain of the deep purple gel that, instead of splattering on the ground like it appeared it was going to, started forming a cross-armed torso with a wing tipped head and a long braid of flailing liana coming from the back. Was it Zero's essence or Zero himself that was taking control of his failed servant?

The answer was irrelevant and unattainable. When the phantom Zero muttered harshly toned words of gibberish the dangling Sigma did the same, and their arms worked in a strange sync, moving simultaneously but not necessarily to the same place. As the two joined reploids chanted what was nonsense to Raven, the tentacles of steel shrugged off the burns, tightened and shrank in diameter; elevated them several feet in the air, and worked as a half dozen fully function lower limbs. It approached the three at full force, ripping chunks from the rooftop as the spider legs impacted like jackhammers.

"_Die, die, die, die, die_!" screeched the monster. The uncalculated thrash of the front two legs were easy to dodge, but they found themselves being pushed toward the tower's edge.

Zelda placed two arrows across her bow of light and aimed at Sigma's face, and she deftly struck his eyes, but her arrows dissipated with no effect other than a backward jolt of his head.

Raven dove underneath the stabbing thrusts and leapt across chasms in the roof that led into unperceivable darkness. A swift swing of the Lotus easily tore off one of Sigma's charcoal reploid legs, but other then spilling a negligible amount of purple goo, the humanoid frame that held Sigma together made no reaction. Raven felt the crack of her spine – some of the snaps were chiropractic, others were far from it – and a burning sting in her legs. For a moment she could not feel them, giving no means of escape from underneath the Maverick, but the inevitable piercing from the steel spider legs was clearly felt as her body and the throat scratching scream she released were thrown into the air.

Zelda caught her.

"Zero! Aim for Zero!" she clutched bleeding legs and spit through grinding teeth.

Raven looked for the Lotus as Yuna protected them both and slashed Rikku's blade at the stinger tips of Sigma's legs, cleaving off bits that only shrank and reformed when she was accurate and gaining small gashes when she wasn't. The dark sorceress's eyes darted back and forth from Yuna's face to the surface of tower while the High Summoner's face started to exchange its peachy flesh color for a splotching maroon as the continuous stabbing motion attempted to push past and strike her in the chest.

"Hurry!" Yuna shouted at either of them as she realized her feet edging towards the tower's rim and the death drop that would follow. Raven and Zelda split ways, the princess answering her call and volleying arrow after arrow at the probing steel vines, striking them back to grant Yuna reprieve from Sigma's barrage for a moment.

Pain throbbed in Raven's legs, but she leapt through the entanglement of spider-like appendages with surprising ease, only dodging a few minor attempts to slice at her. She clenched her teeth, desperately seeking the Lotus, and she found it on the opposite end of the reploid tower, bobbing as it barely hung on at the edge of one of the rooftop's freshly made skylights. She launched her body at it and placed her palm against the red orb of materia set in it, but a monstrous screech sent her hands against her ears immediately after making contact with it.

Sigma and the shadow Zero turned on her and ripped apart the turquoise tiled roof to shreds in a maddening sprint. As it began to reach closer, the phantom of Zero stretched over Sigma's head after her like a tsunami's billowing wave, clawing more fragments of their battlefield as he caught the back of Raven's outfit and slashed through it. Raven could feel the tingle as it scraped swiftly across her back. Did it draw blood? No time to check.

Zero's essence latched its hands on the handle of Lotus and wrenched it from the dark sage's grip as the Sigma half caught up. It ripped Rikku's red materia out and discarded the Lotus like garbage into the black depths of the tower. Raven desperately reached out, but she could not get a telekinetic hold on the Lotus fast enough. A moment later that all suddenly seemed small when Rikku's materia began to swirl and glow in Zero's palm.

Nonsense words spewed from Zero's shifting ooze maw as he held up the materia. Symbols of might and magic surrounded both he and Sigma. The power Raven felt surge across the surface of her skin was terrifying. If Sigma summoned Rikku as his own..

In the next moment, rays of light perforated Zero's body of blackened shadows. Zelda had taken to the air with Yuna's guns and was using them to fire shells of pure light energy. The holes formed in the sludge body of Zero began to seal, but they failed to completely congeal and began to act more like blood that dripped on the rooftop and on to Sigma's charred forehead.

Zelda's faded mark burned with golden energy. She dove from the sky raining white bullets with her guns into the Sigma-Zero junction and tearing them apart as her guns recoiled violently with each blistering streak of radiance.

Zero could not hold on to the red materia of Rikku. It dropped directly into Raven's hand and she immediately began to speak words that came to her from within.

"Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, woman of destined wrath and love, deliver the justice of your selfless vow! Come, Rikku the Lady Inferno!"

A wave of heat rushed into a cyclonic barrier around the tower's edge. Cinders and crimson fragments of earth surrounded them all, and through the blazing wash at the conic tornado's top, the blade of fire, the Lotus Blade, slowly sank into the arms of flame that converged at the center of the firestorm. The fire took shape and became white-haired Rikku dressed in ribbons of bright ginger magma. Raven could see the hollows of her eyes, appearing to be filled with pure magma as a fiery grin appeared on her face. The Lotus suddenly burst out its flaming blade even though it hovered above Rikku's hand, making no contact.

"Get out of here; I'll take care of this!" Rikku's voice resounded metallically without any facial movement.

Raven and Zelda didn't look back as they snatched Yuna's arms and leapt through an opening Rikku made for them in the flame wall. As they flew away from the tower battlefield, they heard Zero's screeching roars and the crashing of metal, but then they heard Rikku's voice far louder.

"_Chaos_… _FLARE!"_

From their backs, Raven, Zelda and Yuna felt an explosive force propel them. The dry swell of heat that followed was barely tolerable against flesh. Exposed blood sizzled and almost cauterized Yuna's cheeks and Raven's leg, and they wanted to rip off their clothing that failed to shrug off the burning heat as their skin could. The drop in temperature was nearly as fast, and the three turned to see the tower bursting apart floor by floor from top to bottom in a series of cascading explosions that lost little velocity as they tore the structure of the reploid building to shambles, throwing debris at all angles.

Raven telekinetically deflected a massive girder along with other less threatening airborne wreckage, but through her barriers, she saw two bodies careening toward the ground far faster than gravity could normally pull. She dove, leaving Zelda to carry Yuna as she bolted for what appeared to be the Rikku's limp aeon body attached to a deep purple mass of Zero's essence along with mangled machine parts.

Raven's speed barely matched theirs, but there was not enough time to reach them before they struck solid ground just at the edge of the crumbled tower's jagged ravine. The wind blowing through the sorceress's ears could not deafen her from the horrifying crack-squelch of their impact, and both bodies struggled to move after the crash separated them. Raven rushed first to Rikku's aid.

"I'm… alright…" Rikku lied as her red-hot body's flames wavered weakly. Her skin was beginning to resemble skin again without the bright glow or dancing flames to illuminate her. She tried to push herself up with her arms, and they shook without success. "Damn it," she cursed, and a small flare of energy compelled her to take Raven's arm and lift herself at least to her knees. The Lotus was somehow hovering just away from her back, completely unconnected, but she took it and handed it to Raven.

"I can still… take him…" the Al Bhed aeon insisted as the reploid junction of Sigma and Zero began to rise.

Raven breathing halted dead. Her eyes grew like inflating balloons, terrified at two sights. Sigma was hardly Sigma anymore. He was a barely recognizable collection of scrap with a mangled face, all of which was embedded into a full-bodied and twisted likeness of Zero that was composed of the dark ooze and a mist that emanated from him constantly. It bore the likeness of his once golden blonde hair joined with a hundred evil tails of black light.

More terrifying, behind him at the base of the destroyed tower was the flaring waves of the Lifestream, but not the once tranquil one. It was the crimson Lifestream containing the tainted and manipulated orbs of light that streaked blood across the sky. It was under Zero's control, and it was coming their way.

"He's mine!" Rikku yelled, but her ignited aeon form reached Zero at the same time as the rush of tainted Lifestream. The wild ruby streaks zipped through him unobstructed and leeched onto the fiery girl. Patches of her skin began to stain silvery as she cried out in pain, losing her blaze. In seconds, with a frail moan of collapse, her form dissolved and returned to the materia that Raven held onto tightly. It was that flowing red orb that became the Lifestream's next focus.

They bright streaks enveloped Raven's arm and tried to tear Rikku from her grasp. Yuna rushed to her aid and slashed through the trail of wisps, but it did nothing. Even when Zelda aimed bullets of light at the Lifestream, it barely reacted. The materia was beginning to slip from the sorceress's grasp.

Bursts of green light gashed its way into vision from the fountain of dark Lifestream. Flowing streams of pale neon lights began to engulf the crimson infection, making Zero's phantom turn sharply and screech at the phenomenon. As the true Lifestream took aim and soared like illuminated birds through the sky, the creature suddenly retracted its tendrils of bloody spirit energy, knocking Raven and her materia backward, but he was not retreating. The startling switch and blow that hit High Summoner Yuna was too sudden for her to dodge. It rushed through her chest and painfully seared the materia from within her and phased it through both bone and spinal cord. Their was no noticeable wound, but the summoner collapsed like a rag, and Bahamut's orb was zipped through the air, artfully dodging the holy Lifestream using its own dark brethren-mist as shields against it until it was sucked into the base of the tower.

The phantom Zero released a horrid shriek of laughter and darted blindingly upon Raven, grasping her neck as it thrust remaining metal parts toward her chest, but the impaling arm was restrained by the holy Lifestream. Zero was pulled back; the forceful drag sliced into the surface of what little body was left. It brought the monster far enough away so that it could no longer do any harm. Then, two golden rays appeared on the horizon of battling red-green spirit energy.

It was unmistakable. Two golden Triforce marks. Raven and Zelda's hearts leapt. They stood in joyous awe that made them forget all the suffering and pain. Zelda's chest swelled with the thought of both the Sage of Light and the Hero of Time coming to rescue them, but Raven did not care who the second person was. She only wanted X.

The hole at the base of the tower became a geyser. Rushing white waves of foamy water gushed into midair surf and propelled one of the Triforce's chosen across the tidal spill. The reflective gleam of this blonde man's blade seemed to swell like the ocean's waves as his body bubbled and became one with the flying rush, amplifying it to a liquid twister that drove hard into the restrained phantom Maverick. The crushing force mangled his shoulders and ripped chunks of ooze from the semi-solid frame while the water blade swirled in the tempest and attacked without a wielder.

Raven watched as the second figure hovered along the trail of water, its body somehow composed of a framework of Lifestream, forming a slender girl with a young, and familiar appearance, and the swirling streaks of Mako energy even graced her with a likeness of her long, straight strands of blonde hair.

"Terra," Raven whispered at first, knowing it was her, but the whisper turned into a joyous shout. "_Terra!_"

Terra stopped for a moment and shared a brief grin. She held out her fist, and her thumb snapped up from it as she winked at the dark sorceress, her former friend. Terra then turned on Sigma-Zero. As the blonde man with the water sword relinquished his tidal hold on the phantom monster, her hand rose simply but powerfully, and a thin column of earth severed the surrounding grass links and lifted a barely mobile Zero into the air.

Her transparent body of spiritual energy began to glow bright gold as her other hand commanded a massive chunk of jagged stone – it was nearly half the size of the reploid tower – the bottom of which she shaped into a single deadly spike surrounded by many smaller ones. Terra hovered and followed it as she lifted the small island mass above phantom Zero's lying place. She heaved her arm downward, splitting air flow in two as the spiked rock crushed into the pillar, annihilating it into splintered rock fragments. Zero and Sigma were completely crushed.

A black glow tainted the rocks. It then fizzled, transformed into a flash of white, then dissolved. Raven left Zelda and Yuna and rushed at the pile of rocks once it had settled. She panicked, telekinetically flinging rock aside, and Terra assisted her without hesitance by moving the rest with much greater ease.

The phantom Zero was completely annihilated, and a pitiful, armless machine torso mangled beyond recognition was all that was left of Sigma. But Raven could sense life.

"Zelda, please, quickly! Help me save him!" the sorceress begged.

Zelda hesitated, not knowing at first what to do, but it came to her quickly, the simple way to rid the last of the darkness inside of the old reploid. Yuna's guns were unnecessary; she holstered them at her hips and pulled her arm back as the shining bow and arrow formed in her grip. She pulled so hard, stretching the golden strings of light as far as she could, and from the tip of the arrow an umbrella of swirling ray-dust formed a concavity around the bow and her arm.

Her arrow sent pure light into what was left of Sigma's chest, leaving no wound as it turned his entire body bright gold, purging Zero's traces from him.

The light subsided. Raven, Zelda and Terra gathered around Sigma. One of his full blue eyes still shined and twitched. Other than that, Sigma was motionless, but a scratchy sound suddenly came from the base of his spine.

"F-f-free…" he whispered with a tiny mechanical whir. "And… Dy-ing."

"I'm sorry, Sigma," Raven whispered.

"C-crimes… can't f-f-f-for-g-g-give… my s-sins."

"Nothing you've done is your fault," the sorceress dropped to her knees next to him. "You've always been controlled."

"Not-t-t-true," he returned firmly. "J-jealous… of X. Wanted t-to show I was m-m-m-most power-ful. First innoc-c-cent reploid I k-k-k-killed… my choice. Then… I g-g-got m-m-m-m… got m-m-m… my _wish_."

"Sigma…" Raven whispered back to him, not sure whether to feel hate or sadness or both.

"M-means n-n-nothing now… b-buh-b-b-b… t-t-tell X… I… am… s-s-sssssss…"

Sigma died.

"Saria!" Raven called out madly to the dark sky, but the Sage of Forest gave no answer. "Saria, can't you save him, can't you do something? Make him into an aeon like Rikku! This isn't fair!"

"Raven!" Terra shouted to the sorceress, and the wisps of green threads and mist that outlined Terra's body felt solid as firm fingers grasped the dark Titan's cheeks. "He's gone, Raven, there's nothing that can be done."

"But I-"

"No, no arguments now. You need to listen. I'm so happy to see you again, and I wish it could be in true physical form. I'm only borrowing the power of the Lifestream – the Fayth, you've heard it called – to hold this body together temporarily and to travel through time. Zero and Sigma used the reploid tower as a seal to prevent us from getting into this Dark World that's separate from the rest of time and space. I've been watching and listening ever since I was turned to stone and my life was turned over to the Lifestream, but it was not from death and therefore I'm special from the rest. I know of Zero's transformation into the ultimate evil after Ganondorf gave him the Triforce of Power, and I also know how Zero took Jenova and Sephiroth a thousand years in Spira's past. I know about the quest to stop Zero, the sages, and of the Hero of Time, Mega Man X."

Terra then drew Raven's attention to the blonde man that had controlled the floodwaters. He was helping Yuna to her feet, and the scarred summoner of the dark time latched frailly onto him, crying, sobbing. He held her tightly against his chest.

They had been aiming to save the same person, but to Yuna, Tidus was her lost Dream of the Fayth, and to the rest of them he was the Sage of Water.

The ground suddenly shook. "You've got to get out of here as soon as possible," Terra commanded. "Minutes here are hours in the real world, and even if the Dark Realm can still hold itself together without Sigma, then the Lifestream under Zero's rule – The Deathflow – will run wild before long. Tidus can tell you everything else. I'll return to my body on Earth and wait for you to release me there."

Raven was livid with pain and angst. "How in the _hell_ are we supposed to-"

"I'll show you how to release me, but finding a way back to our time will be up to you," Terra answered, firm but calm. "Tidus!"

The Sage of Water nodded, firmly squeezed Yuna and left her to stand on her own as he went to Terra's side. "We can use Sigma?" he asked. She pursed her phantasmal glowing green lips and indicated to him that they could. "Alright then," said Tidus. "I'll leave off at the end of the transformation and open the gate while you finish it."

They stood on either side of Sigma's remains at an arm's length from each other. In sync, each of them snapped their palms into a horizontal thrust toward the Lifestream that still flowed like a fountain at the gateway. Their hands moved ritualistically, and the shining power beckoned to them, passively at first, but when their arms circled in front of their torsos and pitched the Lifestream toward the dead reploid, it became a fluorescent deluge.

All sound was drowned out, not by crushing decibels of some other calamity, but the atmosphere was instead transformed into near silence. A gentle hum-rush accompanied the pastel green streaks of light; Raven, Zelda and Yuna could barely see through cupped hands. After a moment, there was a shift in the light away from them that shot into the distance, slicing a black rift out of thin air as the transferal of energy subsided.

Tidus was left guiding the remaining power of the Lifestream alone; Terra had vanished, and at his feet was a large hunk of uneven emerald crystal. He picked up the jagged crystal in his lean, robust arms and signaled to them with a quick sideways jolt of his head.

"Through the portal, everyone. There's no time to waste!"

The ground rumbled harder and brought them to their knees, preventing any objection as they hauled themselves after the Sage of Water to the unstably shifting portal. It was circular, with threads of energy trailing from the edges as it shrank, almost unnoticeably, but then it changed from a white hole into a blackened tunnel, and Tidus halted them all with a mud slinging skid from his shoes.

He dropped the hunk of emerald to the ground and unsheathed the long water sword. The Lotus, Yuna's guns and Rikku's blade immediately followed.

"Something else is coming through!"

The portal warped and distorted, and surges of electricity spit out a mass of red and brown that crashed to the ground with a metal thud. They all stared for a moment.

It was a body wrapped in a shredded, burnt, and blood stained brown cloak. As the head of the body tilted to the side and spewed out blood, Zelda screamed in horrified recognition.

"No, no, no, no, no!" she muttered in trembling terror, kneeling down, drenching her hands in his blood. "You can't, you can't!" she cried, and she held his body. The other three stood in speechless awe.

"Zelda… wh-"

"We can't let him die, we can't let him die!" she begged.

"Then let's get him out of here!" Tidus urged them. He relinquished to Yuna the green crystal and threw the Sage of Light over his shoulder while fighting the grimacing pitch of his stomach as his blood, some fresh, some sticky, covered his front side. The body tried to slide from his grip with its own fluids greasing the surface between them, but Tidus held on firmly in spite of the lactic acid in his muscles building hot tension throughout his grasp. He leapt through the portal. Yuna followed him with the crystal.

"Zelda…" Raven clutched her cheek firmly, bringing their eyes to a lock. Her clothing was painted red, and she looked like she desperately wanted to tear herself away from her body. The dark sorceress did not know who this man was that had such a hold on her, and there was no time to find the answer. Raven hooked the princess's arm and took flight, phasing through the portal that she hoped would lead them someplace where the stench and sight of death would not soon follow them.


	41. Zanarkand, Part IV

**Chapter 41 – Zanarkand, part IV**

What is it about a tainted land that brings rain? Is the planet weeping? Does the evil pollute the air and summon storm clouds? Is there some ethereal power like the Lifestream that influences the weather?

It made Raven bitter.

The changes in the timeline somehow made Bevelle their enemies, she had learned, but those left in the Al Bhed race were allies of both Yuna and… Rikku.

The airship that arrived near the portal outside the Dark World could not have been timed better. Apparently it had been planned in the first place for the ship to come, and they had even waited the many hours that had passed through the time differential. In retrospect, it was one more thing that she had been left in the dark about, and it made her face scrunch angrily the more she thought about what she had been hidden from. The light patter of rain made her cheek pulsate in sour rhythm.

"At least you're alive," spoke Rikku at the sorceress's side. She had been there for a short while, summoned by Raven for companionship and so that her former race could see what had become of her. She had somehow become taller, and possibly even more enticingly sexual that she had been before. Something about a body surrounded by slowly fanning flames that turned a gentle blue when they were not filled with battle adrenaline was, well… hot.

"I'm sorry," Raven bowed her head. "I wish I could have-"

"Don't talk like that. What happened, happened. I'm an aeon now, and whatever that means for my future, it makes me happy to still protect my friends and you, too. And hey, maybe we can get our freak on after all?"

The dark sage chuckled. "I don't think I could take the heat."

Raven felt a hot hand slap her behind. A strange blast of emotions and memories hit her again, but since the gesture was so short, so was the flood of images that they both saw. Normally Raven would have retaliated to the slap, but for Rikku she tolerated it. She still didn't know why, and they both chose to ignore the way that their physical contact stirred up strange visions.

"I can't hold you together for much longer," Raven said to her eventually.

"I know."

"I'll make sure to summon you when I can."

The flaming girl softly smiled as her body lost its color for a pale silver while wisps of color trailed about from her curves to the red materia in the Lotus. "I hope so. I can't wait to see that man of yours."

She vanished with a warm smile.

The welcome was mixed at the desert citadel that housed the remaining few thousand Al Bhed who lived there. Sorrow dominated, but it had been expected by all parties and passed quickly, to Raven's relief. Tears were still shed by many, but the excitement of any survivors at all and the trepidation of four strange and foreign newcomers – Tidus, Zelda, the less recognizable aeon form of Rikku, and herself – had a good hold on the emotional climate for a while. Tidus was easily explained. Some remembered it was him even though they were not as he had remembered them. Rikku, with some help from both Yuna and Tidus, was welcomed as well, but they almost seemed afraid of her.

Raven felt harsh for thinking it, but Zelda earned an easy ticket out by carrying the wounded man in the cloak, leaving Raven to her own devices and a small amount of support from the others. The Al Bhed didn't trust her.

Whether or not the Al Bhed trusted her was inconsequential, she reminded herself. The more important man in the bloody cloak began to consume her thoughts again. Once Zelda had obtained a small room designed to treat the wounded, she housed herself in, somehow sealed the door and would not speak or answer to anyone since aside from brief acknowledgements that she was still alive.

That was nearly a day ago.

Raven knew nothing of Zelda's or the man's condition, but as resentful as it made her, she kept close to the corridor at all times as well and took continuous psychic note of Zelda's life signs. If the man was important enough to keep watch on at all times, then she felt it necessary to do the same. She figured that he had some involvement with the Triforce, but beyond that she had no theories.

A breeze ran through the dimly torch lit brown-steel corridor. She shivered without her cloak. It had been lost from Zelda's back at some point during the battle.

Almost in perfect response to her need for warmth, Tidus rounded the corner with a black robe in his arms. He seemed to be approaching her with purpose, and Raven was happy to finally see him unattached to Yuna, though it had not been his choice to begin with.

"I brought you this," he said, lifting up the reflective red robe. Raven accepted it even though it had loose sleeves that she had not been accustomed to for ages. It was slightly baggy but was an appropriate height for her, resting just above her ankles. It had no hood, and it wrapped around to the side and clasped plainly at her left shoulder. As unfamiliar as it was, it was strangely comfortable.

"It smells nice," she said to him, noting the scent of possibly a desert flower.

"Glad you like it," he said back.

Raven hadn't been able to get a good look at him before. Tidus was young, probably in his early twenties or the rough equivalent on Spira. The blood had been washed from his clothes, and he wore sleek black suspenders that went from knee to waist and an open yellow shirt that covered broad lean shoulders but exposed his tanned, firm chest and bicep muscles. She especially took notice of his left limbs, both of which had layered armor plating, perhaps acting as some sort of mechanical support as well as defense. They were also clearly well funded to be stylish as well because the dark gold gleam on them went with his skin and outfit. His other plainly gloved hand was of interest, too, but only since it bore the mark of the Triforce. Raven felt she needed to see it, and he obliged by removing the glove.

"Looking for this?" he waved the back of his hand in front of her. "It's weird. This is the first time I've actually seen it on my hand in physical form."

"You've lived in the Lifestream for about five years now?"

"About," Tidus answered.

"What's it like?"

He smiled and leaned over the sill of the window. "That's a loaded question. Want the long version or the really long version?"

"We've got the time," Raven shrugged. "Even though you and Terra got us the huge materia to reverse her petrification, we're not going anywhere without Zelda, not to mention we still have no method to return to our time, so give me any version you want."

"Alright, where to start?" he said to himself, and it didn't take long.

"When Yuna, Rikku, Lulu, Wakka, Auron and I defeated Sin five years ago, and I mean the real Yuna and company, not these people who've been changed by Zero messing with time, I was taken back by the Fayth into the Farplane – you call it the Lifestream – because that's where I had come from in the first place. Whether or not I really existed a thousand years ago or not, I don't think I'll ever know, but I know that in the Lifestream I was different from the rest."

"Because you were special?" Raven guessed. "Not dead?"

Tidus nodded, accepting that as a good description. "Everyone and everything in the Lifestream, aeons included, are just echoes of things that once were. They may seem very whole, but they aren't, and I could tell. It was like I had something that no one else did; like I was complete and everything else wasn't. I saw some of the dead there, but not with my eyes, and they weren't really… bodies. They were essences, things you could feel and perceive, but not with the five senses. I felt pure emotion, or sometimes I relived powerful moments in peoples' histories where strength of heart was greater than any sword. And then, after a long time of drifting through and endless stream of experience, learning, seeing, feeling… I met Terra."

"Terra was different like you," Raven surmised. "I imagine the two of you could relate."

"It was more than just that," said the Sage of Water, and Raven quickly spotted the infatuated stare on his face as he went on. "We bonded, became really close. Traveled through the Lifestream together making some sense out of all of it, learning the language of the ancients and the remnants of those who weren't alive any longer. We came to… sort of live together. I don't think I could make any comparison between it and the physical plane. It was like melding together, combining knowledge and memories. Not just adding them together, but sort of multiplying instead. Neither of us have psychic powers like you and Zelda, but even when we left the Lifestream to finish off Sigma and help you, I could read the intensity of her mind, and she could feel mine too. I've never experienced anything like being with her. Now that we're apart…"

"Trust me, I know how you feel," Raven interrupted him. "I hope you have a way to travel through time, or we're not going to see her again any time soon."

He sighed. "No, I don't. I thought that using the Lifestream to create the huge materia you needed would be helpful enough."

"Well, it _isn't_ any help, actually. We still have no way of using it. The Mako energy that would be absorbed into the body from trying to activate its power would probably kill any of us who tried, and X doesn't have any machines that could use it."

"At least we have it."

Raven scoffed and turned to pace down the hallway. "At least," she snidely repeated under her breath. "I suppose I should take you to Saria and induct you into the Chamber of Sages. Make things official and all."

"Already did," he said.

Raven suddenly spun on him angrily.

"Really, is there anything else I can be left out of?" she raised her voice. "Anything? Because I'd love to not be told about as many things as I possibly can. It's freaking awesome and all that."

Tidus was taken aback, but not as much as Raven had wanted him to be. She wanted apology and acceptance or at least some sort of respect for what she had had to bear for days now: the constant pain and injury, the loneliness, the loss, the death all around her. But no, Tidus stood and defended himself.

"This is war, Raven, and you're not the only one fighting it, so lay off. It's no different from meeting up with another squad, not having any idea what they've had to do or who they've had to kill to keep alive. We're all suffering because of Zero. People are starting to feel it around the entire galaxy, spreading like a plague across solar systems while he gathers more power from those he consumes. You think you're the only one who's felt pain and loss like that?"

Raven shut her eyes with pursed lips. It was a rhetorical question, she had figured at first, but Tidus waited for an answer with crossed arms, sternly glaring at her with ocean blue eyes.

"Do you know Mega Man X?" she said with a simple, soft tone of voice.

"I know what he looks like and things that he's done. Terra showed me. But no, I don't know the Hero of Time."

The sorceress pivoted and found a new window to stare out into the rain. "No, you don't," she repeated. "And you don't know me, either, so maybe I have suffered more than anyone else."

"And what does the Hero have to do with _your_ suffering?"

"Everything," she answered. "Imagine a routine day, nothing special about it, and then suddenly your world crashes down upon you. A power you've never experienced before rips you apart and spills your blood in ways you've barely imagined. Then, on the brink of death, a complete stranger is willing to sacrifice himself to save you. But then it doesn't end. Suddenly your mind becomes the war zone, and entanglement so fierce that you begin to go insane from the inside out. Imagine then that same person is willing to save you again without even knowing you, but at the cost of becoming one with him. From then on, you have two minds, two thoughts, two souls with you at all times, and you feel everything they feel. All their joy, all their happiness, all their pain, all their hatred… all the highs become higher, and the lows become nightmares within the mind. Then, as soon as you begin to get used to it, the second soul is ripped away from you, leaving you miserable, incomplete, and empty. Do you think you know what that feels like?"

"It sounds like love," said the Sage of Water. "Do you love him?"

The immediate clenching up her lungs and stomach made her lean against the bronze window sill with both hands. Her legs shook. She tried to convince herself that it was the injury that did it, but her arms wavered similarly. Images flooded in again, all of Mega Man. The hot tears were on their way, inevitable from the longing for their bond and the need for his voice.

"I…I-" she stammered breathlessly.

"No, don't answer, I'm sorry," Tidus said, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. "I didn't mean to pry. You've got your problems, and Terra and I had our own. We're just all really tense. We can leave it at that."

The moments that passed afterward were uncomfortable. Raven felt guilt for her selfishness, but she couldn't help but feel that she was justified in her anger.

An Al Bhed couple walked by both adorned in technology like the rest of their race, either in their clothing, accessories, their own bodies, or a combination of the three. Their metal parts were some how so familiar to Raven, and her brow felt slightly over her eyes as it reminded her of Mega Man.

They both bowed with a strange, circular arm gesture that Raven soon remembered as the same one Baralai had given them on the dawn of the previous day. Tidus seemed to know the greeting well, and the sorceress made a mostly successful attempt to duplicate it while eyeing the mechanical parts. They were still hesitant of her, but the polite couple smiled softly anyway as Raven noted several things: machine pupils similar to Rikku's in the woman, a small mechanical object hidden behind her thick plum bandana, and thin black wires against the skin of the Al Bhed man's shins and knees that were visible in the openings of his saggy tan leggings. When they passed by them the Sage of Darkness inspected the wires more closely out of the corner of their eye, seeing how they embedded and vanished beneath his skin at the base of his spine. He also had a slightly unusual walk that Raven wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been looking for it.

"The Al Bhed are very technologically advanced, aren't they?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, but they don't understand a lot of their own machina and technology. Most of the machines they've dug up in the desert belong to some ancient race, probably a thousand years old or more. I get the impression that Gippal or some small faction of Al Bhed are responsible for deciding what technology is and isn't released, both to their own people, and then publicly to the rest of Spira. At least, out of what they _do_ understand that is. Either way, they're probably the most technologically advanced on the planet, but they prefer their privacy for the most part."

"What gives you the impression that someone's hiding it?" Raven pried further.

"You saw him," Tidus jerked his head in the direction that the couple had left in. "He was probably paralyzed from the waist down. Not anymore. That and a lot of other examples of medical technology outweigh their advancements in any other field despite the fact that there aren't many dedicated to it in the first place.

"You think it's from your time? Our time?" Raven posed. Tidus took the notion with fascination.

"Could be," he said. "But I don't know why it's important. Do you?"

Raven sighed. She had a loose theory floating in her pool of thought, but it was hardly likely. After a moment of considering discarding it, Raven figured that it couldn't hurt, and she chose otherwise.

"When I summon Rikku… the words just come to me, and I say 'flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood,' and, well…"

"You think that she could be your descendant?" Tidus said sounding thoroughly interested now.

Raven nodded awkwardly and verbally stumbled head over heels for the next part of her theory. She eventually shrugged and flapped her hands upward in the defeat of her social comfort. It was an impossible thought, but it wouldn't stop prying at her. With a blush and a sigh, her gritted teeth pulled apart.

"I thought for a second… maybe they were – oh, this sounds so stupid – that maybe they were mine and… and X's… descendants."

Tidus suddenly turned away and frowned.

"What?" Raven asked.

"The timeline," he said plainly.

The sorceress girl raised an eyebrow uneasily. "What's that supposed to mean?" she pressed, knowing that he referred to the spontaneous changes that had occurred, but not knowing what they had to do with – she could barely think it – the possibility of her children and children's children.

"I don't quite understand how, but Zero is…" he propped his chin on his own fist, looking dumbfounded. "How do I make this make sense?"

Raven waited for his answer. She had a strange urge to not be alone in the discussion, but she knew that she could not convince Zelda to come out until she was ready. Her gaze returned to the patter of rain on thick glass of the citadel, and she focused her thoughts on the collar of her new red robe. The glow in her eyes was brief, and the minuscule, transparent shadow of energy reshaped the fabric into a fitting hood to shield her visually.

"Zero is timeless," the Sage of Water finally continued.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that Zero is able to twist time independently of all laws and theories of time that you might know, grabbing on to epochs of history or events yet to come and alter them to his liking in an attempt to stop us from defeating him in the present."

Raven dropped the hood she had just created to her shoulders and pivoted back to him. "So why doesn't he just go back in time and prevent X and the rest of us from being born?"

Tidus swung his arms and shoulders up with a defeated heave of uncomfortable breath, and he noisily scrapped his boots toward the window with her again. "For the same reason that makes Rikku's possible relation to you or X pointless. My guess is that the Hero of Time and all of the sages are protected from the changes in the timeline because of the Triforce. It also seems like time itself is protected in the exact moment where the Hero exists, making Zero unable to make his reality come fully true, so if Rikku really _is_ your descendant, then whether or not she exists, lives or dies in the future doesn't mean anything about what's going to happen to us or X."

"I see," Raven responded softly to his frustrated demeanor, hiding her own behind deliberately expressionless features. "I guess it makes sense. Even when everything started changing right before our eyes nothing happened to Zelda or me. But Zelda isn't a sage, and she doesn't even have the Triforce of Wisdom anymore. How was she protected?"

Tidus grunted youthfully, and Raven wondered if it was something she had said. He often didn't seem very happy when Zelda was mention.

"I get the impression…" continued the water sage hesitantly, "that she has something important to do with all of this. From what I've heard, she and her lineage have had dealings with every Hero of Time before Mega Man X. But that's beside the point."

"Right, Zero is the big problem," she said with a nod. "Other than trying to stop us in this future, what else could that possibly do for him? What if – and this is a long shot – he's trying to create instability in the timeline? Is that possible?"

"There's no way to know. Even with all I learned from the Lifestream, I don't know what these bends in the timeline could do. I've got a theory, though."

"No point in keeping it to yourself."

Tidus grinned. "I guess not," he said to Raven, and the light hearted attitude fell into the recesses of his face again. "If I'm right, then changes in the timeline are like waves that spread out and don't happen immediately, but the Hero of Time and the sages are immune to those waves. It's my guess that, the more waves that are thrown at the barrier, the less stable the flow of time becomes, and if for any reason Zero were to beat us and break that protection…"

"…time could rip apart from that moment outward in all directions."

The impact hit their chests like a hammer, and a long silence passed thereafter. Was there any way to absorb something like that?

Raven pressed her hand against the window, letting the cold condensation numb her palm. Once it became exceptionally damp and the drop in temperature spread thoroughly across her, she pulled the hand away and looked at it, her already pale flesh turned whiter. Her hand met her face and rubbed the soothing cool from cheek to forehead to cheek, and she thought of X and how his touch, though opposite in juxtaposition to the cold water, was far more relaxing. She fought the images of the blue armored hero. Without knowing how to get home, thinking of him was still painful.

Reflecting upon herself, Raven realized how the small battles at home had always been fought by her and the rest of the Titans, and she had never given any thought beyond her egocentric perspective about what else was going on. Terra and Tidus were a part of the Lifestream and had fought Zero forces and the Deathflow while traveling through time. Saria, Raven suspect, was hiding something and was pulling strings in the war behind their eyes. The Hero of Time himself could have been fighting any manner of Zero's phantoms or allies. The other sages she hadn't met, spirit, wind, and light, were likely to be fighting against the ultimate evil on their own respective turfs already, Raven told herself. But Zero, now able to slip through time and space after conquering Jenova and much of the Lifestream, somehow seemed an unstoppable menace. Materia was entirely at his will, including the destructive Bahamut that he stole from Yuna. Raven suspected that part of Yuna's forceful attachment to Tidus was partially due to that loss.

She thought of Sigma as her fingertips twirled at the dusty windowsill. There was a deep longing to have saved him, but Saria had been right, there was no way to prolong his life for more than a moment. She wondered if Sigma had always been controlled by Zero. The image of Sigma fighting the control came into her head and Zero maliciously standing over him with an insane laugh that Raven almost could hear in her skull, and all the moments spent after that by Sigma were used for revenge. With a pained sigh she rubbed at her eyes and told herself that Zero was responsible for his death, not her or the others, and it granted some comfort in the deep coldness that permeated deeper than flesh and bone, and it couldn't be warmed by her new cloak, but rather by the gesture of being given it. It helped soothe the anger that reddened her hot cheeks with wanting for her own revenge. Raven's eyes then widened with a quiet but audible gasp.

"No," she faintly whispered.

"Huh?" said Tidus, apparently in deep thoughts of his own.

"Zero doesn't plan to destroy all time, I'm almost sure of it."

"How can you be sure?" he asked incredulously.

"I can't. It's just a feeling. I got to know Zero for a little while before all of this happened, and I could see some of his dark side. He doesn't want to destroy everything. Even Sigma didn't want to destroy everything for all the years that X has fought him, and I think Zero may have been controlling Sigma all that time without knowing it."

"Whoa, what the hell?" Tidus exclaimed with a youthful immaturity, and Raven followed up the reaction with a skeptically raised brow.

"_What was that Saria said about the Sage of Water?_" Raven tried to remember. "_Good hearted, but excitable?_ _Starting to look a bit more that way._"

As Raven gave thought to that, Tidus carried on loudly, proving the Sage of Forest's description of him.

"Are you trying to tell me that Zero used to be… you know… a good guy?"

Raven nodded as she stared out the window. She would have grinned at the childish title if the subject weren't so unpleasant. Zero had been harsh, but he was a lot like X. In that respect, yes, he was most definitely a good guy. Hardened by battle and fighting and death, one could easily forgive the sometimes callous disposition that the crimson reploid had from time to time.

Tidus was busy clasping his forehead and other body parts in confusion, occasionally stifling when his exasperated phrases stopped abruptly at the extended first letters of swears, not all of which Raven recognized. His calm and informative position had all but dissolved.

"I don't _get it_…" Tidus muttered.

"You didn't learn that from the Lifestream?" Raven said snidely.

"No," he replied. He sounded bitter.

"Then I guess you need to be filled in."

"That would be good," said the water sage.

Raven started from the beginning, when she first met X. She left out the gory details of the violence that Vile inflicted on her and kept the battle with the Mavericks in general terms. After all, those memories didn't even bother her anymore. The details of Zero's brief entrances and exits into the chapters of her life were the focus, all the while adding parts that she could not help but avoid omitting about her Hero of Time. Tidus seemed confused at all the parts where Zero was an ally. Why hadn't he known? Clearly Terra mustn't have known either, and it's not the type of information that she would have hidden. Zelda knew about Zero, but even Saria didn't, it seemed. They never had told her about Zero's past as a Maverick Hunter, only the Maverick that he had become through the Maverick virus. The dark sorceress then arrived at the parts that Tidus and Terra were both quite familiar with, first the tale of the Master Sword and Hyrule that Saria had evidently shown them, then the world of Gaia – Spira to Tidus – and the terrible event that split the Lifestream apart, creating Zero's Deathflow. The Sage of Water knew everything beyond that leading up to the battle and the victory that they had just won, but it felt empty after learning that Sigma had been just a puppet for nearly twenty years, the same years that X had been fighting him to protect his people.

"I don't feel so sure of myself anymore," said Tidus.

"I've questioned this war, myself," Raven told him. "Even in spite of what X has told me about the Maverick virus, how it can latch on to a single dark thought and make it grow until it consumes you… somehow I can't accept it."

"You don't think that's what happened to Zero?"

"No, I _do_ think that Zero has the virus. I've seen it in other reploids, too. There's a similarity. I think that it's more than just a virus, maybe evolved somehow from what it once was when Ganondorf sent Zero the Triforce of Power, or maybe something different altogether. At any rate, I can't shake the feeling that we're missing something too important to overlook. Maybe some way to save the reploids and people that Zero's controlling. I… really have killed a lot of reploids," she realized. "It makes me feel horrible inside."

"I don't feel much better about the lives I've taken," Tidus said comfortingly with a consoling grim of camaraderie on her shoulder. "Even when you tell yourself that you saved a lot of lives by taking just a few or even one, it doesn't help that much, but I think we have to fight Zero. To save… well, maybe everything."

Raven's fingers made a small, deep squeaking sound as they dragged across the chilled condensation of the panes in front of her. Several sighs later, she nodded and told Tidus he was right.

"I think I'm hungry," Raven said spontaneously.

"What do you want? I can ask someone to make you something in one of the kitchens," he suggested, then said with a pronounced look of disappointment, "Yuna's probably wondering where I am, anyway."

It might have made her roll her eyes if the circumstances weren't so awkward. Even if Yuna had changed from the time twist, she was still the same Yuna underneath and still had the same feelings for him. She scoffed inwardly at his excuse. It was clear that he had fallen for Terra in the several years he was in the Lifestream and couldn't bring himself to the immoral realization that his feelings for Yuna simply faded away.

"Chocobo eggs, scrambled," the dark sorceress requested, and with a teenage grin, Tidus left.

Once the halls were clear and the air was silent, Raven banged on the window hard.

"Damn it," she whispered. "How can I tell Beast Boy?"

Her changeling friend and Terra had been very close before she turned to stone. Raven remembered the way that the little green Titan lit up in more excitement than he ever had before when she was around, but now she wondered what Terra herself would say to him once she was resurrected in human form, because there would be no avoiding it. Beast Boy would make sure to be present, and Tidus had to come with all of them.

Thinking about their relationship was odd she thought to herself after a few minutes. These little realizations of her personality growing and changing came conveniently in the rest periods in between the chaos of battles, travel and loneliness. Rather than being oblivious of miniscule differences in the minute to minute routine of the day, she had the chance to reflect upon herself after pivotal events and longer periods of time, noticing the differences in both her body and mind. Much of her skin was scarred from injuries, including the back of her leg that had most recently been pierced, though luckily sliding beside the bone rather than into it. She remembered the large one under her breast, and through her cloak she ran her finger across it. It was smoother than it had once been, nearly gone. There were many more – probably several dozen to be specific – ranging from the beginning to ending stages of vanishing. Her scars healed eventually, but like any living thing, the remnants of those old wounds left the body too far after the original wound sealed up. She both grinned and frowned thinking about how many scars she would have if they didn't heal remarkably faster than a normal human being's would. The grin came from contemplating how, if she didn't heal as fast, breaking her skin would be like trying to injure leather at this point.

She had become sensitive, too. Caring so much about Beast Boy's relationship with Terra hardly was ever a concern before. Raven recalled how she always worried about her emotions running wild and expressing themselves dangerously through her powers. Strange, she thought to herself. Her emotions had run rampant on several occasions recently, and though Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy probably would have regarded them as reasonable reactions, they were still somewhat foreign to her. In most cases instead of making her lose control of her powers, they seemed to fuel her strength now, and the thankfulness she had for the reploid that brought those gifts shined on her face. Battle was no longer the danger zone for her emotions. When she drew the flaming Lotus in a protective passion of her friends against the reploids just a day ago it hadn't drained her strength. Did X know that the Lotus could do that, or was something wrong with it? Did her surge of emotions power it rather than blood?

A purposely quiet footstep startled the sorceress and made her spin.

"You need to stop thinking so hard," came the voice of Zelda as Raven turned, and the sorceress looked first in shock at the mounds of dry, crusted blood on her skin and clothes, but then in a body-warming relief as she saw the strained, but joyous smile on the princess's face.

"Zelda…" the sorceress began, but she was at a loss for words at her appearance and the sad state of her clothing and sallow-looking face. "Are you… is he alright?"

The princess stood still for a moment, holding her smile, and then she embraced Raven around the shoulders in what was partially a collapsing action. Her hands trembled and wrenched on Raven's cloak to hold the hug as tight as she could, and the dark sage eventually took her weight and gently lowered her to the ground. A subtle panic came over Raven, but it was dimmed out by the exhausted expression of relief that the princess continued to give her as she lay against the wall near the room she had been in.

"He'll… be just fine," Zelda said with a tiresome face as though she had just spoken after not having been able to for ages. "He told me… himself," she said. "All thanks… to this."

Zelda had been holding a small object behind her: a large, sky blue diamond that gave a pale reflection in the dim lights. After studying it for a moment, Raven judged that, other than its size making it valuable, it was just an ordinary jewel by sight.

Then, as though reading her mind, Zelda clenched her palm around the jewel and gritted her teeth with a squeak and grind, suddenly causing the jewel to emanate a small glow from within that sparkled against their eyes, both sapphire blue and crimson red. With a strained effort, Zelda jerked the bandage of Raven's leg, making her wince before a strange, cool soothing like menthol's icy touch in one's throat began to spread across the freshly disturbed injury.

"Chaos… _cure_," Zelda gasped, and after cool tingling sensation, the stab wound pained Raven no longer. There was a slight twinge of… something unpleasant in the sorceress's head, but when she looked down, hardly anything remained of the damage where her leg muscles had been torn into. A small, greenish blue network of veined spirals were left with a small amount of dried blood. She wiggled the muscle around. Hardly anything!

"Zelda, how did you… Zelda?"

She was not smiling anymore. Her eyes struggled to keep focus on the Sage of Darkness. It was then that Raven noticed Zelda's condition aside from the red-wash of blood stains (from both her wounds and the cloaked man's that blemished her skin and clothes all across her body. Her cheekbones were almost sticking out, and her clothing seemed to hang slightly loose. Raven even noticed that the princess's arms had become bonier and void of the gentle tan that had been the previous day.

"It saps your strength, to heal like that," Raven said proudly at Zelda's boldness, thinking of the way her Lotus did the same to her. "Come on, we'll have someone help you get out of these clothes and into a tub. Then you can rest and tell me everything."

Zelda mumbled nonsense about 'sleep 'n yes'. Raven smiled, worried, but glad she was safe, and she heaved what was left of the Hylian woman into her arms.

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The collections of sensations that formed a rather sensual jamboree in Zelda's waking mind made her think of one thing and one thing only before she could arrive at something more coherent: _pampering_. She felt her body, sans head, sans feet, submerged in perfectly hot water, as though some faultless volcanic spring had formed a sweet little seat of nature only for her. Creamy bubbles licked at her neck, cheeks, breasts and feet, smelling of a grove of lilacs as it pacified her into waking with each lungful. Two people were there with her, but who didn't matter, for one massaged her feet and toes while the other rubbed appropriately firm on her scalp and washed her golden hair free of grime. Familiar people entered her thoughts, some from her past as the princess of Hyrule and others from the present.

Her eyes snapped open.

The Al Bhed attendants were thrown back in shock as Zelda tried to pry herself from the tub. With hands latched to the edge of the tub, she tried feebly to flex her arms and pull herself to her feet, entirely forgetting that she was naked. Embarrassment and bare skin weren't enough to pull her down, but the failing of her drained muscles and the sharp dizziness that flooded her head and blurred her vision made sure to return her to the tub, thudding painfully against her pelvis and elbows. She mumbled sounds of distress, hanging her arms to one side over the bathtub, but the sound of a door bursting open and familiar voice calmed her.

"Zelda, calm down, he's fine. He's fine."

"Raven…" she mumbled back, and her eyes opened at their pace instead of hers. The sorceress filled her vision along with strange lights that held firm without flickering like flame. She noted that they must have been the same as those on X's ship as she surveyed her surroundings. The two Al Bhed, slightly less machine oriented than some of the others, were still startled, each holding a thick green sponge that they had used to wash her. Their utter panic seemed to be fading at the same rate that their bugged out eyes began shrinking, and Zelda's cheeks flushed warmly at her own reaction. She turned back to the sorceress who had not taken her eyes off the princess for a moment while she gathered herself.

"Have you… seen him?" Zelda finally asked. She felt the pit of her stomach turn cold and uncomfortable as she asked. Inwardly Zelda prayed that the answer was anything but yes.

Sensing her distress, Raven quickly answered, "No, only one of the Al Bhed tried to go in. He answered that he would see only you."

Zelda's tightened muscles immediately loosened, and she could feel her heartbeat wildly against the insides of her ribs as it slowed at a lesser pace. When she leaned against the side of the tub, she felt her breasts press against it and she blushed again, realizing that only bubbles had blocked Raven from seeing her bare-chested.

"Sorry about losing your cloak," the princess changed the subject. "I like your new one."

"Thanks," said Raven. "How are you feeling?"

"Dizzy," she answered, "but better." She turned to the attendants. "Could you leave us?" Zelda asked tentatively, not knowing if she had the right to command there, but they did so with deep bows and hand gestures that others of Spira had given them.

Zelda dipped herself back underneath the foamy layers of her bathtub and sighed heavily, knowing that Raven's eyes, though much more accepting of than they had once been, would not accept silence as an explanation. Zelda felt guilt well up in her, twisting at her jaw and lips; Raven had been patient and not asked anything from the moment that Zelda had taken the Sage of Light into her care. The princess reflected on how even she didn't know the sage's identity, and she panicked when faced with the decision of having to explain to Raven that he was a sage. Was she even free to share that much? The massaging heat of the water suddenly felt incomparable to the icy worry that outmatched it.

"Tell me what you can," Raven softly permeated the silence.

"I don't _know_ what I can tell you," she answered.

"Tell me what you need to tell me. Leave the rest out."

"He is… no, I'm sorry, Raven. I swore I wouldn't say anything. You mustn't tell X, please. It is most important that we keep him from learning about… this man. I don't know why I'm supposed to keep him hidden, but I promise you I wouldn't do it if I didn't believe it was the right thing to do."

"Can you tell me what happened to him?" Raven said as she came to the side of the tub to get Zelda's eyes to acknowledge hers.

Zelda shook her head. "I would if I could," she said. "It is the first question I intend to ask once he is well enough, but…"

"But?" Raven repeated skeptically, still looking for her eye contact, which finally came.

"But I believe it must have been Zero," she stated firmly with confidence and fear. "His wounds were… horrible."

Zelda's skin crawled once again through the warmth and steaming relaxation of her bath as she thought of what she had seen. The Sage of Light had been covered in burns, some looking as though they had penetrated deeply, and even in his agony he had refused to show her the hand that he wrapped up in the sleeve of his cloak. Instead, Zelda was allowed to see blood saturate the cloth that dripped through to the ground. Even worse, and her insides rumbled with illness when she remembered how it looked, were the mouthfuls of blood that the sage threw up on the bed, the walls, and her clothes and skin. Sometimes, when he had held the blood in longer, it had leaked out holes in the side of his mouth that had been violently created.

"We have a psychic connection, remember, Zelda?" said the sorceress, who had come to her side, but she wore a stern look. "I can't tell exactly what you saw, but I can't imagine him healing from the glimpses that I can see. Please, if you can, tell me about this jewel."

Zelda didn't need to see it to know that Raven had it within her new black robe. The moment her mind fixated on the glowing, sky blue jewel, she could sense its presence.

"Right side, just below your ribs, point facing up… I can feel it whenever I think about it. He called it a _chaos emerald_."

"Emeralds are supposed to be green," said Raven, and she took out the jewel and held it loosely in her palm.

"And white gold is just as much of an oxymoronic title," Zelda countered. "Somebody probably just thought it sounded 'cool.'"

"Or it means that there's more than one and the first one found was emerald green," the sorceress suggested.

Zelda subtly shook her head. "I don't think it's important. What is important is that I used it to save the S… to save _him_. It took a long time, and I felt it start to drain my body when my will couldn't hold out. I don't know where it came from or if it has something important to do with the Triforce, but this chaos emerald has incredible… power?"

The princess's wide mouthed stare looked like a death gaze coming from her thin, sapped, bony frame. A small reverberating ting came from the chaos emerald after Raven's shocked return of facial features allowed her hand to go limp. Raven quickly reached to pick the emerald up, but the princess was coming very near her face.

"Come close, let me see your eyes," Zelda demanded with a breathy weakness in her chest.

Raven did come close, just inches away from the bathing woman's vision, and they gasped simultaneously at each other. Some of the tiny, vein-like strands of color in their eyes, deep blue and crimson between them, had turned a bright but pale green.

"Raven… you have Mako poisoning," said the grief-stricken princess.

"Zelda," the dark sage whispered sadly, "so do you."

"The chaos emerald?"

"Yes, I think so," Raven answered, "but I used materia, too."

Zelda's lips pursed. The water now felt stale and uncomforting, and her fragile and damaged body now clenched angrily. "I don't have a choice," said the princess. "I have to get answers. From him."

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Zelda's outfit had been washed and dried, and her garments were mostly clean of the Sage of Light's blood. Yuna's guns were now at her hips, quickly growing more accustomed to being there, and the man she was headed for suddenly made her want to carry them. It was from the bond she formed from Raven's mind that allowed her to understand what Mako poisoning was, and even in her weakened state with clothes hanging slightly looser compared to how they did before, the furious stature that she walked with made the Al Bhed going about their business through the bronze corridors of the desert citadel avoid her vehement posture.

Arriving at the door, she had a moment of trepidation. She knew that the room itself was still stained with his dark red blood on the steel and animal bone furniture, the rigidly patterned walls and the soft crimson fur rug. Since he would let no one enter other than her, she knew the room would still look like a series of several gruesome deaths had taken place there. Her tongue fumbled nervously in her mouth, and she remembered the twenty hours' time in which she sat at his side, clutching his hand when he moaned, catching and sopping up his bloody fluids, tolerating and sometimes succumbing to her urges to vomit. She could see visions in her head of the resonating chaos emerald and how he taught her to heal with it while he bled there, only to afflict her with the same cancerous illness that was plaguing Mega Man X and even Raven, and he had known it would happen.

The smell at the door's frame was a light reeking of sweetened rot leaking from the tiny crevasses that all common doors had on any world in any time. Zelda took a deep breath, and to her surprise, the door gently slid open when she knocked.

There he was sitting at the edge of his own stained mattress. It was soaked pinkish but reflected other sickly colors in dim, slightly wavering machine light. His cloak covered him entirely, and somehow it was free of the blood that surrounded him on every other surface, but the stench of the room was difficult to breathe after having been released from it for a time.

"_I cannot speak_," said his voice abruptly and contradicting him as he refused the slightest nod or look in her direction at the damaged vessel that carried angry crimson eyes.

"You're telepathic as well," Zelda concluded bitterly, still cupping her hand over her own mouth to avoid breathing in the semi-toxic air.

"_Yes_," his mind answered. "_But it is not as good as yours, and I am still weak_."

He didn't move a muscle, and when she approached him his features still remained completely concealed. Zelda had little sympathy for his injuries anymore.

"Tell me who you are. I want to know who I just unknowingly sacrificed my future for."

"_The chaos emeralds are fueled by the power of the soul and of willpower from the heart_, _but that can never last_. _Once your mind could not take anymore, you persisted until you were sure I would not die, but the chaos emerald no longer had what it needed to fuel my healing, and so it began to take your body and filled you with what you call 'Mako.'_"

"So you still won't tell me who you are, even after what I've been afflicted with?" Zelda snapped, and her hand shot for his hood, but he deftly latched on to her wrist and squeezed until the princess's mouth wrenched opened in silent agony.

"_I'm so sorry, Princess Zelda_," the sage of Light removed his grip quickly, and then he made a movement that confused her. He quickly edged away, and then almost seemed to be cowering in the corner.

"_I'm so sorry_," he said again. "_I want badly to tell you who and what I truly am, but I simply cannot._"

The princess was suddenly taken aback. "Are… are you crying?"

He made no motion toward her, but somehow the princess could feel what he was feeling through the weak telepathic bond. The Sage of Light wanted to block her out, and yet somehow, Zelda felt a scared but warm part of him welcoming her in if she could accept his refusal to reveal himself.

Suddenly he stood with minimal effort in spite of his injuries that Zelda knew had not fully healed.

"_If you'll allow me_... _I want to show you what happened_. _What _Zero _did to me and what I did to him_. _I can't tell you who I am, but I want to show you this at least_."

Zelda wanted to stay angry. Her eyes were corrupted from the chaos emerald, and her body was polluted with condensed Mako, shortening her life by an unknown number of days, months or years. What right did he have to ask for forgiveness after that? Did he think he could bribe her with a piece of his memory?

"_I'm so sorry, Zelda_," he said once again, and his voice wavered within the telepathic link. "_There was no other way for me to be saved after that_. _You saved my life_. _Even though my ability to heal is far beyond most, I was going to die without you_. _I_… _feel I must dedicate as much of my life as I can give to you_, _and I know that I can't ask you to forgive me for what the chaos emerald has done to your body_, _but if it is any comfort, I suffer from the affliction_. _Like X, Raven, and many before us, we have fallen victim to the immense power of the chaos emeralds and the Lifestream it creates_."

"These emeralds… create the Lifestream?" Zelda's tone softened. "How m-"

"_There are seven in total_. _Alone they can influence and magnify the power of anyone with a willful soul, be it just or selfish in nature, merely by being in proximity for an extended period of time_. _At that time, the Lifestream, a meshing existence of memories, courage, rage, and every intensity of the soul's emotions that exist while alive arises_. _Hence, the chaos emeralds, the Lifestream and materia are all a part of the same chain_."

"That's why strange things were happening on Raven's world. There's a chaos emerald there!"

The Sage of Light finally made a movement, a simple nod of acknowledging her correctness. He then turned his head and, somehow, seemed to be staring with apology at her tainted eyes through the hood of his cloak.

"_I know you're bitter with me. Possibly hateful_. _I accept all of it, for I deserve it after what I've done_. _Please, Princess, allow me to show you what I have seen_."

Her lips pursed tightly; she had forgotten the uncomfortable scent of the room as he then stood and approached her with his head nodded in submission to whatever her choice was.

"Alright," she whispered, face red with clashing anger and attempts at forgiveness. "Show me."

He raised his hand and firmly placed it across her cheek. She felt his delicate, precise but swift palm press against her flesh, and though his hand was gloved it felt like skin on skin. His thumb pressed down gently beside her nose and underneath the eye on the same side, and his fingers then spread uniformly across her face and neck. In a hidden gesture, the princess urged herself to take a nostril breath. The room's stink entered her breathing, but also the smell of something mild and like a hard day's work with a dash of musk and smoky earth. It soothed her, and after reopening her eyes, she realized that she could no longer see the bronze metal walls of the Al Bhed room she had been in. She was witnessing the Sage of Light's memories through his own eyes.

"_I have to warn you, this will feel very real_. _You will not only oversee the events that just recently transpired, but you will also live them_. _If it becomes too intense_…"

"I'm not afraid," Zelda responded, and when the Sage of Light firmed his grip, she became enveloped in the blackest of night.


	42. Ground Zero

**Chapter 42 – Ground Zero**

Absent of light. Absent of darkness. A man exists alone, unfazed but discontent with a location unintended. The sway of his cloak was missing, gone astray in a place where winds came from no place and sound existed only from those intruding or mistakenly stumbling upon it. Eerie was the feeling, deadly were the thoughts. An accident, perhaps, was the way that a traveler could find himself at such a rift between existence and its opposite. An accident? There was no such thing.

Perhaps he was not alone after all. Eyes were watching him. Greedily and with malice they stared. But they watched with mixed desires as though two prizes lay behind differing locked doors, but only one key is free to take. What if one should want both prizes then, the man and the jewel? Then by force, said the eyes, bringing shadow's frightening and distinguishable flush.

"Zero," slowly said the Sage of Light, hiding deeply in his cloak the sky blue chaos emerald that he had taken only moments ago from the Hero of Time. "You cannot hide from me, coward reploid."

An uncontrollable snicker echoed from all angles, sometimes deep, other times reaching shrill screeching wavelengths of ear piercing amplitude. It came from all directions, each tiny chuckle finding its own place to leap from in the black abyss.

"Me? Hide from you?" Zero spoke, his position unclear despite frequent outbursts of twisted laughter that left the Sage of Light to stand still in the strange absence of anything corporeal but himself and some invisible surface that his feet rested upon. Zero jeered at him. "Pretty tongue, pretty tongue. Maybe I'll rip it out and play with it."

"You're insane," said the cloaked sage as he held fast his position.

"No, just missing a few pieces," Zero said from nowhere, this time nonchalantly as though speaking depressingly with a comrade. "Everyone thinks that being a few circuits short makes you insane, but you're really the one who's crazy." His voice, still in some unknown place, became dark and serious. "Gallivanting across the Milky Way, trying to stop the inevitable and the undying, thinking that somehow your repeated struggles will bring about a different outcome than what little they've always done, year in, year out… millennium after millennium."

The sage swiftly slipped out the disc on his arm from underneath his shroud and expanded the shield to its full and enormous proportions, standing as tall as the sage himself. A moment later, a purplish beam of light extended from the other arm into the sharp edged and glowing structure of a laser sword. The energy weapon was firm and did not warp with swaying movements unlike the erratically glowing green one that had phased into existence within meters of him, hovering at waist level with no visible hand to hold it.

"What the hell are you?" snapped the Sage of Light.

The green saber in front of him flickered away and moved from place to place. He panicked. The sage focused his eyes tightly but could not perceive the movement of it as it leapt from spot to spot, high and low, near and distant.

"Ah… tongue's not so pretty anymore. Perhaps I'll take his head? Wear it as a hat…"

"Who are you?" the sage repeated. "What have you done to Zero?"

"Hmm? The reploid boy? Ate his soul, and good tasty it was," he laughed. "Heh heh, not really. Or is that true? I haven't been whole in eons. It doesn't matter. You can just call me Zero either way. Formalities won't matter when I'm playing with your reploid organs. You are a reploid after all aren't you, Sage of Light?"

The sage was taken aback as the green energy saber pointed at him, inches from his face, then began to dance away again, like a lost child or a mind that had ventured out so far that there was no way of knowing how to come back.

"How did you…?"

A lone black hand tainted with wriggling ochre vein patterns pointed at him, the solid energy sword and the oval shield. "Isn't it obvious?" said Zero. "This just seems to be our story, doesn't it? Me, X, you…"

The Sage of Light, reploid identity exposed so blatantly, felt the eyes boring into him. He felt it deep within the bit of his belly, not that there truly was a stomach of any human type amongst parts of machinery and artificial fluids.

"You _are_ an exciting reploid, though," grinned Zero (it could not be seen, but it was clearly felt). "I feel new things, bits of memory coming back to me all the time. Things I think I shouldn't know at first, but then I realize that I should. But you… _you_, though hardly different from me still evade any bit of the growing knowledge that I..."

"Reploid though I may be, I am nothing like you Zero," the veiled machine sage snarled.

A long silence passed, and the sage's shoulders felt inexplicably heavy as Zero began to speak.

"If you ever interrupt me again, then the blood of every being I kill will be drained dry into your mouth, where it will trickle out the bottom half of your dissected, severed body until you drown in it."

"Harsh words…"

"Harsher still should I need to make good on it," leered the echoing voice. "And I might just go ahead and do that anyway, but I want to know something first. And I think it's only fair that you answer."

The Sage of Light didn't budge from his position no matter how frequently Zero's green energy saber flashed from point to point. He searched for something to aid him. A pattern, or some glimpse of more than just a floating weapon, because there was no way of telling if the levitating trademark weapon of the now twisted Maverick Hunter had a hand at its end in this dimension of nothingness.

"What do you want to know?"

"Simple," Zero responded. "Who are _you_?"

"Hmph," was the grunted reply.

"Heh, old reploid thinks he's funny," chuckled Zero, but it began to slowly transition into a spitting anger. "Tries to hide… thinks that because he's older he's better… no, not older… ancient like Zero, like X, someone unknown… but not me. I'm different. I'm… who am I?"

Zero stepped into view out of whatever patch of shadow he hid behind in the endless stretch of night. The single enormous black wing resembling that of Sephiroth's was covering much of him before it unfolded into dark majesty. The long blonde locks that once gave Zero distinction were reduced to a flaxen mess of locks that disturbingly waved in small clusters from side to side, and the crimson armor that set him apart as much as his fighting skills was now a derelict black and tainted with the strange patterns of arterial circulation. They pulsated distinctly. The Sage of Light had difficulty in holding his position when the former Hunter's face came into view, separate almost from the rest of him in the black abyss. The upwardly arced sides of his helmet had twisted out into some horrifying bastardization between horns and bat wings that also held thinly expanding and shrinking veins. His eyes would not maintain their color, fluctuating between hot and cold hues at regular intervals while his teeth, jagged and razor sharp, were bared at the sage.

"I'm going to tell you why I trapped you here," Zero stared unblinkingly with a complete change in tone. "I'm going to take your soul. Yours is one of eight very special ones, but I think you knew that already. The more pieces I gather, the faster I can remember everything."

Zero lifted the back of his hand to the sage, and the glowing triangles of the Triforce mark glimmered off the visor shielding much of the sage's face while the golden symbol on his own hand shone through even the thickness of his body cloak.

"Once I kill you and take yours I'll have four pieces in addition to the Triforce of Power, the power of the Lifestream and the chaos emerald that I have."

"What's a chaos emerald?" the sage said, pretending to hide the fact that it was carefully tucked within his cloak.

"Come now, Sage of Light," Zero growled. "Any power related to the Triforce is easily within my grasp, and the emeralds certainly are."

"What are you…?" replied the sage, genuinely dumbfounded, but then an intense and sweating panic came across his concealed brow. "What do the two have to do with each other?" He demanded.

The black reploid grinned, bearing the two rows of grinding teeth. "Your life won't be long enough to find out."

They dashed at each other and clashed blades, surging white hot energy between the two of them. Zero swung maliciously but accurately with the decades of precision and experience that was partially his own while the other portion of his ferocious might came from somewhere else, the sage knew this. Each blow was deflected by the sage's massive shield, all the while the sage was seeking for some opening or whole in Zero's relentless offense. The impact of electrical sparks vibrated the shield and threatened to angle it too far in a direction that would either expose his feet or his head to the inhuman speed of Zero's blows. As the black winged reploid swung, his body blurred with a twirl of his pale locks as if spinning wildly between each strike to gain more momentum to drive back the Sage of Light, but it was impossible for the reploid sage to tell if that was truly what his eyes perceived as the burning rays of connecting energy swords permeated with a sweet smoke up beneath his visor and into his nostrils.

The dark Maverick flickered away and reappeared with a light crack, and after a sharp spin the sage narrowly tilted back, sweating as the fiery green saber nearly caressed his cheek and left singes on the edge of his already tattered hood. A second and third blow slid across this surface of his armor plated red boots with a painful sting before a sharp jerk drew him backward.

Zero had vanished and grabbed a hold of the cloak he wore, flinging him high in the non-existent air above the equally unperceivable floor of the barren dimension. A sharp fracture and the excruciatingly loud and frightful warping of solid metal was made between the sage and Zero's elbow, although the sage only realized what had happened just before he struck the ground flatly without the knowledge of when to brace himself. Zero's maddening screams were all that saved the sage from becoming pierced by the green light saber that caused a rising tower of erratic green flame upon impact with the surface they battled on, but somehow the flames did not extinguish themselves as the blade's burning heat lifted away. Fire began to spread inexplicably from Zero's every footstep, scattering out from each location and joining to become a steadily expanding pool of evenly rising flame.

Zero laughed deeply, never letting one eye blink in front of his enemy. He lifted his great wing up and willed the bladed feathers to shoot and create a dome of deadly and inescapable daggers that focused on the sage. Time was not on his side as every passing second spread the burning wave and the hovering feather knives prepared for his movements.

"Ha ha ha! This is so easy! You think that because I don't know who you are that I can't destroy you?"

Zero jolted his palm in some symbolic gesture, and the bladed feathers began to take aim at the sage, diving one after another like carnivorous birds themselves. Sharp twists and backwards leaps aimed away from the expanding reach of dancing flames allowed him to remain without further injury as the blades caught the edges of his cloak instead and tore at them even further, showing glimpses of a curious color combination of red and grey body armor.

The once crimson reploid unleashed a hissing glare when the sage grinned. "No, Zero, the reason that you can't destroy me is because… you're nothing more than my _little brother_."

"_WHAT?_" screeched Zero so loud that the neon flames themselves cowered and moaned into smoke. Gurgling sounds erupted from his chest and mouth as the creaking of bent steal echoed across the shadow plains.

The Maverick's exterior circulation began to twist around him feverishly until the arteries began to rupture and spill a strange purplish blood on his body from his head and wings down the front of his chest and torso. The blood sizzled on him, and it began to expand into a mutated and horrific mess of tiny metallic appendages that latched onto him. The paling skin on half of Zero's face began to peel and tear away as grey steel rows of teeth formed outside the rows he already had. His one wing, sticky with the plum substance, grew larger and split off into deathly looking wing fragments, growing new, jagged feathers while the surrounding dome of bladed ones screamed metallically as they burned up. Giant spikes that looked like snapped shards of human bone slowly jarred the metal of his feet aside to form an asymmetrical collection of foot long spikes at his boots' edges. Lastly, his hair expanded beyond the length of his wing or his body, and they coiled together into illustrious white tentacles that all pointed toward the front, threatening impalement. A breathy and resounding voice came from the depths of his body.

"_DIE_!" he roared.

"I don't think so, Zero. _Chaos Control_!"

From Zero's perspective, flashes of a soiled red streak and the almost invisible strikes of energy saber against him ranged in the dozens per second. His limbs felt like they were going to separate from him and his wing was cleanly carved off into several blood soaked fragments, but he made no sound of pain even as a fountain of his own life was sprayed across the floor of the empty dimension, bringing color to its blackness.

At the end of the time manipulating assault was a pair of clasped fists crushing down on Zero's skull, driving his mutated reploid body to the ground with a resounding crunch and mixed squelching sounds accompanied by bloody spurts. The mutilated wing twitched, spilling more blood on his back as he struggled to stand. Zero saw the sage, his own unknown brother, extending another jewel, but this time it was a piece of swirling red materia instead of the sky blue chaos emerald. The sage began a chant-like discourse with the whites of his teeth gritted viciously between each syllable.

"Purest rays of light, automaton of untainted history, I beseech you! Bring down your holy might on the wretched and extinguish the beacons of darkest night. Come, Alexander the Judge!"

The dimension immediately began to rumble.

Out of the depths of a seemingly eternal stretch of emptiness, a mighty ray stripped the absence of true light or darkness from all around the sage, and wind could be felt blowing vigorously from below as a titanic creature of silver and gold steel rose with the sage standing atop it. Having two massive bell shaped appendages that served as legs, Alexander the mechanical aeon of light took a mighty and earth rumbling stomp with each in Zero's direction before a trio of strange rectangular openings appeared with several small holes in each one on the center and sides of the machine's main body. There was no face on Alexander, but as the center section – resembling a circular tank wearing a glorious crown of silvery purples and golds – tilted and aimed into the empty sky of this realm with passionate movement, its sentience as an aeon was as clear as Axel's had been to Raven and Reno.

Pillars of light shot into the empty black zone from Alexander's torso and spread a clear blue hue across the entirety of it as though they were suddenly in a ceaseless Earth sky. The Sage of Light stood atop the mechanical being and watched as the rays began to descend toward the tattered Zero. He watched with a certain satisfaction at Zero's pitiful attempts to stand as the mutated evil reploid clutched his sliced chest. Screeches from the incoming torpedoes of raw holy energy were deafening, they blurred the vision and finally, with a massive collection of explosions that blinded all three spectators, the rain of destruction fell upon Zero to annihilate him.

As the rumbling vibrations of metal pulsated, the sage covered his face calmly and let his shield eventually retract and tuck safely into his wrist as the worst of it passed. With an unimpressed sneering grunt, he lowered his guard altogether and laughed.

"Ultimate evil… ha! If this is supposed to be the great evil that Mega Man X is destined to face, then he must be even weaker than I thought. Good riddance."

A laugh echoed. It was not his own.

The chilling sensation of sinking into some strange viscous liquid began to envelop his legs. He struggled to see through the cloud of debris after the explosion, and he could see his aeon, Alexander, forcefully vanishing against his will. His eyes brightened in sheer panic behind his visor. He could not bring himself to move. He could not bring himself to believe it.

"No… he could not have survived!" the sage shouted, but his voice fell on deaf ears.

The swish of a massive blade crossed his ears and the shearing of metal was felt beneath his feet as his perch stumbled and collapsed backwards with a terrible grinding and the possibility of several severed parts falling separately. Alexander's mechanical body dissipated from a silvery liquid to a sparkling vapor and then slowly vanished with tiny green streaks leaving his body as he returned to the red materia, and along with it the veil of white smoke was blown away by a tremendous force.

Zero stood high on a creature almost indescribable simply for the pure fear that came over one when looking at it. Over a dozen meters high and even greater in length, the monstrosity carried a sword nearly the length of its body that appeared to be one blade encased within another. The first, the inner blade, was a pure amethyst in color and extended the length of the sword from handle to near the tip. The second was an encasing white with a fluctuating glow that composed the majority of the elongated blade. The creature held it firmly. Having four legs and a three meter long, wagging scorpion tale that clawed at the ground, most of the monster's body appeared to be covered in deep mauve plate armor that moved as easily as skin when it shifted, and its mix between dragon and centaur shapes gave way to a waist that bore an alien face with piercing blue eyes and foot long, perfectly arranged layers of teeth. And yet, on top of this faced waist, a body almost human roared with sounds of a great reptile and the forcible stripping of metal joined as one.

It pierced the sage's ears as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. Its arms were long, thin, almost skeletal with a half machine and alien like quality to them as they flailed rhythmically. More horrific than anything, the top face, the one glaring with the same hatred as Zero, bore no nose, ears or eyes. Only the stretched and permanent glower of a mindless monster with a desire to satiate its thirst for carnage. At the back of his head, locks of what almost resembled hair in an unmovable metallic array stuck sharply out into a bushy mass, each one of them having a thin metal chain of navy blue dangling down from them with a single gold circular ring at the end. Zero stood on the creature's shoulder, wounded but slowly piecing himself back together and grinning maniacally all the same.

With a simple raise of Zero's commanding hand, the creature swung with perfect precision and battered the Sage of Light with the flat of the blade, holding him against the ground. The sage felt his chest was being crushed as he struggled to push the colossal blade away, but the monster's strength was unbelievable and it would not allow even fraction of movement from the pest under his blade. Whenever the sage allowed his hands to touch the white outer shell of the sword, it burnt and seared his fingers just as his cloak and torso were beginning to as well.

Zero walked comfortably down the creature's arm holding a piece of materia that made the Sage of Light forget momentarily of the pain in his chest. It was partially red, but it also swirled with another color that kept separate from the crimson half. Deep algae green - almost black - it feverishly tugged at the edges of the small orb and appeared to be chaotically shoving the standard aeon materia color aside eternally within.

"I would destroy you, Sage of Light, but I would hate to take that pleasure from my pet here. Behold, the most supreme aeon is under my control, my ancient servant and the bane of existence resurrected by Jenova, the Ultima Weapon!"

The creature roared with pleasure at hearing its own name, and the reploid sage was forced to have the giant blade grind him harder. He heard something pop within his chest as he gasped for words.

"Ultima... Weapon... ancient?" he wheezed and writhed in pain, unable to release any sound as he felt his cloak burn away in some places, exposing his metal flesh for a slow incineration.

"That's right, pathetic sage," Zero laughed with two voices speaking within his chest; one normal, the other beastly and inhuman. The additional row of pure silvery metal teeth that had grown on one side of Zero's mutated face opened and closed separately from the others, and it bore a strange and twisted desire to lash out and tear the flesh from the sage's face.

"One of the things I've had the pleasure of remembering," Zero hissed, "is that this aeon was mine eons ago. The first, the last, and the most incredible. Nothing can stand in its way."

The sage could see that Zero was waiting for some response as his chest began to melt under the Ultima Weapon's blade, but only frail breaths leaked from his mouth. Delighting in the torture, Zero glanced at the aeon, and it released the pressure just enough so that the sage could speak.

The reploid beneath the blade coughed weak and damaged bursts of inconsistent breath, and managed to answer. Though the pressure had lessened, he knew it was not enough to escape, and the burning was still just as intense. He struggled to focus his mind for some solution, but with both Ultima and Zero refusing to focus their attentions elsewhere, there was no escape. He noticed Zero's impatience growing even on a mutated, twisted face and body, and he knew he had to respond, if only to give himself time. "If it's... if Ultima... is so unstoppable," the sage coughed, "then how come it's been beaten... a dozen times... throughout history?"

Ultima roared with a sentient response to the insult by grinding the blade even harder, and the Sage of Light could feel the burn all over his torso and legs. His chest pounded as the metal on his body began to sear and the cloth even ignited in places. Screams of pain echoed through his mind after failing to find an outlet through his mouth. He saw Zero edging closer to him with a hateful glare.

"As I recall, I said something about ripping out your tongue and playing with it," he said quietly to his supposed reploid brother. His breath was heavy and smelled of bubbling mercury. The blood that dripped from his wing speckled the sage's face.

Five sharp claws drilled into his cheek, four in the top and the thumb jammed particularly deep through the bottom jaw, and that section of his hooded cloak was almost immediately soaked in his own reploid blood. The sage flailed as much as he could while his pierced mouth was forced open with agony that blurred his vision as metallic skeletal fragments snapped and acted as shrapnel toward the human-like replication of the soft flesh inside a mouth, but his movement was useless. High pitched screeches came repeatedly from the depths of whatever speech he had left, and they were the only sounds left in tact once Zero's unused claw reached in like a falcon's dive and messily ripped the sense of taste from the sage's mouth, gushing a brief fountain of blood before the sage turned his head to the side, screeching even louder and coughing liquid meters away in small pools.

The sage's eyes blurred as the writhing agony became more paramount than anything else he could feel. Blood was flowing everywhere across his face as he coughed it up, stinging his eyes and pooling beneath him where his pierced cheek splashed against it with every wild and uncontrollable facial spasm and jolt. He could feel the searing liquid metal of his own melting body beginning to eat away at the more fragile parts beneath the outer shell, wreaking havoc with his reploid organs as the Ultima Weapon's blade pressed still harder.

He focused for one moment; it took so much effort that only the distracting pain of deliberately placing his hand against the searing white sword took his mind away from the pool of blood that, if he were human, he would have asphyxiated from already. Zero had turned for just a moment to show his aeon the prize. The sage watched his own tongue being played with, just as Zero said he would, tossing it up in the air like a small children's ball, and Ultima seemed to acknowledge the action, attentively watching its master.

One moment, once chance to fire. The Sage of Light lifted his other arm free, able to do so only after Ultima's grinding had displaced the sword's original position on his body. Loosening his hand, he felt an ancient sensation aid him in fighting the pain as his fingers gently and smoothly contracted beneath his wrist, forming a reploid Buster cannon. His body erratically tried to maintain life, and a disconnected, high pitched humming emanated from his body as it began to glow fluorescent green and white through his decimated earth cloak. Zero turned and released a sharp gasp.

"…A Buster..." he whispered, and as the last fragments of sound escaped his deformed lips, a blast of rocket-sized iridescent plasma energy bathed both him and the Ultima Weapon in a white hot tornado of explosive proportions. Zero's winged silhouette could be seen careening backward with a vicious moan of pain until he was beyond the sage's crippled senses, and the gargantuan Ultima Weapon was beaten back a few feet, stunned, but not blinded, for the aeon had no eyes to blind. The burns on the creature's face and arms only infuriated it.

Without a tongue left to speak it, the Sage of Light thought the words 'chaos control' as hard as he possibly could with the sky emerald in his one functioning hand while he dragged himself away on his back. He saw the giant blade coming for him as the torturous sound of Ultima's screaming followed it, but there was no mercy to allow him the burning flat of the blade this time. The point of the weapon, sharper than any steel sword and as wide as his waist, was truly going to tear him in two at the midsection. Zero would then make good on his promise of keeping him alive long enough to drain every drop of his victims' blood onto him so that he could live in the agony of being bathed in eternal carnage and gore. And as the blade closed in, the sage knew that it would be every type of blood imaginable. Human blood, reploid blood, alien blood; none of it would be spared for him.

But the chaos emerald heard his desperate calls and gave him his wish to escape. A brilliant surge of light and he suddenly felt his body flying weightless across a landscape in between time and place with no Zero or Ultima Weapon to harm him any more. He did not know why it chose now to let him go free and not sooner or how he even escaped the grasp of his brother Zero's dimension between times.

A human voice turned his mutilated face reactively, but his eyes had already shut themselves, making the gesture irrelevant. And still, he thought he sensed something warm and inviting even as the last of his waking breaths seeped through the swirling blood pool that was his face. Be it friend or death itself, he welcomed it.

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Zelda pulled away from the Sage of Light slowly, feeling cold sweat against her face and a terrible loss of breath. His cheek, the flesh that was only a mechanical construct of flesh, felt similarly clammy against her fingers, and she returned the palm to it. She caressed the uninjured side of his face. Then she jumped, startled when the reploid sage moved back. His other white-gloved hand had been holding tight just above her waist, but now he held it deep within his robe.

The princess felt him blush, or something similar to it.

"So… you know," he said, muffled and slow from the holes in his jaw.

"I do," Zelda answered.

"You must think… very differently of me."

"Not at all," she quickly responded. Zero's elder brother stared up at her with a long face of surprise. For a moment, Zelda thought she saw a flicker of green behind the visor that shielded his eyes. "I think I understand you even better, now," Zelda knelt next to him. "And I could never think less of you for being a reploid. Even though Zero is a monster, I know one other reploid that couldn't be a better person."

"You think I'm like Mega Man?" He asked in a tone that seemed to indicate the want for a certain answer.

Zelda smiled. "No, I think you're like you."

The princess neared his face and, though he seemed hesitant and almost ready to verbally interject, he let her plant a soft, slow kiss on his cheek. He held his breath until her lips left his skin. Zelda noticed and it made her grin lightly with a subtle warmth rising in her face.

Suddenly he backed sharply away and turned sideways, hiding himself. His voice became strained, and his fists balled up. The breaths he snorted through flaring nostrils shattered the tranquility that Zelda had tried to create between them.

"I've poisoned you!" he struggled to say, making his best effort to shout angrily. "Even now, the Mako is inside your body, draining and twisting the molecules to its own will, slicing days, weeks or more off your life. How can you dare to kiss me? I'm no less a monster than Zero for making you do that."

"There was no other way, you would have died!" Zelda spoke with voice sturdy and wavering emotions in her heart. She could barely quell the anger that came from the truth of what she had borne to save this reploid, and yet the urge to leap into his arms as if it were a sanctuary for her body was just as compelling. Standing still was torturous.

"_I would… do it again_," the princess finally whispered across their telepathic link.

"What?" the sage asked stunned, looking as though he were about to short circuit.

"I said I would do it again, for you," the princess swallowed hard.

He stepped close, the metal of his reploid boots clanking hard from injuries. Zelda's stomach rumbled, and a place just above her waistline felt like it was being squeezed with nervous tension.

His hands slid around her back and suddenly her body was firmly against his. The sage's cheek touched her own, and he whispered "Thank you," in her ear. "I hope," he added tenderly, holding her tighter, "I might be able to do the same for you."

Their embrace lasted so long, ignorant of time's passing. When one pair of hands began to release, the other's passionately whispered 'no, longer.' It took many minutes, many thoughts and many instances of stunted telepathic speech to finally release.

"Go on," said the Sage of Light, staring at her from behind his visor. "The chaos emerald will take you home. I'll… see you soon."

"But what about you? How will you get back?"

He smiled. It may have been the first time Zelda had seen it, but even it if it wasn't the first, her knees began to melt from the sight of it. His smile itself was a mantle of angelic warmth from the Triforce itself.

"Don't worry. It won't be long until we meet again," he assured her.

His form suddenly collapsed into a mass of blending hues and shot through the ceiling with a streak of luminescence. Just like Mega Man X.


	43. Cosmo Memory

**Chapter 43 – Cosmo Memory**

The ghosts within the cave of fallen Gi in the depths of Cosmo Canyon lay dormant, in hiding or perhaps purged entirely. Nanaki paid no heed to the few scattered skeletons whose bones were still fully and unrealistically attached to each other as he slowly paced while his tail, which was deliberately held above his back like a lantern fish's probe, aided in lighting the way. The dark energy – a natural and almost unseen part of vengeance within the Lifestream's multiple consciousnesses – could animate these skeletons of dead warriors who long ago attacked the canyon. It had been nearly five decades, almost the entirety of Nanaki's life, since the race of tribal beings had been wiped out after their attack on the canyon failed.

It was dim, full of unusually smooth rock, and incredibly humid. The only sources of light other than his tail were the slow moving lava pits that bubbled orange in various sections of the caverns deep beneath the surface of his home and his responsibility. Some of the rock surfaces contained jagged white gems that reflected a bit of the light more effectively than the dark earthy colors of the smooth stone. The gems were monetarily useless, but here, they were welcome.

Nanaki stopped for a moment. In his emotional pondering he had been ignoring the keen sense of smell that would have helped him evade the organic plant muck that one of his paws had sunk into. It was these strange growths that, in the face of incredible heat, produced a massive amount of what was essentially a pseudo-photosynthetic gooey byproduct in addition to dense quantities of extremely moist air. A marvelous organism, it survived even nearby the lava itself, able to tolerate temperatures up to the boiling point consistently, and it had the added trait of being able to adapt to any dark environment. And now Nanaki's foot was covered in the slimy essence of it, making him feel not quite so respectful of it while he pulled his paw free.

It was always important to try to learn from every important encounter, whether with human, bird, plant or stone, Nanaki reminded himself, remembering that it was his foster grandfather Bugenhagen who had given him the advice. After a moment of wiping off his paw and scoffing at the plant, the minor episode pulled his glance to the Triforce on the back of the very same paw that was slurped into the slime.

He quickly learned that he was not feeling so respectful of the Triforce either. Though initially the idea of a new tattoo leading him to a grand new adventure was exciting at first, it did not make him feel as youthful as he did back then, just a handful of years before. Luckily Cosmo Canyon was fairly unaffected by the natural disasters of the world, but the rest of Gaia had fallen into utter turmoil just after the Triforce's appearance. It was different years ago when he took part in defeating Sephiroth; he did not want to die in the past, but he was not afraid of it. Now he did fear death but only because it would leave his cubs with no one to raise them in the way that he could. It made him bitter with the Triforce. The old wolf was happy to help, but he wanted no part of the task of defeating Zero if refusal would take the war of time safely away from his canyon and the unsteady world.

A large, skittering black spider several feet away startled him. And what did he learn from that?

"Damn responsibility," he cursed at the sense of guilt that surfaced. No matter how he tried to convince himself, he couldn't arguably ignore the duty that had been given to him, even if he didn't want it. He had no knowledge of whether or not he could be replaced as Sage of Fire, and unfortunately he could no longer ask Mega Man X for the answer. Thinking of the cruel fate of the azure knight only kindled the stomach churning and contradicting emotional need for him to keep his sagely title. The sight of the reploid's body half incinerated with armor pale and dissolved, eyes lifeless – Nanaki did not know if he was alive. Only his Maverick Hunter kin, Axl in particular, knew whether or not Mega Man X still breathed. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

He entered a spherical hollow that was dark and mossy and only slightly illuminated by the lava pits that were slowly dragging in sludge like rivers. A wide path, almost symmetrical along the straight edge that Nanaki traced across it, brought forth nostalgia that was dark and light in its substance. The narrow walkway was more than obviously unnatural, but the dark spirits that resided there had long since been destroyed by him, Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart. However, it was the tunnel at the opposite side of the hollow that Nanaki headed for.

With his tail still wavering over his head in the depths of lava-less shadows beyond the cavern, Nanaki felt gravity's gentle change as the incline of the path directed him toward the surface. It was smooth at first, but eventually the warm and moist path became jagged and filled with dry, cold leaps rather than small steps toward his plateau-top goal.

"I'm sorry I haven't visited recently," he suddenly said as moonlight began to enter. He climbed higher still, beginning to feel fresh air. "I've been… things are… things have been horrible this past week."

"I have to admit…" he whispered with a minor strain of his breath as he made a particularly tall leap, "if the world wasn't falling apart, I probably wouldn't have come to visit. I had to make sure you weren't…"

He stopped abruptly as the light of the near full moon lit the special rendezvous point, but he still spoke to something he couldn't yet see.

"…to make sure you weren't _damaged_… father."

Silver cliffs sprawled out over Cosmo's brick red ones from the spot where Seto, Nanaki's father, stood in the form of a statue. The Sage of Fire had been filled with hope ever since Mega Man X had revealed that huge materia might be the panacea for deep petrification. He didn't know if the circumstances that held his father in stone from the fifty-year-old poisonous arrows of the Gi would be reversed by whatever methods Mega Man had planned for his own friend, but the hope that perhaps he could be reunited with his father, that his children could have a grandfather to spoil them and teach them the things he could not was worth it to continue the quest dictated by the Triforce and the Master Sword. But if X could no longer hold the Master Sword, then who could? There was no trace of Zelda or Raven. He was alone in the Hero's quest against Zero.

His wandering soon returned to his father and he felt the sting of shame. He had come to visit his father but only due to the natural disasters that were disrupting Gaia, and now he neglected to even inspect if there was damage or not while he daydreamed for answers.

The poisonous arrows were still lodged firmly under Seto's transformed flesh; it took nearly two dozen poisonous barbs to keep Seto from defending his Cosmo Canyon home before succumbing to the toxins that altered muscle and bone alike. Even through all the pain some fifty years ago that his father suffered, Nanaki could look upon the real-life sculpture captured with awe. His father's figure stood strong in any light with his howling maw aiming at the sky to protect the canyon for all time.

The Sage of Fire remembered what Bugenhagen had told him about his father, the man who, up until only five years ago, he had thought abandoned his mother and had forsaken the village as a coward. It made him so proud to visit his father and think of him now as the warrior who, even after death by petrification, had supposedly leapt out as a spirit to finish off the remaining Gi soldiers. If only Seto had been quick enough to save his mate, Nanaki's mother… things would have been so different.

"I promise, I will pursue this chance to set you free," Nanaki stared at his father's face. He realized that his own features were catching up to the age of his father's. It was odd, and the old wolf wondered if, should he ever be successful in freeing Seto, they would become more like brothers than like father and son. Surpassing his father's frozen age… it was too unique to consider.

"It doesn't matter. I will welcome you either way," said Nanaki to Seto.

The wolf sage stared toward the crevasse where his father's body aimed. It led far upward to the general residences of Cosmo, but only on certain occasions and with a good eye could anyone even see the patch of silver that spread from his father's mighty paws. It made him content to know that even if Cosmo became flooded with something as ridiculous as tourists, his father would stay protected.

Suddenly he sighed heavy. He still felt helpless without X, Raven or Zelda present. Who else could he turn to with the mark or the knowledge?

"Saria?" he chanced. "Saria, can you hear me?"

Silence, save for the sounds of night.

"Saria, Sage of Forest?" he called again.

And suddenly Nanaki felt quite stupid. His immature cubs would have been able to smell it on him, it was so clear. Luckily he did not have a hairless face to flush red with embarrassment like his human friends; no matter how emotionally uneasy or awkward he felt, he always looked quite the same to the inhabitants of Cosmo Canyon. Why he thought Saria would come to him on a whim from worlds apart, he didn't know, and he thought that his father Seto and foster grandfather Bugenhagen, had they the life to respond, would treat him with the childish respect he deserved.

A sound perked up his ears. They moved mechanically, automatically in response to the foreign vibration. Steam and cinders jettisoned up violently from the path to the underground cavern. Strangely, one of the mucky plants he had stepped in was hurled from the mouth of the underground path, and it splattered rather messily with a putrid stench that invoked the reaction of Nanaki covering his nostrils with his paws in a very human arrangement.

The plant began to crack and dry up very quickly, completely illogical considering their contribution to humidity in the caverns. Then it gained the fire sage's thorough attention when it began to spread, bud, flower, and grow rich green leaves, contradicting everything that the old wolf had ever learned about it. He rigidified his spine and the red-black mane of hair spiked along his back, spouting a half-disc flame, and his defensive roar transformed into scorching breath.

"You needn't be so hasty," _spoke_ the strange, twisting plant as it began to take a feminine shape, "but I understand your need to be defensive around your father."

Nanaki extinguished his sagely flames and bowed in an earnest and apologetic way. Inside his mind was a tiny smile.

"You did hear me, Sage of Forest," he said. "And you also make a rather impressive entrance."

"Of course," she smiled. The mucky plant had become a sleek arrangement of tangling, weaving vines of in various shades of green. Collections of slowly blossoming white, pink and peach flowers that the old wolf had never seen marked her skin. A limb of greenery brushed across the lighter green tints of the plants that formed her hair. It moved with a disturbingly yet fascinatingly realistic sway. The sound of fluttering leaves accompanied the feminine swing, and sweet scents of spring flowers gave life to the otherwise dull smell of the canyon. It made Nanaki's nose twitch from the pollen she gave off.

"And what can I do for you on this fine Gaian day?" she asked tenderly.

Her cheerfulness made him feel guilty for feeling opposite emotions. "I… feel lost," the fire wolf admitted. "I don't know where to go. The Triforce and this Hero's journey has been sprung on my so quickly, and though I wish to heed the call, all those who would call me Sage of Fire are gone. No one knows the fate of Raven or Zelda, and now X…"

"Have faith," said Saria. "The Hero of Time will not fail you so easily."

"I wish I had your spirit for that mechanical man," Nanaki frowned inwardly.

Saria smiled even warmer, but behind it the wolf thought he sensed a hesitance. "It is not faith in Mega Man X that I have. In fact I know him little. It is the undying spirit of the Hero that I have ultimate conviction in."

A sigh escaped her. Nanaki stared quizzically as her botanical body stared away.

"What?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"Your scent… it was different for a moment. I can sense that you are oddly wise despite your youthful appearance, but the form you have taken only intensifies the smell of your emotions. Are you…"

"I do have feelings, Red XIII," she interrupted, and the wolf was then shocked at being called that. It was a rarely known and now unused nickname. It felt like she had somehow stolen something private from him.

"Come now," she continued, "a trifle of information like that is within arms reach for me at all times. I also know that you wish to save your father, Seto, using the huge materia that the Hero is after."

Nanaki's beating heart made his fur stand up on end with hope, but the flowery face began to turn downward with sadness. He understood quickly and when he knelt backwards onto his hind legs with sullen and crushed hopes, Saria's arm stretched out to him and stroked the fur behind his head therapeutically. The leaves of her hand hardened together to squeeze him in some manner that she hoped would instill hope.

"The affliction that curses Raven's friend – Terra is her name – is the result of her own energy reaching out to limits that it had never seen before, causing it to consume her body to expend the additional power that she needed. As a result, her essence, her spirit, her Lifestream – whatever you wish to call it – was expelled from her body."

"She is one of the sages?"

Saria nodded. "Earth. I'm afraid that your father's condition is far different from Terra's. The poison in his body from the arrows of the lost Gi tribe is remarkably potent as you are of course aware, and yet the poison itself cannot be petrified, like an adhesive that never loses its ability to bind. Even if you had an incredible way of reversing the petrification, Seto would become stone only moments later, and trying to remove the barbs at that time would be-"

"Don't," the wolf snapped at her. Saria pulled her hand away, startled.

"Sage of Forest," Nanaki continued. "I wish to speak no more of this. Your knowledge is impressive, overwhelming at times, but I cannot bear to hear it if you and your great Hero are unable save my father."

As he finished glaring at Saria's image ingrained in the plants, he turned back to stare at his father. His teeth began grinding together very humanly, and his wide stretch of what might be called 'lips' on a wolf or other canine pursed forward.

"I apologize," said the forest sage.

"Apology accepted," he replied – more like hissed – but Saria maintained her leafy calmness.

The wolf huffed and let his head sink sullenly. "_I_ apologize," he sighed. "I must not allow my desires to drive me to anger or revenge. My responsibility as leader of this canyon demands it… and my responsibility now to Mega Man X. Though my soul may be burning with the fury of my father's irreversible predicament, I must be strong."

"You sound like someone else I used to know," Saria confided in him. "Someone very brave, but very angry. But he couldn't talk himself down from his anger as easily as you. If he still lives out there somewhere, then I am willing to bet he still keeps it to himself."

Nanaki considered what she said for a moment. "His name?" the wolf asked.

She shook her leaves with flowers and greenery and shrugged youthfully. "It isn't important anymore. I just wish he had your leadership. You lack much of the brashness and sometimes even selfishness that he had. Always hid his eyes. And – again – if he still lives, then he probably does still hide his eyes. I only saw them once…"

Saria caught herself trying to cross her legs in a childish bout of giddiness, but her plant form was fairly well mounted into the rock. The legs didn't move without a bit of effort, and she was left appearing what she though to be a very foolish position.

"Please, go on," said the wolf, and then after staring briefly back at Seto he slowly added, "It will help me take my mind of off my father's trouble for a moment."

"Oh no, trust me I'm blushing very much right now, though you probably can't…"

"Actually the flowers around your cheeks are turning pale red."

And indeed they were turning rather rosy, and the more she tried to cover it, the more the pales of skin that the white and peach flowers emulated turned into the hue of crimson petals.

"I'm so embarrassed," she said.

"Good to see all the sages are so very human… well, not human, but you know what I mean."

"Real people?" the blushing girl answered, hoping that it would take her mind of her blushing. "Yes, we are all so very different, but still together in our humanity, if that's what you'd like to call it. And I do believe that we've diverged from the reason you called me here. I know it wasn't just for company's sake, though it is rather nice."

"Of course!" the wolf scoffed quickly, straightening his posture, but it didn't last long. "I, well… I don't know what to do."

She cocked her glance sideways. "About?"

The wolf grumbled unhappily. "Tell me that's a rhetorical question. This little alliance has been reduced to nothing but you and me. Why Zero does not finish us off right now is well beyond me."

"It is hardly just the two of us," said Saria. "In fact, I think that Zero may have suffered some grave losses at the hands of Zelda and Raven, far much more than you or X realize."

"And you're privy to this information how exactly?" Nanaki narrowed his look frustratingly.

The forest sage turned her glance to the sky that slowly began to glow mellow orange from Gaia's sun. The leaves and flowers on her body began to draw towards the warming glow, swelling her body joyously. A gentle, toneless intake of air signified a loss of her breath and a sensual enjoyment.

"I sometimes envy the powers of the other sages," she breathed, "but I wouldn't give up this sensation for anything. Feeling the warmth of the sun not just touching my skin, but being absorbed into every pore of my body and converting to this pure, clean, raw energy. I don't deny that I find it very pleasurable. And along with that comes my ability to convene the whispers of nature from the tips of branches and the words of the wind. I hear things and feel things that no normal being can comprehend, and that includes the Lifestream's timeless existence. I am very much one with the stream while still living. I'm one of very few who have the skill to do so. That's why I know much of what I know. The echoes of knowledge from the Lifestream travel from past to present to future and back to the past again. I just wish I could understand all of it."

Nanaki hummed to himself in amusement. "I also have little desire to rid myself of my new gifts. Being able to ignite into a carousel of flames and revert unscathed is… quite exhilarating. But I don't have the knowledge that you have been gifted, and I would have you tell me what you know so that I might have some sense of direction."

"A moment," Saria interjected quickly. Her flowers, fine green leaves and other plant matter contracted tightly and pulsated uniformly. Nanaki watched and listened, hearing mutters of discomfort under her breath. Small, pale green streams of light began to seep from the depths of physically impenetrable rock surfaces all around them, slowly converging at various places on the organic representation of the Sage of Forest, and bits of vegetation flaked off her. The flora crumbled and turned brown as it fell at her feet, and like a serpent that had no patience to cleanly pull of its skin, a forceful cluster of vines and leaves collapsed away. What remained was even more remarkable. Saria – full skinned with jade hair glowing brighter than shades of gold off the rising sun – was picking the last bits of organic matter from her feminine, plain green tunic and dark tights. The long, elegant ears stretching to the back of her head surprised the Sage of Fire, for he rarely thought humanoids to be very beautiful, and yet this one was. The added touch of pointed green shoes seemed to complete an old story he had once been told about little humanoid creatures called 'elves' making toys all year for an obese old man in absurd red clothing who had claws. Or something like that. He stifled the laughter and instead focused on her long, sensual ears. He blamed his not recognizing them before on the urgency of the situation. He and Zelda had been in such a mad dash to get to North Cave and had barely made it in time that he hadn't noticed Zelda's similar ears. Perhaps they just looked better on Saria to him.

"There," she said, delighted at being whole again. "Now _that_ is a feeling I could do without. No one enjoys twigs being stuck in their clothing. Alright then, shall we?"

Nanaki only saw her palms slit open for a moment before a stretch of wood slid out with a slight squelching of flesh. She used her other hand to pull a three foot, seemingly fresh cut but impossibly straight dowel of timber that was about an inch and a half thick. The wolf looked again for the wound that should have been on her hand, but the palm was totally clean. She delicately stroked the wood, making it extend and eventually arc into a blade swathed it thin, unmoving vines. Saria did the same with the other side, creating a doubled bladed staff of nature.

"Shall we… what?" he asked curiously.

"You and I are going to spar, Red XIII. It's easy to ask questions, but I need to brush up on my fighting skills, and I think it'll prove a worthy task for you to try to get the information out of me while focusing on the match. Are you up to it?"

Nanaki nodded gallantly then turned behind him at the impaled wolf statue. "I do enjoy a friendly challenge, but I would rather we chose a different arena."

"I'll choose," said Saria, and she reached out her hand to him while holding her wood blade in the other. Straight up, the blades extended the length just long enough to reach her eye level.

Suddenly the Triforce mark stung on the wolf's paw; Nanaki squinted and felt a strange tugging at his belly as though he were being pulled through a hole too small to fit in, yet somehow finding a way. His back felt stiff and unresponsive for a few seconds and the hairs on his body sensed a complete lack of the hot air from moments before, and it then became still and brisk. Before opening his eyes, he impacted hard onto a bright surface that watered his eyes from the glare.

"The nausea of transportation will pass in a few seconds," Saria's voice assured him with an eerie echo, and it soon did, allowing his nose and ears to remember the place they had arrived at before his blurred eyes did.

The stretching canyons of Cosmo were long gone, though the light of the morning sun reflecting off the rock surfaces were still in the wolf's eyes. A thick, paranormal atmosphere surrounded them. Saria was not far to one side of him, standing on a circular green symbol that he had seen the forest woman on only days before.

"You intend to battle here, in the Chamber of Sages?" Nanaki questioned. He stared from the fire emblem beneath his paws that signified his sagely position to the columns of translucent, ever flowing blue rays that seemed to go on eternally into some unknown darkness above and below them. The Sage of Fire hesitated nervously in the surroundings. He needed a moment to gather the appropriate words, and Saria gave it to him with a wry grin. "Are we not in scared ground?" he asked.

"Fighting in here would indeed be a horrid sacrilege, but we aren't here for mortal combat. Mere training and a chance to talk while we do it. I have no apprehensions about it."

"Very well, Sage of Forest," Nanaki agreed. His stance tightened and lowered into the attacking pose of an animal. He bared his teeth in competitive sport. "If you have no disinclination, then neither do I."

The mane of dark red hair lining Nanaki's spine started to wave and flicker, turning slowly into real flame. Saria regard him plainly, and her expression floated away into a vacant hollow. Her finger swirled around the back of her head, tying up the loose, long, nature green locks with something that the wolf couldn't see.

A crushing grip ensnared his back legs and yanked him beneath the pedestal. In an instant, unimaginable darkness and barren hauntings filled every ounce of him, and he felt his fire extinguish. In another second, his body ignited again with flame as his vision flashed green, blue, black, and then gold.

His back slammed against the platform with the Triforce Mark. He began to wheeze, and his bodily fire became a haphazard scatter of candle flames.

"Like most of blazes, natural or artificial," Saria said as she circled him, "oxygen is essential. Even with the exotic powers you've developed there are still laws. Lack of air makes many of your fire-based strengths nearly useless."

Nanaki picked himself up and coughed up a small flame from his lungs. "I have senses of smell and hearing far greater than the average being, and yet… your agility incredible."

"And what did you learn from that experience?" Saria asked.

Instinctively, Nanaki retreated to his back legs, began to speak, and promptly received a firm clocking on his head from the flat of Saria's blade.

"Apparently not enough," she said snidely before retreating to the circular pedestal's edge.

"I'm sorry, I…"

The blade swung again, this time the sharp side. Nanaki collapsed flat, avoiding the swing and allowing him the time to propel himself forward. Saria's foot caught his outstretched paws as she sank to the ground and used her other foot to drive him off to the side.

"Better," she said with a touch of emotion. "Now, what did you learn, Red XIII?"

He quickly answered, "That you know much more than me," as he moved defensively in slow, calculated steps.

"What else?"

The questions came easily from her as she twirled her staff in her hands slowly. Red found answering to be difficult.

"Perhaps that your race is capable of being more silent and swift than my own," he said.

"Capable," she repeated. "There's an excellent topic. Just a few days ago, you became a sage and were granted strengths you never knew you had. Even materia orbs can't give you the control over flame like you have now. What gave you that power? Was it the Triforce? Was it your special, almost extinct race of wolf? Something entirely different?"

The wolf's eyes turned slightly downward to contemplate, but his body stiffened the instant after his delicate hairs of flame sensed an air current. He saw – no, he felt – Saria shift her body forward. The Sage of Forest skimmed across the air, leaping somehow in a why that defied anything natural. The blade was behind her, spinning like a windmill with only a single hand performing the motion. The force as the blade circled from behind her was astounding. It stirred the stagnant air as it carved a diagonal arc, and a plant-like extension made her reach too long to attack her directly. Nanaki had no way to dodge.

The blade stopped, Red felt a terrible impact in his side, but the blade was still inches away, held out by a protruding limb of flame that had gushed from his body. Saria held her weapon tight from the vines in her hand. She couldn't pry it from the magma grip, and it began to ignite.

"When faced with trials that threaten us," she breathed and struggled to jerk her weapon loose, "we sometimes find we're capable of things we never knew we could do. When that happens enough it can become a natural and integral part of a species, or in rare cases sometimes part of just a single life form."

"Adapting to the environment," the wolf added under the strain of maintaining the grip on her weapon. "Like those living in the cold able to tolerate it easily after enough exposure."

Saria's nature blade was not burning, but the flames were still climbing towards her. "Yes, with _enough_ exposure. It takes time to adapt. Some can inherently adapt faster than others, but many influences inside and out can change that. Training and growth can cause people to learn to adapt better. You, this very moment, have adapted very quickly, allowing your instinct to do something your conscious mind did not know was possible."

"Where… exactly… are you going with this?" Red grunted as he held the blade away, feeling the dry waves of heat from his own abilities swelter in his eyes.

The pursuing flames were almost at Saria's hand. She clasped the attached vine with her other hand and tugged the blade in the opposite direction, yanking the blazing limb away from the wolf's body. It seemed to reach after the forest sage for a moment more before dissipating.

"You tell me," she huffed with beads of sweat trickling down her face and neck. "You're the one who's supposed to be learning."

They returned to their circling footwork around the edges of the sages' pedestal, keeping eyes locked on each other. Nanaki notice no fire damage had been done to her weapon. He also noticed the sweat dampening the right side of her tunic that had confronted his bodily firestorm. It somehow made him excited.

"You could be suggesting this in regards to anything," Nanaki continued as he strove to overlook the clothing that was beginning to stick firmly against the skin of her upper body. "You related the adaptation to me. Does it have something to do with all us sages, or the Triforce? Or is this about the Hero?"

She grinned at X's title, but Nanaki got the impression that she might be referring more to the previous Hero of Time.

"You are saying he has some ability to grow and adapt differently than others?"

With a tentative nod she conveyed that he was getting warmer. "He has something to do with it, but not only him. Think _harder_. What is it that you've been confused about lately? What have you wanted to learn that's been evading you?"

"Much has been evading me," he answered quickly, and this time she did not attack him, much to his relief. He was beginning to catch on to her game. Answer quick, focus on the fight and learn rapidly at the same time. But to what end? Survival techniques were clearly not all she was getting at, Red XIII knew. Either way, he decided to take her by surprise. Paws planted firmly, a neon aura of green waves surged from beneath him, and a faint, spherical glow resonated from his left shoulder beneath the tattoo that bore the old nickname.

Chilling winds blew from the crevasses of darkness in the Chamber of Sages and converged on Saria, even as she attempted to leap away. Her legs became coated in ice, and the biting cold rose up to her torso, enveloping her in a dense shell of frozen crystal all the way to the top of her head. Nanaki clenched his teeth firmly when the moment was right, and jagged explosions of icy matter created a giant sea urchin attack where the Kokiri girl had remained unmoving until that moment. The conjured frost faded away like wisps of steam as Saria crunched on the ground with the blade dropping sharply into her own forest symbol at the platform's edge. She groaned as she picked herself up, damp, cold, and sore.

"Now… _that_ I was not expecting," she moaned, and she plopped down onto the Triforce symbol in the center. "Blizzard materia from the Sage of Fire… very nice. I was expecting anything but."

Red let his flames fizzle back into crimson wolf hair. "Are you wounded?" he asked apologetically and incredibly embarrassed. The ice materia had soaked her sufficiently from head to toe, directing him even more blushingly to her slim figure. Her hips were very subtle but they still held a slight roundness as they rose to her very slim waist.

She wore a frown, seeing that her black tights had been torn, as if being soaked wasn't bad enough.

"I… may have put a little too much into that," Nanaki said apologetically as he shook himself back to his proper senses.

"Nothing serious. I'll be half bruises by sundown I imagine."

"I'm so sorry. I'm glad you aren't hurt worse," he bowed, then courteously offered his outstretched paw to help her up. When Saria took it, she held it for a brief moment before standing, and she noticed that the appendage was almost opposable, like a human hand even though it looked quite canine.

"Well, I believe we were talking about potential and adaptation before I was so badly beaten," Saria smiled, ignoring the throbbing in many of her muscles.

"And also what I have been confused about lately," Red added, relieved that they had returned to conversation and had finished the sparring match, though he was left a feeling of guilt along the stretch of his underside and his belly.

"There are so many things I do not understand," he went on. "I hardly know what you could be talking about."

Saria arched her back and stretched it while she answered. "Think back to before we began speaking, and before you came to visit your father. What was foremost on your mind?"

Nanaki instinctively kept her in his periphery or direct sight, wondering if she might restart the battle if he let his eyes slip away, but she merely stood and watched him. "I was thinking about Mega Man X."

Again the wolf smelled discontent at the mention, but her face was completely settled.

"What about him?" she asked.

"How he somehow transported thousands of people away from annihilation at Wutai, and what chaos control is…"

Saria let out a rhetorically quizzical hum, egging on the thoughts he was connecting.

"Chaos control," he repeated. "Chaos control and the Hero of Time. Adaptation… and potential? Yuffie said that a jewel was stolen from the Hero of Time after he used whatever chaos control is. Zero, our enemy, also used chaos control. That jewel…" He turned to Saria. "Is it some sort of amplifier? Something to make people adapt faster? To draw out greater power?"

"Now you're catching on. What it is that hinders people from growing stronger and adapting?" Saria asked.

"The limits of the body, of course," he answered, and then his eyes bulged in his canine sockets. "Wait… are you saying that… this jewel allows the body to achieve the mind and spirit's strength?"

Saria had retrieved her blade. The sharp edges slowly retracted and she took the nature weapon back within her body. When Saria turned, she was wearing a teacher's accomplished smile. "The emeralds of chaos, each of the seven able to draw out strengths that those frail bodies can't accomplish. Desperation, kinship, love and even lust and hatred can be forcefully expressed in ways that might normally be considered inhuman when an emerald is merely nearby. But if a single man possesses all seven chaos emeralds…"

"What?" Nanaki questioned, wide-eyed. His jaw hung in awe-filled zealousness in contradiction of his age. "What happens if someone possesses all seven?"

"If they are strong enough in mind, body and spirit; if a man has the courage, power and wisdom to truly wield them… then that person could become more powerful than the universe has ever known."

Nanaki silent; if there was a good response to such a state, he didn't know it. There was nothing he could do but silently contemplate what that could mean. Saria's face, though it was alluring and fascinating, didn't expose to him that she knew what it meant either. After experiencing the unreal might of Sephiroth fused with the power of Jenova, Sephiroth's alien surrogate mother, and the planet's Lifestream, he thought he had seen it all. And yet, Cloud Strife, a seemingly more ordinary person at first, surpassed Sephiroth in the end, surprising the world. And their world was only a single one out of who knew how many held sentient life. If he had the strength of heart, body and soul that Saria mentioned, would that grant him power beyond the abilities he already owned, abilities that he knew to be among the strongest on Gaia?

Saria interrupted his percolating thoughts. "I have heard rumors from the tongues of nature that on a distant world, a small few have achieved it in the past decade. Their strength of will was transcendent. And no, I don't know what it was like, if that's what you were thinking. I imagine it was quite a sight to behold. However… everyone has limits, therefore limiting the emeralds' magnification of a person's spirit. But suppose there was someone who had no limit? Someone who's potential was infinite in body and mind?"

"Could such a person exist?" the wolf asked. "How could anyone be limitless?" He watched her grin widen as her eyes narrowed with a confident stare that lured him to the answer. "Surely you cannot be suggesting that… no, Mega Man X is confined within the Dreamweaver, crippled, almost destroyed from his own exertion using just one of those 'chaos emeralds' that you speak of. You cannot be suggesting that his potential is limitless."

"I have… faith in him," Saria interjected, and yet another time Nanaki felt a contradiction somewhere in her words. "And perhaps you ought to as well. He may even be able to find a way to save your father yet."

After receiving a glare that warned her to stay away from the subject, Saria paused, glancing at and ignoring his will to refute her claim on the reploid. Her head made a surprising snap to one side, to the empty sky in the inter-dimensional chamber, and her firm posture dissolved into something that resembled urgency for the Sage of Forest. "It's time to go. Do you feel that?"

"A strange wind," Nanaki surmised from the subtle change against his fur. "When neither of us is causing the air to move here, what does that mean?"

"The Chamber of Sages is sensitive to matter-transport through time, as it alters quantum flow in such a way that translates into shifting currents here. Someone is coming. We should make sure that they arrive here safely. Follow me!"

Saria began to allow the nature blade to slide through the flesh of her palm again, and she rushed for the edge of the pedestal where tiny wisps of fog were fluttering and dissolving less then a foot into the air. The Kokiri girl offered her hand, allowing Nanaki to set a warm paw into it, and no time was wasted after that. They leapt into the darkness, the sensation of emptiness overwhelmed the Sage of Fire briefly as it had during their sparring match, and then he felt himself being bombarded with streaks of light that spanned a wider spectrum of colors than any he had seen. Traveling through the kaleidoscope tunnel, Red felt that if he let go of Saria he would hurtle into nothingness, but she clearly knew what she was doing and would not let him leave her grip.

"Focus on the Triforce!" she shouted. When she turned back to him, it was as if every one of her molecules was leaking color, threatening to spread apart into a splatter of human bits.

Voices streaked like smears of paint as they marred the tunnel with horrid sounds. They sounded inhuman and bloodthirsty. He held on even tighter to Saria. This place was not safe.

Spewed out like waste from a shuttle into the deep recesses of space, the two sages, fire wolf and Kokiri woman, found themselves floating weightlessly in a whitish plane that had no apparent ending. Etched into the background like strange paintings or decorations were grey, hazy, wavering symbols of time: clocks, hourglasses, orbiting spherical bodies like moons, stone carvings, and many other things that he didn't recognize. There was no gravity to speak of. The only other notable sensation was a rising crimson rain coming from a strange black glow from far, far below.

"Focus on the Triforce mark," Saria repeated quietly. She seemed very scared, and it made Red shiver awkwardly and fearfully while floating.

"W-where are we?" he whispered back.

"Exactly where I hoped we wouldn't be," the Kokiri woman answered. She swallowed hard. "The Lifestream can guide a person through time. But so can the Deathflow. Zero is attempting to trap us, Zelda, Raven, and anyone else traveling through time in his horrible pit of ghouls. One of his beasts is sure to follow. We need to find the others before whatever horrible monster he's sent for us."

"Jenova," said the wolf immediately. "I remember very well the last time I felt like this. Five years ago, not many days after having left Cosmo Canyon, we plunged to the depths of the planet to fight Sephiroth. It was Jenova that stood in our way. Less than a week ago, I again left Cosmo again to fight Zero in the depths of the planet and I felt a vile and obscene presence. If I combined those two feelings from those two times, five years apart, then I think I would feel exactly as I do now. Jenova-Zero is coming."


	44. Advent Hero

**Chapter 44 – Advent Hero**

Chilling, crawling feelings consumed the waking reploid, like insects and other carrion feeders trying to find something to devour only to be sadly disappointed with semi-organic and entirely inedible robotic synthetics. The scent of reploid organs and blood sometimes had that unique and surprising effect, X knew, if the schematics of the reploid were modeled after human body parts. Of course, in most cases, any manner of purely organic critter that tried to eat that type of synthetic tissue ended up quite dead. It made for rather unexpected forensic data when recovering the bodies of Hunters, Mavericks and neutral reploids alike. X ran the calculations in his head. Less than a thousand cases of that, he knew spontaneously from memory, out of hundreds of thousands dead from two decades of reploid warring. Eight-hundred seventy-two, precisely, he determined from the memory engrams that leaned him toward being more machine than man. And yet, when he tried to access his most recent memories from them, they failed to tell him anything.

Something was not right. His eyes would not open. Everything hurt, and it seemed to be growing slowly in intensity. X tried to lift some part of his body. He felt no restraint, but his body didn't respond aside from telling him that he was in pain. His lungs were not functioning either, letting him know that they were either in a state of repair, damaged beyond all help, or he was in an oxygen-deprived environment. Internal power sources placed within his body during his creation were the sole forces allowing him to be awake, although he wasn't sure if he actually was.

Shit. Wutai. The chaos emerald. His body had been completely fried from doing… whatever it was he had done, some form of incredible chaos control, but far different from Zero's use of it to escape at North Cave. And then it had been stolen from him. He remembered hearing a voice, one slightly deeper than his own as the emerald was pried from him, and shortly after that, the violent warping of bending metal – Yuffie Kisaragi's large shuriken being deformed. Whoever he was, he had incredible power, but he had nothing to do with Zero or the Mavericks since either would have delighted in killing him and all the people near him. This man had an entirely different agenda altogether.

_Damn it all_, he thought, forming the first coherent sentence thus far, even if it was inner monologue. And why the hell couldn't he open his eyes or move? Had the burnout of chaos control been that bad? It wasn't like he hadn't used it before, and nothing had happened then. _That use of the chaos emerald wasn't at all the same as on Mobius_, he mentally rolled his eyes at his own stupidity.

"Yuffie?" the name flew from his lips sloppily. "Tifa? Nanaki? Axl? Zelda?" he called out, gather a bit more fluidity in his lips and tongue with each call. Then Mega Man whispered, hoping. "…Raven?"

No answer. X's heart sank.

His voice seemed muffled. Everything was muffled. _Of course_, he thought. _I'm in a regeneration capsule._ _My nanites were probably reduced to crispy bits of circulatory ash. My lungs and other useful but non-essential organs have been deactivated to accommodate repairs. But how long have I been in here? Axl doesn't know that these things barely work for me. Other than a new supply of nanites that I'll have to reprogram and train manually… this is a waste of my time. _X made a motion to sigh. There was no air, though. No lungs to breathe it. It sounded strange and unfamiliar. Now frustrated at the motionlessness and the feeling of being unwelcome in his own body, X struggled to open his eyes much harder, but they still wouldn't cooperate. Sitting in the regeneration capsule was allowing valuable time to pass him by, and – unknown to any reploid but himself, Zero, and the no longer living Alia – he had evolved beyond the ability to mesh with the repair systems that most other reploids used. His body fought the machines like it did viruses. Search and destroy tactics. Although with all of his specially adapted nanites incinerated he was about as resistant as an AIDS-stricken human already taking immunosuppressant drugs for multiple transplants.

_Listen… to me_, he thought hard, like trying to speak to a pack of wayward children. _Heal me_. _Start with my eyes. _There was a strange response in his limbs. The new nanites were there, and they reacted with a strange tickling throughout his veins. He repeated himself. _Listen to me. Heal my eyes._ _Work together. Work with the Mako. Don't fight it. _They responded differently this time. He focused his sense of touch, and the miniscule flows of machine life through his bloodstream responded by spreading out to all areas, particularly his eyes.

He waited several minutes, and light began to flood through his eyelids – thank God those weren't fried off – in a way not at all dissimilar to the way it did through the thin flesh eye-flaps of humanoids. Damn it, his body hurt.

A sudden twitch jolted his body to one side as his arm tried to respond reflexively after a prolonged immobile state. The reploid equivalent of adrenaline following it finally helped him to open his eyes to a blurred vision of thick cylindrical glass holding him in a sitting posture similar to his sleeping capsule, but far less comfortable. The surface beneath him was very solid, and from the sound of it, small, delicate machine arms and extending devices from the top and bottom of the capsule were currently tending to the areas beneath his waist.

_Screw Maverick Hunter protocol_, X said, cursing the machines that were still nothing but thin, silver blurs that moved rapidly at their futile attempts to fix him. Because mass repair centers were viable targets for Mavericks, they were designed to fix modes of self-transportation first to ensure that escape was possible even if combat wasn't. So in other words, if the damn things even worked on him, he could probably walk or even run by now, albeit with a pair of nearly useless eyes.

_Nanites,_ he commanded in his mind, _fix my X-Buster_. Once again he could sense a tiny chorus of compliance as a large portion shuffled along microscopic paths towards Mega Man's right arm. _No_, said the reploid, and the movement ceased. _Fix my X-Buster_, all_ of you_.

Briefly, the sensation he felt seemed like hesitance, but they soon followed his will and began work on the complex weapon system that would undoubtedly take much longer than most other damaged body parts to repair. The process was irritating him, but soon the nanites' actions would acclimatize to him, he knew. X had considered discarding them altogether. How long had he known that he could perform the remarkable task of healing without them?

X thought hard. _Five years ago, right here on Gaia, when the Ultima Weapon ravaged me and… no, it was much further back than that. Over 14 years ago, wasn't it? During the 5__th__ campaign against Sigma. I obtained the ability to heal from my father, Dr. Thomas Light, as I was dying. I miraculously lived. That was also the second time Zero perished._

He mentally shook his head, throwing the unpleasant nostalgia like so many garbage thoughts. Adding more to that pile of recognized foolhardiness, X decided that removing his nanites would be extremely stupid. It would be a waste to get rid of something so useful, even if he could heal on his own. After all, it was one of the few reploid technologies that he was still compatible with. As human as he felt, Mega Man didn't want to lose another of the few shreds left that made him machine, too.

Sight returned to him at the same time that his right arm moved voluntarily. Blue hues normally filled his view of himself, but all he could see were many tones of deep gray and unappealing figures that composed his lower body features. The diamond shape of his pale crimson knee-guards normally added a touch of elegance to the armor that used to contain only shades of blue, and the leg-encircling, greave-like sections beneath those had been removed, probably with great difficulty and a powerful precision laser saw. Looking at his arms made him sorely uneasy. Even the semi-organic musculature that covered much of his limbs was slack and heavily damaged. The ex-Hunter knew that the parts of his body were designed to be repaired or replaced even under the most horrific damage, but he began to wonder if something was permanently broken. Replacing parts meant adapting them to his evolution over the past two decades while trying not to get the rest of his intact body to reject them.

Ignoring the general discomfort of movement, X smacked aside the repair limbs of the capsule, and they responded by contracting back into their compartments in the top and bottom of the capsule. With a gentle and shaky press against the blast-shield glass, the transparent wall shifted away from sight and tucked into the back of the machine.

"Can I turn my lungs on?" he asked drowsily, seeing a fuzzy figure in green armor with silvery hair. He didn't appear particularly tall, but the way his helmet jutted up on either side added a couple of inches.

"Commander X!" the young voice shouted. Mega Man took a brief moment to decode the familiarity of his voice.

"Rayden… Ensign Rayden, is that you?"

"Uh, yes sir," he nodded. He then made some verbal sputters that sounded like the withheld urge to tell his former leader what to do.

"Save it, Rayden. I'm not going back in there unless my arms fall off. Err… my arms aren't going to fall off, are they?" he said with sudden worry at how sluggish and difficult his movement was, particularly in his upper limbs. His vision was defogging more, though. He could see exposed reploid tissue, lubricants and the larger of the circulatory systems where they had been pinched off and temporarily closed in the places that exterior armor were attached. No wonder it hurt so badly.

"No sir, your arms should stay on just fine. But... they're still badly damaged. I've been trying to figure out why the capsule repair systems aren't working right. The dang things just can't seem to-"

"Where's my armor?" X interrupted. "I feel kinda naked here. And report, too. How long have I been out? What's going on?"

"You've been out for a bit more than a day, Commander X. Twenty-six and half hours, to be more precise. Everyone at Wutai… we couldn't believe it. They're all safe. You _must_ tell us all how you did that. Everyone will want to know."

X eyed him with a groan.

"If, uh, if that's alright with you of course, Commander."

"Stow the formalities, Rayden. I'm an ex-Hunter now. I'm not the commander of anything except the Dreamweaver. But I still want to know everything that's been going on."

The young, green armored reploid didn't loosen up much. He still treated Mega Man with formal respect, and X was angry, tired and frustrated enough to scold him, but the same reasons kept him silent.

"Things have been claming down for the most part, sir. Most of the intense natural disasters have already occurred, with some casualties, unfortunately, but they were minimal compared to what could have happened if we hadn't been here to assist. People have been shuffled here, there and everywhere due to earthquakes; the tectonic shifts are the only immediate problems that haven't been resolved. They'll probably continue, ranging wide in intensity for the next months, but we've relocated most settlements, villages and cities away from the serious areas. Now the biggest problem is refugees."

"Damn it," he said making some attempt at an aggravated shoulder throw that probably looked pitiful. He moved to rap his knuckles in contemplative dissatisfaction on the control console that Rayden had been working at. He stumbled and pulled his hand back, realizing how skeletal his digits were. Shrugging, he tried to recompose himself. "Gaia's population dispersion is a lot different from most. Less than half a billion people worldwide, most of whom are concentrated in specific, isolated regions with few settlements in between. If it were more like our world or Raven's Earth then the refugee problem wouldn't be that serious, but here, if one city or habitat is destroyed, it's not like they can move a few kilometers down the road. The nearest settlements to Wutai are over fifty kilometers away, and there's not a chance in hell that they could support so many people. Most would have to go somewhere like Costa del Sol or Junon, or…"

A dreaded realization punched him in the gut.

"Oh God, Rufus has tried to contact us, hasn't he?" X asked.

"Yes," nodded the young reploid. "A couple of hours ago. Refugees have been flooding in to Midgar at an alarming rate. The people there are really amazing, sir. They're all working together, and residents already strained with housing issues are taking on refugees. Rufus Shinra has revealed himself to the public, too, just before he contacted us. He's handling the situation very well, and the people are mostly responding positively to his leadership, but he still needs assistance. We sent some of the reploids we could spare to help maintain order and build temporary establishments, but even with our help, Rufus can't keep up with it."

"Fantastic," the normally blue-armored reploid griped. "Does he know I've been skinned like a fish?"

"A… fish, sir?" he narrowed his eyes.

"Never mind. Does he know?"

"No, sir. We told him you were delayed, but he included you in his coming out speech. We thought that describing your situation under the circumstance would cause panic. The people seem confident in our presence and ability to help. If we told Rufus that you were so badly damaged-"

"Yes, yes," X scowled, but he switched the irritated expression and nodded as politely as he could in thankful appreciation for the report. He began to walk off – he hadn't decided where, but he knew that this normally vacant section of the Dreamweaver was useless to him – when Rayden raised a hesitant hand.

"What?" Mega Man asked.

He struggled for words and eventually pointed down at something near X's waist. Mega Man hoped for a moment that Rayden's combat skills were superior to the way he handled basic conversation with a superior. Vision still a bit hazy, he looked around the base of his torso. Other than looking mechanically naked, exposed, and partially dismantled, he didn't see anything.

"No, your hand," said the less tenured robot. "Even after the holographic Lifesavor units finished removing your external armor, those yellow triangles on your hand were still there. I personally ran a series of scans on it, infrared, quantum, subatomic and even spectral-dimensional."

"Didn't find anything, did you?" he grinned and patted Rayden on the shoulder as he made his way out of the Dreamweaver's infirmary. "I'm not surprised. I don't really even know what this thing is, other than a huge part of my destiny. Heh, that sounds like a complete contradiction."

"Command-"

X shot him a very vacant look.

"Mr. X," Rayden corrected himself, "What shall I tell Captain Axl? He's currently leading the troupe at Midgar, but he'll want an update on your status."

X sighed heavy again before he recalled that his lungs were still useless sacs of metal in his chest. "Tell him I'll help when I'm able. If Rufus asks for me, patch him to the private line in my room. And Rayden, I plan on taking back the Dreamweaver as soon as possible. I expect you to be off the ship when it leaves. As much as I wish I could, I can't come to protect our home, but home needs every reploid it can get."

Rayden nodded his head, dipping his pine-green helmet while making his silver hair rise up. "Yes sir," he said confidently. "You're sure you'll be alright, sir?"

"Not really," X chortled weakly with a terse dismissal of his hand. "I'll find a way."

The moment the doors slit shut and the magnetic lock sealed it with that suctioning clasp sound, Mega Man nearly collapsed from the weight of so many worlds and so many people on his shoulders. He lumbered through the halls, sure that if his tear ducts weren't so badly damage that he would be sobbing. The pain was manageable separately in most areas, but the varying echelons of torture were excruciating because it covered his entire body. Few places didn't throb either from the incineration of nearly every circuit and fiber of his body or the emotional landslide that made him want to short out his brain and let it all pass. He could just remain unconscious and deactivated, perhaps in an old-fashioned reploid sleep capsule, just like the way he was found over two decades ago in an abandoned lab that had been all but eliminated by a century of war, natural disaster, and the wear and tear of the elements.

But that damned Triforce symbol stared him in the face and compelled him to stand and push harder. Even though the outer armor on his hand had been taken elsewhere, possibly disposed after the few reploids tending to him removed the pitiable exoskeleton, the golden triangles had not left him. X imagined that if he tore the arm clear off, the symbol wouldn't leave him, and yet he still knew so little as to what the Triforce was, what it meant to have it on him. Saria and Zelda's tales of past Heroes and the fight for Hyrule meant little to him. What the hell did it mean to be branded with it, and why did it feel like every time he stared at it, it was staring back, calm but firm?

"If you're alive," X spat through his teeth as he clenched them from the constant hurt, "then tell me something. Anything. One damn thing. Show me _why_ I should continue to fight this fight and suffer pain worse than the Maverick War has ever brought me."

The sight in his eyes blurred again and turned reddish; X crashed against the wall.

And yet he stood again with legs burning and stinging, eyes still slowly blurring red, on and off like pulsations. His ears and head pulsated with a strange shimmering of high pitched though not entirely unpleasant sound that resembled the heightened hum of his charging X-Buster.

Ignoring the sting and the sound hazing his sight, the reploid slid his fingers through the wall. He had not even realized that he was approaching the holographic wall to his private memoriam. It had been the natural place to put it; he had no reason to go to the repair center (he preferred his own healing capsule in his room or the custom ones in his workshop), so when escorting guests in his journeys he wouldn't need to risk them going by it frequently. He phased through the barrier and entered the three-story personal museum, crafted over time and in secrecy after his collection of relics and priceless items expanded to more than a dozen. The _Book of Blades_ stared at him with a firebrick glow as he entered.

X saw the reflection surrounding the glow from the thick, reflective glass protecting the relic. The book wasn't exerting the light; it was just an ordinary book. X's forehead was glowing. His helmet had been removed, exposing the only human-like appearance beneath all of the outer-titanium and alloys. The red jewel that appeared encrusted in his helmet stayed in place even when the headgear was taken off, and a radiant crimson glow shimmered on and off from it like a lighthouse's rays in ever-watchful protection of old seafaring times. It was not a new experience to Mega Man, but normally it only glowed when he was suffering extreme damage and not in a state of healing. Even though he suspected that his current agony might be the cause, it normally glowed less intensely but at a faster rate. He was tempted to disregard it as a malfunction, but he began looking at himself more in the reflective glass, becoming engrossed in the strange sight he saw. The next thing he de-fogged in his line of vision told him something he already knew.

His eyes had become even brighter green than before, and his eyes were bloodshot a disturbing lime color. Even worse, bits of crusted Mako residue had dried around his face, which made no sense. Unless his body somehow used the Mako in his system to magnify the use of the chaos emerald that had saved Wutai, the materia-induced cancer should not have been aggravated. He stared at his face and human head in the mirror. It had been over a year ago on the planet of Mobius – a place he hadn't really discussed with Raven – that he had last taken the helmet off.

X's hair was medium in length for a man, much of it pulled back in gravity-defying, tetrahedral spikes with pure silver color while other short streaks of the white-gray strands fell freely at the sides and back of his head. It always stayed that way unless he chose to rearrange it, which he never did because of the near-constant use of the helmet that covered it.

The reploid turned his head with a brief shock, and he nearly lost his balance when he neared the glass to examine his ears. He had to look twice, thinking that the breadth of pain dragging his spirits and body to the ground was making him hallucinate. With terrible difficulty and strain, he raised a hand to his right ear. It was long. His ear canal and the direct area around it were almost the same size as it had been before, as they had always been, but his outer ear extended far further back and slightly upward, coming to an elegant yet very disturbing point. After tolerating the pain of another arm raise, X found that his left ear matched the other's transformation.

"That's... what you're trying to tell me?" X said, not sure if he was happy, infuriated, confused, or ambiguous toward the message. He also considered that he might be going crazy.

"I'm a Hylian inside?" asked the reploid to the reflection.

As if in response but not confirmation of his question, the Master Sword, its previous location completely unknown to him, slowly phased from nothingness to splotches of light to the solid form of the blade he had harbored for many years in spite of what other reploids had called the 'superior elements of his reploid strength'. It hovered a few inches off the ground, angled identically to the slant of X's slouched and crippled body.

Mega Man X reached for the handle. It evaded his sluggish stretch and moved higher, floating up to the third level, pressing beyond the second hidden wall behind the wide dais where materia lay in swirling orbs of color and life. The reploid remembered that the red summoning materia still remained where his beloved X-buster stayed, not far from the Triforce mark made its home. He dared not used the crimson jewel.

The floor panel just beyond and beneath the overhanging upper levels rose with a single mechanical signal from his thoughts, slowly taking the incapable and incapacitated body of his to the top, a height that he normally could have almost jumped and with some extra booster flares, caught the third floor's edge with his hands. Now he wondered if he would even be able to traverse the simple slanted plate glass covering the various materia orbs.

All the while, the rays from the jewel set in his forehead still continued to shine just beneath his silver-white hairline. The sound still accompanied it, too, and the throbbing in X's head seemed aggravated by it. And yet, it would not stop for anything.

The blue armored reploid, once leader of the Maverick Hunters, arguably the first and powerful of his kind to have ever lived, was clambering over the glass top of the plinth with as much grace as an arthritic old man. Every position he assumed as he tried to drag himself into the room with the remaining five chaos emeralds (he cursed himself again quite violently on top of the glass casing as he remembered the loss from six, uttering many mixtures of swears that might someday become new swears in their own rights) was agonizing, filled with the strain of moving with incinerated insides.

Getting over to the opposite side happened in more of a fall than anything else, and although it hurt badly, it didn't mean much compared to how the rest of him felt.

The Master Sword waited. It glimmered in the light of the emeralds, five separate colors remaining, each as perfect as perfection in a color could be. X realized quickly that the legendary sword that was supposed to be his vessel for destroying evil was not merely reflecting the light of the emeralds as they shined, and the emeralds themselves had begun glistening in a rhythm, one by one, with warm and lustrous beams. No, the Sword of Evil's Bane was _absorbing_ the light of the emeralds, feeding off them with gentle reservations to not devour too fast, and yet that made no sense to X, because he had been told and had believed that no matter how much energy is sucked from the incredible jewels of power, they will always rejuvenate.

His hand was compelled to reach for the Master Sword again, but this time it did not make any attempts to evade him. Instead, the lights of the emeralds directed focused rays off the mirror edge of the perfectly crafted blade, and somehow the weapon acted as a conduit, using the reflecting and refracting beams to convey an image that overlaid X's flesh and bone. A hologram of sorts, X suspected, though how the plain sword did it – he had run every test known to his robotic and organic peoples over the years, as well as a couple of his own that he had invented through the psychic abilities he had attained, all without conclusive results – was irritatingly well beyond him. The hologram followed him even as he lurched, swayed and leaned for balance one way or another.

The tinting of the projection was mainly green, spreading across him in varying degrees from pale algae to a deep pine, but not quite reaching the brightness of his Mako ravaged eyes. It appeared to be in the shape of a tunic, draping firmly and properly down just beneath his knees, and the reploid saw in his periphery the green light extending above his head in what appeared to be a long, very old-style cap, one that he recognized in his mind. X did not need much time, even in the dizzying stupor of pain he was in, to realize what was being displayed over the pitiful frame of his shelled self. The Master Sword had overlaid onto him the image of Link, the previous and many-times-over Hero of Time. When Hyrule made the call for a Hero to protect them from those who would conquer and destroy, it was Link who had always come for them. And now, aside from the heavy damage and silver-grey insides and spatters of maroon and black fluids that hid beneath the hologram, the sword and the emeralds, both in unison, were portraying him as Link.

"I don't know… what you," he pointed at the chaos emeralds, "have to do with this," he spoke to the sword. "But I think that… _this_," he indicated the dense light patterns following him and the strange new Hylian points to his ears, "can be arranged."

The Master Sword hurled itself into his right hand, and his arm pulsated with newfound and impossible strength, cascading through him from the Triforce mark on the base of the blade to the Triforce mark on his hand to the rest of his exposed musculature and organs. It was like the invigoration of a witnessing a childhood hero in action mixed with a loving parent's hold, but intensified beyond any such kinship that X had experienced in his lifetime. The sensation was numbing to pain, amplifying to everything else.

From the base of his shoulder trickled down a series of pale energy bands, fluxing mightily as they encircled elbow, wrist, hand and even blade until the energy converged poured into the tip of the reflecting metal surface.

X's body felt lighter than the air he breathed, yet more sturdy and balanceable than a thick cube of titanium. His leg wound up, preparing to spin, beginning the motion that he saw only once before in real life, but more times than he would admit in his dreams. The sword spin was perfect, even as he pivoted on the damaged boot that was his true leg, his true foot, inside and out. The imaginary target that presented itself in his mind was obliterated, every impossibly fast swing striking every vital place it needed to with a flash of flame and spiritual power surpassing the strength of materia he had known in his life, angling any way needed without the tip of his reploid foot moving from the spot that it had started its tornado.

Collapse was the only option after it had ended. The shinning red gleam still came from the jewel just below his hairline, and it kept him from falling into unconsciousness.

X checked the internal device that always kept time for him. He hated doing this, especially in such a vulnerable state, but he needed to know. Three seconds. Thirty sword strikes, maybe more. Ten strikes per second. Impossibly fast. The sheer G-forces alone should have overwhelmed him in the damaged state. Perhaps that was why he was flat on the floor.

The emeralds lay quiet within their force field. The image of Link, Hero of Time before him, was gone, but X's mind raced with mental schematics and potential alterations for his Shadow Armor, the jet black, gold lined shielding sealed within a storage and diagnostics capsule in his lab. He had finished his modifications for the magnetic suction boots only days before Zero's rebellion. It now seemed that the Shadow Armor, reploid flesh designed specifically for him and swathed in darkness and lost history, was destined for a few more alterations fit for a hero.

Every movement was torturous. He fought it, using the Master Sword as a crutch when he needed it, and headed for his lab. Rufus and all others would have to wait.


	45. Jenova Zero

Author's notes: There never seems to be enough time. But don't worry... I've been busier writing this than you might think.

**Chapter 45 – Jenova ZERO**

"This is horribly wrong," Zelda spoke in adamant discomfort, just as Raven was thinking the same thing. Tidus also knew that something had gone very badly, and he held the strap of the large shoulder bag containing the huge materia tightly.

All three of them had placed a hand on the sky blue chaos emerald less than a minute ago after bidding farewell to Yuna and the Al Bhed people. Through some awkward and confused attempts at concentration and focus (Zelda hadn't entirely convinced them that the bright jewel could take them through time), the former Hylian princess had discovered implanted deep within the recesses of her consciousness the proper way to harness the emerald. The Sage of Light had secretly rooted the knowledge during the instance of him being inside her thoughts while their minds had been one. It took only moments for her to telepathically share it with Tidus and Raven, and it took only a few moments more after that to invoke the incredible bodily and mental emotions to do it. Physical gestures alone could not invoke the emerald's power, but those movements driven by their passion and mental will could. Zelda, however, was quite convinced that she had done most of the work.

The place that they were taken, pulled, ripped and wrenched to was disturbingly frightful, lacking in gravity, and filled with a dark crimson rain that rose upward. It was disorienting and dense, and the rain never seemed to touch them as if it had that fog-like quality of being invisible directly next to the eyes but visibly thicker than peanut butter at a distance. It stank of rotting matter and everyone's exposed skin was crawling with sensations of tiny, slithering insects.

"Where are we?" Raven asked. She barely remembered her last trip through time, latched onto Zero as it happened, but it had definitely been more pleasant than this.

"I think I know this place," Tidus said. His face narrowed angrily. "It's the Deathflow, the monstrous dregs between time, and full of monsters. It's always existed as a counterpart to the Lifestream, but the Lifestream always kept it under wraps until recently."

Raven turned to the Sage of Water. She failed to start her sentence several times. The constant thumping inside her ribs made it difficult to think. "You mean…" she stammered and began to speak with her hands – a thing she hated – "when Zero took over and poisoned the Lifestream, he was just… what, expanding the Deathflow?"

Tidus confirmed it with a forward snap of his head, but his blue eyes narrowed. _Expanding the Deathflow_, he thought. Raven had no telepathic bond with the young, blonde man's mind, but she repeated the phrase in her mind as well. If Zero had not created the Deathflow like they had all thought, then how did he know about it in the first place?

The roar of a dying animal screeched painfully in the distance into the black fog. All of their heads snapped in different directions, forming a triangle of sight into the foreboding smog and black rain. Black streaks blurred things worse. Decay suddenly tainted their noses. Then hot blood. Things touched them; monsters slid by their skin like black bats fluttering in the night. Their flesh felt like it was being cut and bloodied all over.

It passed. Their bodies were shaking in the sea of fright. Their skin and garments hadn't been touched, but it had felt otherwise.

"Zero," said Tidus and Raven, shaking. Zelda was almost frozen in dread. Her fingers and hands were cramped tight, exposing the shape of bones and tendons beneath her pale skin. It took minutes for her to speak.

"We… we beat Sigma… and Zero… back less than two days ago," she said. The pauses between her words were long, and when she was not petrified in the soul-wrenching dread, her words were a mass of run-on syllables, as if some horrible, clawed fiend would be more likely to tear at her throat if she spoke. "That… cloaked man fought him and hurt him badly at the same time," said Zelda insistently through her fear. Her hands had found and held tight against her guns. "How can he just keep coming at us?"

"You just answered your own question, I think," said Tidus, adjusting the backpack with the large materia uncomfortably as he looked from side to side at the infinite Deathflow void. "If we were fighting the Zero inside Sigma and that cloaked guy was fighting Zero at the same time, then Zero can obviously take different forms at different times. I just hope that by getting rid of Sigma, we've taken away one of his options."

"I don't want to see what form Zero has in here," Zelda said. They all, herself included, wished she had not said it.

Raven tried to lean in a certain direction, and she found her body doing what she wished. By aiming their arms and focusing their glances in a specific way, they slowly pressed forward through the phantom rain. Tidus used his sword, the oceanic Brotherhood, as an extension of his arm to navigate through the Deathflow's soul-shuddering atmosphere. Raven's flaming Lotus blade lit their aerial path soon after, and Zelda drew the two large handguns that Yuna had given her. Their weapons kept them sane and not as frightened.

The princess tried to encourage herself by considering that the light shells that she could fire from the barrels of the handguns would be especially effective in this place that reeked with the fetid stench of those with black souls. Her holy arrows normally repulsed the foulest of creatures. The more stained the soul or spirit, the more profound the reaction caused by them. She imagined that the holy bullets she could form inside the chambers of the guns would be just as harsh, if not more. Another wash of slithering life flooded across their bodies, this time like a barrage of bloodthirsty snakes and skittering spiders. They felt bites all over their bodies from serpent fangs and arachnid. The terror-stricken princess held tight enough to make her knuckles white and kept repeating in her head _not real, not real_, _not real_.

It passed again.

Zelda's lungs un-seized enough for breathing, but barely.

"That one was stronger than the first time," said the Sage of Water.

Raven's hand was sweating and becoming clammy on the Lotus's handle. "I feel presences all around us," she whispered. "But I can't see a damn thing."

"How many?" Tidus dared to pose to her.

The dark sorceress shook her head. Her lips pursed together as her back and spine chilled from disc to disc until it reached her neck, and the rising ache of fear seemed to penetrate into the base of her brain. "I can't tell," Raven finally growled. "Dozens, maybe. Probably more, as if anything else could happen."

A wolf howled again in the distance until it died off abruptly with the _shinkt-splurt _of metal slicing cleanly through flesh and bone. They trembled together.

The dark, ominous glow beneath them seemed to be generating the upward rain. If there was a bottom in this hellhole of a dimension, then that was it, but no one wanted gravity to kick in and bring them toward it. The secretly all thought the same thing, that they'd be swallowed up and either killed instantly or tortured for as long as Zero wanted to keep them alive. And from Zelda's horror filled experience in the Sage of Light's mind, she knew that Zero would go to great lengths to prolong suffering. She imagined burns like the sage's burns all over her body, but her skin couldn't protect like his red reploid armor could, so she'd melt away until her body caught fire and her bones turned into goo and…"

"Damn it, Zelda, _please_ think about something else," snapped the girl of shadows. She hid uncomfortably with the deep red hood of her new robe pulled far over her face. The truth was that Raven had a difficult time fighting similar thoughts of Zero – his crimson reploid armor and long, golden hair as it had been when she first met him – tearing her arm from its sinews and then jamming her own severed fingers into the bloody stump. Somehow he could then reattach the gory limb as she screamed helplessly throughout every second of it, tear it off again, and repeat the cycle over and over until she ran out of blood or sanity or fresh appendages.

An enormous black cloud converged in front of them, swiftly forming a hideous mass of probing, pulsating tentacles. It began to move with sentience and presence, slowly spinning, and through the dark rain a vile mass of impaling silver spears came from nowhere. It rushed at them. Almost instantly, the three realized that the rows of tentacle blades clamping up and down were joined by smooth, milky white but hollow circles for eyes and a thin, protruding nose above its screeching maw. The tentacles snapped to attention and contorted into eyeless fiends that spat hot, metallic blood at all of them, spattering them red.

Zelda and Tidus were paralyzed immediately, as if sealed in plastic, but Raven had a much different transformation. Her fingernails began to grow and extend, painfully taking her own blood out with her. The bones in her hands tightened and her skin stretched against them. She smeared her palms in the blood, mixed with fear and fighting rage at the blood that her mind recognized as some unknown ally's.

"Wrong move," she hissed and growled with malicious tenacity, clenching spit and blood in her teeth. With hands stained scarlet, her aura burst in a black-red sphere, hugging and protecting Zelda and Tidus as she wound her arm up. "_Blades of blood!"_

The claw waves carved the fetid air and unnatural rain, spreading outward in arcs of scarlet.

The tentacle phantom was shredded like rotted lettuce hit with an oversized metal rod. It fizzled away and the other two were released from their paralysis. Zelda began feeling all over her body in horror, trying to wipe of all of the blood. This time, it was no illusion or passing sensation. Gross amounts of blood painted them. The princess's hair was highlighted cherry, and the way that her golden curls stuck to her face made her vomit into the zero-g space.

"Whose blood?" was all Tidus could say.

Raven wiped her own face off, and her palms maintained the wine-red aura while she wiped it off. The power that she sapped from the human fluid was thrilling, but the inescapable bond with Zelda softened her thirst. She hovered over to the princess and Tidus.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!" Raven chanted quickly. From the center of her palms came a small tornado of sucking wind. Excess liquid was sucked into the dark reddish-black sleeves of Raven's robe, vanishing into her clothing as if a bottomless pit made its residence there, but regardless of where it went, having flesh that wasn't damp with someone else's life essence made Zelda shake less.

And then, the blood entirely vanished. Not even stains were left, but the feeling of thick, damp liquid clung to them.

"We're hallucinating," Raven stated. Her skin was still crawling.

"The Lifestream and the Deathflow alike are full of different consciousnesses," Tidus murmured. He was pivoting in the floorless environment, as if expecting something to come. "Sensations, memories, even remnants of dead creatures and people exist within both. When we come in contact with either side of the Lifestream through materia or direct exposure to concentrations of it like we are now, we can get in touch with other beings' minds. But that's more like taking a sip of it. Right now, we're being practically drowned in the essence of the Deathflow, and unlike the Lifestream, Zero is ultimately in control. He might be trying to make us lose our minds."

"Rae…" Zelda whispered in further distress.

"Hang on, Zelda," Raven waved her hand. "Tidus, what can we do to fight it? Can we use the huge materia some how?"

The blonde man pursed his lips and deftly shook his head. "The huge materia's far too dangerous to use, even if it does work in this place. You'd choke on the pure Lifestream forcing itself inside you."

"_Rae_…" Zelda whispered again and tugged on her sleeve. She was practically whimpering.

"We have to do something about these hallucinations," Raven gritted her teeth until her jaw cramped. "They're starting to feel more real. If Zero can convince our minds that we're dying, then…"

"_Raven!"_

"_WHAT?!"_

The princess' quaking hands indicated something in the direction that her eyes and been magnetized toward for the past minute. Raven saw nothing. Tidus asked what she was going on about, but her jaw hung like a corpse from a noose. Finally, she threw one word at them.

"R-R-R… _REAL!_"

"Real?" Raven asked. "Damn it, Zelda, you're losing…" something enormous moved in the open shadow, "…your…" Tidus aimed his blade, "…mind?"

It was coming. So huge, so fast, it was pressing on them through the evil rain. They didn't even need to see it; that's why Zelda had known it was there, and it was real. The presence was so black and laced with insane malice, more than they had ever sensed before, and it stunned them all into motionless shock. Skin ceased to be a protective layer. Their hearts wanted to cave in at the sheer murderous intent.

"…run," Raven gasped for air; her lungs refused to let her breathe. No one moved. It would be on them in seconds.

"…_run_!" Raven moaned. Her face was turning whiter and whiter. She truly could not breathe. Still, no one moved. Zelda's eyes were rolling into the back of her head. Tidus was doubled over, motionless.

Raven felt herself losing consciousness. Her hand aimed towards Zelda in a last ditch effort, and the princess's body jerked toward her. The emerald fell loose and shined through the dark atmosphere with wild pulsations of light and life. Air filled her lungs the moment it touched her hand and she went blind from the sensation. The Triforce glimmered on her right hand in perfect sync with the emerald, and a voice spoke through her:

"_Chaos… ABYSS!"_

Prisms of sheer black energy launched from the Triforce on her hand. Like guided missiles, they honed in on the giant mass of concentrated psycho-kinetic hatred. Each impact sounded like a vocal entourage of fiends, pitching the three of them, breathless and speechless, backwards and away from the form that was slowly being revealed from the same shadow energy.

Raven felt her arm throb and sting with terrible pain while her eyes burned with the strength flooding out of them through the emerald, and the dark energy spears ceased to careen from the back of her hand. Blood had ripped through the veins near her knuckles and wrist just before she stopped, and the Triforce mark was stained red. She looked up, clutching her arm, and the sorceress almost froze again.

The monster was revealed.

A shell of a globe had somehow formed and extended out from where the malevolent presence hovered, showing all within it and blocking out the harshness of the dark rain and haunting spirits of the Deathflow. The monster looked like a genetic experiment gone horribly wrong, and it seemed to breathe pure death. A massive, slender shape the height of three persons that resembled a woman in its curves and breasts appeared to be attached by the legs – which were a mutated, twisting cluster darkish flesh and limb – to a pulsating, circular cluster of organic tissue greater in size and height than. Her skin was pale, blue and purple in tints all over, and thick, deformed wings of bubbling red ooze waved behind her above the cluster of conglomerate life that trailed off from her waist down. Her fingers were claws, and they moved in an alternating, back and forth rhythm as her white-blue eyes stared, unblinkingly, glowing, and without a single emotion harbored in it. Scattered across the fiend's body were many bloody wounds and small orifices that leaked fluids of cream white, red, and violet.

Its head snapped suddenly. Life flowed into the neutral, zombie like facial features. It aimed a pale finger at the chaos emerald and wailed a harsh language that none of them understood.

Raven cradled her bleeding arm before squeezing her palm, reversing the clotting that had just begun. She knew what the creature was, finally. "You want a fight, Jenova? 'Cause I'll give you one!"

She waved her other hand in a quick, cutting gesture, and the trance over Tidus and Zelda flickered off. He gathered himself and readied the ocean blade, Brotherhood. Zelda, terrified but restraining it, aimed her light guns. Raven finally ignited the Lotus blade. To her revelation, it sapped the blood on her arm while cauterizing the wound.

A vicious and very human smile crossed the creature's face. Then, it winced as a bulge appeared on the inside of its left breast. The pale life essence of bruise-colored liquid splayed everywhere in zero-g globules when a hole was ripped open from the inside out. Red and silver patches of metal and machinery spread out like vines, picking spots and then tearing into the flesh and sucking on like parasites. A hand emerged from the center of Jenova's mutilated body. She screamed throughout the whole ordeal until she became almost entirely encased in throbbing, pumping extensions of the machine.

A second hand emerged, pulling wide open the gap.

"…Zero…" they repeated off each other, one-by-one, as the horror sank in. His head and torso, much larger than theirs, barely resembled what they had once known of him. The shape was there. The details were horrific and jumbled. Clusters of grayish silver hair fell back against Jenova. Her face was stern again. She was completely under Zero's control.

"No," Raven said at all of their thoughts. "She _is_ Zero."

A sound came from its mouth, this time a recognizable one, in a contradicting, soft female voice.

"_Five…_"

A bright green aura surrounded Jenova. Runic symbols appeared beneath them, frantically spinning with white-green luminescence. It highlighted the eyes-wide grin of Zero's façade within Jenova's body.

"_Four…"_

Raven choked on her own breath and hacked as she turned the other way. "Go! Go _now_!" she screamed, throat stinging, eyes watering.

"_Three…_"

"Chaos Control!"

Time slowed at Raven's will with the sky blue emerald in hand. The countdown was slower, but not by much as they used every ounce of their will to distance themselves from Jenova-Zero.

"_Twwooooo…_"

"What is…?"

"I don't know!" Raven bellowed to Zelda. Her telekinetic power was pushing all three of them along, but she knew they couldn't be more than a hundred yards away.

"_Onnnnnneee…_"

The princess turned her head to see what was behind them. A dense sphere of energy was surrounding Jenova and ready to burst. "God help us," she whispered.

A deep, thick drum beat of sound shattered the Chaos Control; time resumed itself. Jenova-Zero, both heads and voices together shouted.

"_ULLLL-TIIIII-MAAAAAA_!"

The energy ball shattered. Shrieks of magical energy expanding into explosive proportions ripped past the sound barrier. The shockwave erupting from it flouted the Deathflow's love of darkness into overwhelming, inescapable fluorescent emerald light. It was nearly on them in seconds.

"Forgive me, my lady!" said a male voice from above followed by a sharp tearing agony in her upper right arm.

Nanaki, out of nowhere, sank his teeth into her and used his tail to latch tightly onto Tidus. Saria, Sage of the Forest, careened forward with a hand on the sorceress's other arm's wrist while using the other to take Zelda. Speed suddenly pressed at their faces, and heat enveloped the sages of both water and darkness. Nanaki had ignited, needing the flames of his powers to propel himself faster.

Raven understood why he had to use his teeth to gnaw into her and hold on. It seemed to be the only place where he could keep the flames at bay as they accelerated with several planetary pulls against their faces, flesh, bones and organs. Tidus was generating large amounts of sweat – no, not sweat, but pure water – from the pores on his left arm, fighting the flames of Nanaki's tail to protect him

"I'm not God," Saria announced to the princess, "but I hope I can suffice!"

Zelda wasn't able to spare the focus on her witty comeback. She sensed Raven's pain and even felt in her jaw how tightly the sorceress clenched her teeth to fight it. Even worse was the sensation coming from behind at their trailing legs. As if all matter was being compressed, vacuumed and exploded at the same time, the shockwave pulled at their backs, magnifying the g-forces without even touching them.

"No," Zelda whispered when she realized that the energy wave was beginning to fall behind quickly. "Jenova is coming after us still!"

Everyone turned. Jenova-Zero ripped through the edge of the energy wave. Her face had become slack, unmoving, and the parasitic reploid at her core bared multiple rows of teeth, his skull fetching dragon-like features and raging zealous for the slaughter.

"The emerald!" Zelda's voice scratched over the shockwave. "Give me the emerald, now!"

Raven had no free hand to give it with, so her mind focused hard on the jewel. The black energy seams of her telekinesis enveloped the sky blue jewel, but the chaos emerald sucked away the sheathing hold that she created. Raven tried again, and managed to jolt the jewel loose enough for it to slide out of her red robe.

Zelda had to let go of both Saria and Raven to grasp it, and she fell behind quickly. Zero's jaws clacked in delight and opened wide to crush her as the body of Jenova gained on her.

"Chaos control!" she said. Nothing happened. Why? "Chaos control!" the princess shouted again.

Raven had fought away from Nanaki's grip, both arms bleeding. She desperately went after Zelda.

Jenova-Zero, from the open chest where the mechanical obtrusions resided, plunged a wall of metallic limbs into the princess, skewering her every limb and every internal organ housed in her torso. Her arms and legs were sliced through. Her heart, lungs, bowels, stomach and neck were holed from one end to the other. Blood was strewn everywhere, emptying her of it at the moment of the blow. Jenova's borrowed flesh, contrasting the crimson of Zero, reached out for the chaos emerald.

Zelda's body stopped. Heat almost immediately began to flow out of it in exchange for the cold in absence of it. The princess had time for only one fading thought. Though it should have been clear in her path of vision, there was no function left in her eyes to see the impaling spear through her skull. The complete devastation of it stopped every electrical response inside of her. At least it should have. And yet, something still sparked inside of her. Something remarkable resisted death within her brain and mind. She chose the last, resilient thought to be the Sage of Light. She did not know why. Her body would be ripped into pieces in a tiny moment more.

"No."

The beady, thin eyes on Zero widened into oceans of shock. A breath and a sound had escaped her. The demon reploid surveyed what he had done. Both lungs pierced, the neck and windpipe, the stomach, the brain itself. Not a damn ounce of air or thought should have escaped her.

"_Silence, wretch!"_ Jenova's maddened female voice clashed with Zero's male one.

"No," Zelda sputtered again. A single one of her fingers still touched the emerald.

Her body failed to exert another syllable, but her mind forced out the words of might that made the emerald react.

"_Chaos_…_ Control!"_

Zelda experienced all of the pain tenfold and far slower than before as the spears that tore her apart retracted far more slowly than they had gone in. When they left her body, the sight and sounds of her mutilated corpse becoming alive once again, refilling with the globules of floating blood as though it had never left; it was so maddening. The princess's eyes rolled back up into her head and cold sweat covered her almost instantaneously in reverse. The spears that killed her fell away and back into Jenova.

Chaos Control had turned back time; reversed Zelda's death. But now, she was barely conscious enough to notice its flow jostling violent for normalcy against the emerald's zenith of reactions.

Raven's sensitive consciousness perceived the disturbance barely enough to realize what she needed to do. With a rapid bout of her mind's power, she erected a dark shield to arc around Zelda, to protect her from death a second time.

The impaling limbs cracked and crushed against the shield, deflecting to the side, fighting to get in. The form of Jenova-Zero screeched double, the succubus monster of the Cetra race fused with the parasitic machine, and the ear-throbbing sensation shattered Raven's shield.

The dark sorceress had placed a hand on the emerald, and she called forth chaos control again out of desperation and desire to save Zelda, herself, and everyone else. From the pit of her stomach and the core of her chest, the will to see Mega Man X again if they survived made the grand jewel resonate, and it opened a gaping rift in the timeless threshold of the Deathflow. With the power of chaos propelling her, she took Zelda and careened violently toward the gateway, all of her other friends and sages already having been sucked in.

Voices of all kinds whispered along their ears through the spiraling tunnel that led them away. Some were familiar. Raven had heard these whispers once before, though she had been too busy to listen after chasing Zero through time. Only, the ones that had ended the journey last time were beginning this one.

Striking the bright end of the tunnel with a smack like the surface of water, Raven suddenly sucked in air that was fresh, not foul. Her eyes began to adjust slowly as she was lifted to her feet by a gentle palm and a warm tail.

The sky was blue. Clouds of white, not black or bloody red, joined the hues of blue, and the bright sun warmed them all. The mountains around her were a crimson orange touched in places with silver. The expansive gorge of Cosmo Canyon stretched on for miles in either direction, as far as the naked eye could see.

Raven fell to her knees, taking Zelda with her, who gasped the fresh air herself. "Is this… for real?"

Saria was nodding happily, only a foot in front of her face.

Tidus placed his sword, the Brotherhood, into the stone and let the light shine against his face. He sucked in the first joyous warmth since his becoming corporeal after years of existence in the Lifestream and then the dark unpleasantness of the time-twisted future.

"We escaped Jenova-Zero," Red XIII stated. "Hopefully… it will not follow us."

"It won't," said Saria. "Somehow, I don't think Zero's Cetra form can escape the Deathflow. At least not yet. For now, all is well."

Raven sighed heavily from her chest with relief. They were safe, with the Sage of Water, the huge materia, and even the incredible, incomprehensible chaos emerald in their possession.

Zelda had fallen asleep. She had never been so exhausted.

Then Raven was dealt a blow deep within her head that burned amidst the joy. The lonely gaps that Zelda had filled in with her psychic power were being holed out again and immediately refilled by what the dark sorceress had wished for all along. The past and present of a valiant, blue armored reploid jostled into place where it belonged. His experiences, his feelings, his success and failure, it all melded again with hers.

And then she felt his presence.


	46. The Robin and the Reploid

**Chapter 46 – The Robin and the Reploid**

"I'm going to go check it out," Robin said nonchalantly, giving the focus of their brief convening in front of the wide range sensor system a simple discarding. It wasn't quite enough to earn a spot on the 'important' pile.

"You sure, Rob?" asked Cyborg, trying to sound caring without demeaning. "You still aren't in top shape since you came back. There was a whole lot of voltage goin' through you."

"I'm fine to do some reconnaissance, Cy," Robin answered back, not taking any offense. "If something goes wrong, I'll call in for help. Besides, I could use the fresh air. Being cooped up here with Gizmo and the constant sensor sweeps of the area are getting on my nerves."

The little mechanic was sleeping in one of the guest rooms, having been up for almost 20 hours, trying to make heads or tails of the connection between the different and frequent energy readings themselves. They all knew from Robin's previous and almost deadly trip off the coast that the deep crevasse he had been to was most likely held the source of all the strange happenings. For the time, the entire underwater area had been quarantined and sealed off by the military. The odd happenings themselves had increased in radius only another ten miles or so, but the frequency of random weirdness was on the rise a bit more so. There was still little explanation as to _how _all of this was happening despite Gizmo's efforts _and_ Robin's direct encounter, and the Teen Titans were all very tired from having to deal with numerous instances of chaos at any given time of the day.

A formal statement was made to the public by the Titans just the previous day. Still not feeling well, Robin had to relinquish the job to Cyborg who was most capable aside from himself. Something about the gargantuan half-machine's size was, although intimidating, very reassuring, and he spoke far better than Beast Boy with his immaturity and Starfire with her lack of proper English. His knowledge of the scientific aspects of what had been going on in their city was helpful as well. Robin was always thankful to have the strong but knowledgeable man on his team.

"It just looks like a bit of an electrical discharge," Cy said and rubbed his bald head. "Might not even have anything to do with the rest of the stuff around the city."

"I still want to check it out."

"Alright, have a ball," Cyborg shrugged with a smile, only half sarcastic. Even though he was an invaluable member of the team, the stress took its toll on him, too. The metal man headed out to tend to something else.

Robin turned back to the topographical map and the area on the outskirts of the north side of town where the waves of energy disturbance were pulsating lightly. The readings on the specific location – the telescope and observatory station that had been left neglected after being destroyed in a battle against former criminals – were meant to be seen, and by him specifically. At first it took the leader of the Titans a long while to recognize the archaic means of communication between him and who or what was sending him the message, but it was undoubtedly Morse code. The command set in the long and short energy waves was simple: "ROBIN." It had fortunately repeated itself long enough for the boy wonder to catch on, and he was more than intrigued as to who knew so specifically that the Teen Titans were monitoring even the smallest and most insignificant kinds of energy readings.

_It's something Slade would do_, Robin thought. Their former arch nemesis had a rather copious collection of tricks up his sleeves (among them having a cat's share of lives) but it occurred to the Titan leader that the location choice was inconsistent with Slade's mentality. Sunlight easily filled the gaping wall sections blown away from past fighting, and that was completely contrary to anything Slade would have ever chosen. Darkness had been his hunting ground, and only dense cloud cover or night could bring him out in the open world.

While prodding his calculating mind for other likely candidates, Robin barely acknowledged the automatic trip that he made to the Titans' garage until his bright red helmet was firmly in place, fitting snugly against his cheeks as it flattened his jet black spiked hair.

Nobody else came to mind.

As he crossed the river with his motorcycle in surf mode and then drove through the streets, many stared at him. A trio of young girls in their late teens stopped to giggle at him when he was stopped at a red light. Usually he didn't get the opportunity to interact much with the public, so he waved at them politely and they blushed and giggled even more, waving back playfully. Robin considered himself not single, but he still knew that it was more polite to flirt very gently than to ignore those acknowledging him. Sometimes it was little things like those that helped maintain the positive rapport between the general people and the Titans. He imagined that it had to be the same way with Mega Man X, fighting against reploids. But then again, the reploid's task was to destroy if necessary, which Robin knew was what happened most often. Maybe it _was_ different. He tried not to worry.

Robin approached the sparsely populated outskirts of the city, and the traffic and traffic signs thinned out to give greater opportunity for fast, unstopped travel. The Teen Titan leader chose not to exercise the additional speed that came with his societal position and the more rural, less populated terrain. It wasn't every day he got the chance to drive casually, just letting the air blow cool across his chest and arms, letting them be pushed backward loosely, freely. Whoever was waiting could wait a few minutes extra, he thought. If it was that urgent, he or she – or _it_, even; the modified sensors were only designed to pick up various strong energy readings and couldn't tell who or what was calling – could have just made more formal contact.

There was no activity at the broken old observatory building. Whoever he was going to meet wanted it there for a reason, that reason probably being privacy.

The road winding up to the telescope-equipped place was dirt and gravel. Robin felt each and every one of the uncomfortable bumps beneath him. The impacts were mostly absorbed by custom, high-end shocks, but curiosity had started to take the place of relaxation and he maintained enough speed to make for an uneven ride.

There was no sign of any recent vehicles. The last time it had rained was about a week ago, and even then some trace of vehicular imprints in the dirt would have most likely remained, but resilient grass was beginning to fill in the areas where people had once driven or walked quite regularly in the past. There was no sign of small aircraft, either. Robin became suddenly uneasy. With his extendable staff retracted but ready in his hand, the Titan made his way around the side of the white dome building to find the service ladder leading to the top.

He didn't notice that the climb was a bit difficult for him as he kept an eye on all of his surroundings as often as he could. No sign of anything came.

Robin had almost reached the top when something appeared within sight at the top of the observatory. It was dark brown and resembled a hood, but just beneath it was darkness. A few steps further revealed not darkness, but a strange black visor – like sunglasses - that covered the eyes and upper cheeks of the person who wore it. The cloak, dirty, tattered in places and ground length, turned out to be more of a robe than a cloak, as it had sleeves with arms in them at the figure's sides. He sat on a small, plain white chair at a small, plain white table with another matching chair opposite where he sat. Robin could see red metal boots protruding from the bottom of the cloak.

"Glad you could make it," said the man pointedly. He sat upright and had a moderate, baritone voice that was confident, articulate, and it owned a dash of condescendence, too.

"Likewise, I'm sure," escaped Robin's vigilante sarcasm. "I'm not Batman, you know. You don't need a cryptic signal to get my attention if you want it."

The cloaked man gave a short hum of amusement, irritating Robin's strong aplomb. He pursed his lips slightly. Robin already didn't like this person and it thinned his conversational breath to maintain patience under the duress of the next few moments' silence.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Robin interrogated him, feigning collectedness well.

"Foolish questions. Can't you come up with something more interesting?" he snapped.

Robin took the invitation to use volatile harshness in his voice. "Alright, how about _what_ the hell are you? Why should I give you any of my valuable time? Do you know Mega Man X?"

The cloaked man cocked his head and smiled very subtly, again in amusement. "Better," he nodded. "Especially the last one. What made you ask that?"

"A lot of stuff has been revolving around him lately."

"Is that all?" he asked.

"No," Robin replied quickly.

"Then what else made you think that I know him?"

Robin thought for a moment before answering. "Just the way you carry yourself. That… and I think you're a reploid."

"Really now?" The cloaked man was grinning sternly and openly now. "Hunter or Maverick?"

Robin huffed. "Neither."

That sensation where the involuntary brain function takes control entirely of facial features for a brief second came over the cloaked man. Robin knew from dozens of instances of villainous monologuing that he had gained a strong foothold in the conversation that couldn't be pried free easily with words anymore. The cloaked man – no, Robin was almost positive he was not a man, but merely a reploid made to look like one – quickly stopped smiling, and now the features from nose down that weren't hidden seemed to show hardened respect, the kind of respect that an elder who never smiled might give to a pupil. He asked once more to Robin, "Why?"

"Because I can already tell that you're the kind of jackass who would ask a trick question. So you _are_a reploid, and you're not a Hunter but not a Maverick either. So what does that make you? What place does a rouge reploid have in the…"

Robin's mouth went briefly agape with a perplexing realization that made him smirk back at the man.

"You're just like X, aren't you?" said Robin. The reploid in front of him immediately frowned and stiffened his back, and it egged Robin on. "You're a part of this whole… Triforce thing."

The red armored reploid clapped briefly, and the Titan spotted burn marks all over the white-gloved reploid hands before they slid comfortably back into their sleeves. The reploid then stood, politely bowed and signaled Robin to take the seat opposite him with an articulate and close to friendly gesture of his arm.

Robin hesitated. An awkward tickling feeling settled in his stomach and he didn't enjoy the fact that he did know where it came from. He breathed deep and forced his mind into the hardened habit of forgetting about discomfort and reservations, and his stomach felt better and more refreshed almost immediately. Robin took the simple, firm seat and scooted himself in, making an unpleasant scraping sound on the dome's metal roof. The reploid did the same.

"You know," said the machine man, "when I was your age, I wasn't nearly as perceptive as you are. Zelda is an empath and didn't know that I was a reploid until I revealed it after meeting with the princess on several occasions. You, on the other hand, figured it out in seventy-six seconds. Bra-_vo_. I can tell that your position as the Titans' leader was well earned and has taught you even more."

"That's nice and all," the Boy Wonder declared, "but what's it to you? I don't get the impression that you want to join."

"You're quite right, I'm not interested. I tend to work alone. But I have things to discuss with important people associated within it. Namely, you."

"What about me is so special to a reploid like you?" Robin asked plainly.

"More than you could know," he responded. "So much so that I'm at a loss of words as to how I should explain it to you. And you should feel flattered. That doesn't happen to me. _Ever_. I think it might be prudent to just flatly tell you that you've experienced the power of chaos first-hand, and that it makes you eternally superior than you were before."

"You mean what happened to me underwater, using my body to power the boat? The chaos power that you mentioned allows people to control machines?"

"Far more than that," said the reploid, suddenly angry. "You would do well to gain an understanding of what it is you are dealing with."

Robin maintained plain eye contact unwaveringly. He had been checking the surroundings cautiously the entire time, but he hadn't found anything. Trust was, even though he had given it to Mega Man X, not something he took lightly, and the secretive location and atmosphere made him very hesitant to believe a single word that this machine was saying. The reploid may have known X (Robin _did _believe that), but that didn't mean he was X's ally. However, other than the plain white table, he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary with their surroundings. The small hilltops surrounding but not surpassing the height of the fallen telescope were both rocky and tree-filled. Some of nature's attempts to preserve the many pines failed, giving way to brown and thinning needle clusters, while others directly adjacent were thoroughly vibrant and alive. Nothing appeared suspect on the misshapen, damaged dome they were on, either. Other than the blasted in walls and ceiling fragments that suggested that their perch lacked wisdom, the two of them and the table were the only questionable things that Robin could see. Robin almost wished that he had taken Cyborg with him; his partner and good friend had many convenient methods of sight without eyes or trained instinct.

The reploid, Robin realized with discomfort that made him stiffen in his chair, was waiting for him to finish his detective work. _And he thinks I'm perceptive_, Robin thought. _I wasn't moving my eyes at all_.

The hand gesture he used to request that the unnamed reploid go on was falsely sardonic.

The reploid sighed strangely, still frustrated with how to word his thoughts.

"I think of you," he began with difficulty to Robin, "as not merely just the leader of the Teen Titans, but the leader of this world."

Robin almost fell backward in his chair from the mind-bludgeoning statement. "The world!" he repeated stupidly, loosening his conversational foothold considerably.

"Yes, your entire world," he repeated again. "If you hadn't come in contact with chaos and used it so well in your first true exposure, I might not think so, and although I hate the responsibility, I feel I need to tell you as the planet's leader what is very likely going to happen in the coming days."

Robin latched his hands on the edge of the table and leaned to the front of his seat. His throat tightly clenched and he failed at swallowing hard, nearly gagging on his own tongue. The reploid's demeanor was much more than dire.

"Tell me," said the young Titan.

The man nodded rigidly. "In a matter of weeks, perhaps days depending on how quickly events unfold, the final war for the Triforce will come to this land of yours. I wholeheartedly believe it will begin in this city even, possibly even on your island. If that is the case, the city will be annihilated no matter what the outcome. It will be the responsibility of you and your fellow Titans – you may very well need everyone at your disposal – to evacuate every man, woman and child from here. Every living thing within five hundred miles of ground zero risks death by staying."

The Boy Wonder's temper almost snapped. His teeth were sliding and scraping feverishly against one another, ripping enamel. "Why… _here?_" he said, face simmering with furious, rising blood.

"The final events started here," shrugged the reploid. "X met Raven. Raven met Zero. All three of them first came together on your island."

"_Actually_… it was at the Maverick base up north," Robin pointed out, still angry.

"I apologize," he accepted the Titan's statement. "Allow me to rephrase. The chains of their hearts and the strength of their wills were connected on the island, first with X and Raven, then Raven and Zero. The two meetings happened separately, but both of them on Titan's Island. Their hearts, Mega Man X, Raven, and Zero too, are deeply rooted here."

The empty gaze of the visor unsettled and disturbed Robin more than the unpleasantness of the confusing topic. His stomach started to gurgle past his trained barriers. Then, he thought of something.

"X and Zero have known each other for years. Are you saying that it all revolves around Raven?"

"No," was his simple response. He began to fiddle with something in his lap out of Robin's line of sight. "Raven is one of three parts to a puzzle, no more or less important than the others, but in her absence the other two pieces are irrevocably meaningless. If Mega Man X's heart was the one missing and only Zero and Raven met each other, then it would mean just as little as it would if the two Maverick Hunters never met Raven."

Robin didn't understand why the mention of 'hearts' kept coming up or what it meant, so he did some calculations in his head while forcing the lid down on his rising temper. A five-hundred mile radius of evacuation? That would be nearly impossible to give. His mind envisioned devastation ripping across the country, nuclear shockwaves uprooting all life with bloody flames. He shook his head fiercely and clasped his forehead, which began to throb. Many people would refuse until the destruction came to them, and by that time it would be too late. The government gave them more leeway than they really deserved sometimes, but not even their closest friends in any branch of military or government would allow for something like that. Burning corpses leapt into the visual constructs of his imagination, testament buildings and creations falling into skeletal dust for miles in all directions poisoned his mood, and the eventual crumbling of his world if they lost…

The reploid held up his hand as if to strike Robin's thoughts in the face. It was incredibly effective, and the Boy Wonder felt his cheeks rise with rosy heat. In other words, he felt like an idiot.

"You can't have those sorts of thoughts," said the machine man. "In truth, your world will merely be the first if we fail. The devastation will spread in ways that are incomprehensible. But you can't let the pain of what _might_ happen consume you. That's what the Great Evil wants. Robin could sense his eyes narrowing under the visor with, what, compassion?

"People are going to die," he went on. "It is inevitable even if we are victorious against the Great Evil. Those who are ignorant and refuse our help risk death, and relocating tens of millions of people is a monumental chore. I assure you that those nearest to us will be moved forcefully if needed be. I may even be able to get you some outside assistance if I am a bit lucky, but until that time comes, we will have to assume that we are on our own."

"We?"

He nodded. "You, me, the eight sages, Mega Man X, your fellow Titans, and anyone else on your planet willing to help. I am telling you now so that you can begin to form a plan of action."

"We're government sanctioned vigilantes, you realize," said the Boy Wonder. "We prefer to think of ourselves as independent, but no matter how we see it, the government doesn't work for us."

The cloaked machine remained cold. "I'm afraid that's your problem," he callously shrugged. "I don't much care if they want to go or not. We'll move as many as we can by force if we need to. Unless you'd rather leave them to-"

"No, we'll use force if it comes to that," Robin stopped him. "I'd rather them hate us then all… die."

A gentle breeze shuffled Robin's hair around. Somehow it silenced the conversation and made him realize how much he felt like shit. He wished he hadn't come, or at least that he had come with company. No, even better, he wished he hadn't been so violently charged with the systems of his own personal underwater craft, left crippled for _another_few days, and then led to this… reploid, all because of that stupid power of chaos or whatever. It all sounded like the end of the universe if they failed. How the fuck do you deal with that? Hell, it sounded like the end of a whole lot even if they did win, the way the reploid described how many would have to be relocated. There would be nothing left of the tower, nothing of the city. All of it, gone. Rebuilding a shattered home never gets easier.

"I'm sorry, for what little it's worth."

Robin looked up, surprised. The man stood and faced the sea in the distance. Sunlight reflected beautifully across it, highlighting the waves, both gentle and harsh. A tiny whoosh not dissimilar to the doors at Titan's Tower but much more hidden in amplitude came from his upper body, and he pulled his hood back very slightly, careful not to reveal any part of his face to the young warrior.

Curiosity had its wiles, everyone knew, but as someone who hid behind a mask so often himself, Robin honored and respected his desire for privacy.

"I don't really know what it's like to have a place you call home," said the reploid. His voice had become softer, deeper, and brooding. "I had one, once, but my father wasn't really much of one. Too busy with his brain, not busy enough with his heart. I left and never went back. But once it was gone…"

"You regretted ever leaving."

The Sage of Light realized that he was smiling just slightly. It hurt his cheek some, but he let it happen as the light shined across his eyes. It was bright. How long had it been since he had retracted his visor last? Weeks, if not more. And then this strange, vigilante boy who wasn't even a quarter his age, and yet he understood. It was decided. Robin was the right person for the job, if only he accepted it.

"I have something very important to ask."

"Go ahead," said Robin.

"If Mega Man X, the Hero of Time, should fall…" he began. He dropped his hood and his visor returned with an opposing whoosh. "…then someone will need to take his place. I plan on being that person, but then someone will need to take my position as Sage of Light."

"Sage of Light?" Robin repeated. "You're asking me to…?"

"I don't trust anyone to do it, but I know that I have to choose someone. You've proven yourself most capable of the task."

Robin went momentarily speechless. He felt his spine tingle with cold. This reploid was inviting him to be a part of the quest that Raven had left them for. The compulsion to aid Raven in this new hardship made him jump to acceptance at first, because helping her, someone so tortured but so kind and good, created a warmth and contentedness in him, more so than any of the countless other faces he had protected. The more he thought about it, the more he longed to say yes to this reploid without even knowing what he was accepting. If it would make her happy _and_ defend the people, then he felt like there should have been no question in his mind, and yet a reservation sat in his chest, beating away, speaking to him.

"You talked about chains of people's hearts earlier," said Robin. "I don't quite understand what you mean, but I think my heart is telling me something."

"And what is it telling you?" the Sage of Light probed.

Robin stood and walked past the reploid, and he too stared out, but at his home, Titan's Tower, sitting peacefully on its island, enjoying the reflections of the sunlight just as much as the waved did. "I think it's telling me that I belong here," he said. "I'll do whatever I can to stop this… Great Evil, but I'm not leaving here. If I can be the Sage of Light in your place and still stay here, then I accept. Otherwise…"

"Then you may yet end up being the Sage of Light, for a mere day," he finished it for Robin. "As for hearts… their chains can bind in many ways, some good, some evil. The strength of the heart, regardless of the cause it stands for, can be more powerful than any weapon built by human hands. You already know that for yourself, and yet it's still hard to grasp, isn't it?"

Robin took a huff of thinking air. "When I was underwater… my heart?"

"Of course," said the light sage as if it were obvious. He then turned away. "I'm just sorely grateful that Kingdom Hearts isn't involved with this."

The Boy Wonder raised a confused eyebrow and began to repeat it. "Kingdom… _Hearts_?"

"Oh, that's nothing you need to concern yourself with," the reploid waved it aside. "Another place, another time, just forget I said anything about it. Now, I'm needed elsewhere."

The hum of engines suddenly drew Robin's ears and eyes away. A vehicle was climbing the path to the telescope, crunching loudly against gravel the whole way. Robin's staff extended out of instinct.

"No need," said the sage. "I took the liberty of compensating you for your time. Considering how backwoods much of the technology is on this planet, I'm impressed with their response time. Be sure to tip the driver well. She's saving up for college."

Robin's head did something resembling a momentary epileptic spasm or a Tourette's twitch. His jaw then dropped, and he was sure that he had completed a trio of brain disorders in two seconds of facial reactions. "You..." he started, but the sage was gone. No sign of him or the dark cloak that shrouded his body was left. It was hardly the blink of an eye, but he was unmistakably gone. The heavy air of his presence was missing.

The vehicle approached Robin's bike in the worn parking area, interrupting his astonishment with enough noise. The car was a bit worn, and on the sides Robin could see the decals of their favorite pizza place. A skinny girl with blonde pigtails and a red 'Tony's Pizza' cap (which looked foolish, as almost all pizza delivery hats do) stepped out, hesitated as she stared at his very recognizable bike, then took out a large bag to keep pizzas warm on deliveries.

"Hey!" Robin shouted down to get her attention while he slid along the ladder's edge to the ground.

"It's from a… 'Mr. Light' to you, all paid for electronically!" she said, very giddy.

She smiled at him nervously and rubbed her hands together while he signed the receipt. When he went for money to tip her, he realized that he only had a fifty in his wallet. So he smiled and decided it would be her lucky day.

"I hope it helps the college fund," said Robin, very curious.

"Oh my gosh, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!" She blushed and bubbled. "How did you know?"

"Just a hunch," Robin shook his head, almost in laughter, as he flipped open his communicator. "Don't bother cooking, Cy," he grinned. "Dinner's on a friend tonight, and it comes with a really good story."


	47. Chaos Secrets: The Reuniting

**Chapter 47 – Chaos Secrets (The Reuniting)**

Raven found X in minutes.

From the second that the dark sorceress girl knew that she had returned to her original time, she no longer gave a single damn for Zelda, Tidus, Red XII, Saria, or anyone else but the man she needed to have in her arms. Raven sensed him instantaneously, feeling the emotions, events and memories slowly pushing away the hollows that Zelda had temporarily and unsatisfactorily filled. Her lungs, even in the flux of her astral bird form, held tight, holding breath as long as her body would allow her to. She craved the touch of his hands, the smooth press of his lips against hers and against her skin, her neck, her chest. Longing urges to fight the war along side Mega Man poured into soulful gaps that she couldn't identify. Thoughts of always protecting him and being protected by him, rich desire for togetherness more alien than the adrenaline-rage of her demon genes, the simple healing of his touch; everything that he was and she had become and that they were together pulled her to him.

The Dreamweaver was in the skies of her present day, flying leisurely toward the once fallen yet suddenly active and alive metropolis of Midgar. She ignored the fall below her and shrank to a less threatening figure, slipped through the hull of the ship, and no alarm sounded for she was, by X's command, always welcome. The sorceress searched, following her heart and mind's eye, passing the occasional reploid on the way. Her mind did not even question their presence, and she did not stop to ease their fuddled expressions after they watched her float by as a humanoid blackish-red blur through the walls and ceilings.

Head first, plunging from the previous deck like hot needle through butter and slowly coming to a stop with a long-since involuntary millimeter of space between the floor and her feet, Raven arrived in the center of X's lab facing one of several armor capsules present. He was inside. As was the Master Sword. The latter didn't mean anything at that moment, but she felt it regardless of how little she cared.

A pair of powerful eyes opened from within but not in any physical sense did she perceive it. Nor was it psychic from what Raven could comprehend, but the force and certainty of it was astounding.

The chakra on her head was resonating. Seldom had it ever done that in nearly two decades of her life, at least not in any memories that she could find or had ever accessed with her psychic abilities. What was happening?

The shielding of the slanted cylindrical holding cell ripped apart, snapping the hinges or whatever it was that held it in place and sending it careening into the side wall. Several fountains of whitish sparks heated the air in front of her until time and safety protocols sealed them off in a replacement of pearly, jettisoning cones of steam.

"Raven…"

The sound of her own name chilled her spine. Her skin stiffened and became lined with the tiny lumps of shock, fear, anticipation, nervousness, and all other goose bump-invoking feelings rolled into a single blast of foot-cementing emotion.

The man in the capsule dropped from his elevated container to the floor with a gentle clang of metal against metal. Something was different. The hues that peeked through the white smoke were tinted green rather than blue. The forceful lime eyes that she had somehow seen through a strange instinct were now visible, but a third eye, identically red to her own but slightly larger, appeared on the forehead of the man.

"X…" she whispered back.

Time halted. No, not halted. It slowed, very literally. Dark wisps of Raven's energy seeped from her fingers; ghost-white wisps came from the reploid in the smoke. Either they controlled time or they controlled their perception of it. Delight and reminiscence of their moonlit embraces attempted to set the tone, but this was far different than that time on Mega Man's home. It was not cold, yet not welcoming. Shock, disbelief, fear of the change that had happened so quickly in such a short few days; all of these things increased the anxiousness of seeing each other once again.

Soft metal footsteps signaled his movement and emergence from the steam – it had turned into spewing cones of white-grey, dissolving cotton candy and was pushed aside as such – and Raven discovered the Mega Man she had known to be vastly changed.

He was no longer the blue-armored reploid, but instead he wore various shades of deep jade that merged into light emerald, lined with gold around hi hollow-rectangular shoulder pads, the bottom edges of his boots, the thick reploid greaves firmly and securely attached around his lower legs, and thinly around the other places where dense titanium and other alloys gave way to softer, almost flesh-like covering on his arms and legs. Starting at his neck and expanding downward, a metal mesh of body armor that resembled a tunic added incredible elegance and formality while still maintaining protective and casual usefulness. A white tetrahedral gem was set in the base of his chest surrounded by a cylindrical band of grooved silver patterns that wrapped around him from front to back. Whether these designs were ceremonial or held distinct purpose, Raven didn't know.

The dark sorceress struggled just to look at his face. Excitement bubbled in her. Fear overwhelmed it. Why was this so hard? Everything beneath his eyes was veiled in a solid muffler of pale green with a distinct, unchanging form of reploid design. When her eyes inched up a bit more, their unblinking sight met and snapped in a magnet lock of non-motion.

Mako cancer symptoms in the eyes of the reploid had clearly accelerated. Raven made a motion to say something about it. X beat her to it before the muffler even had time to completely slide out of place beneath the thin armor in his neck.

"You've contracted Mako poisoning," said the reploid. He said it so softly that if the jettisons of smoke and steam had not been slowed and muted by their unknown combination of energies, it would not have been heard. "I can smell it, see it in your eyes, perceive it from your own mind. Raven… how?"

_Just touch me, please_, she thought with all her might shielding the words from him. He was frail, she could see it in his eyes, too, but she wanted his hands and arms embracing her. She stepped forward, hesitantly, drawing her chakra toward his. He held up his hand immediately.

"Please, let me see your aeon."

"No," said the sorceress shakily but with rigidity in her visual expression that implied no changing of her mind, unless the one condition brewing in her mind was met, the one in response to his request.

"Summon yours," she said, beginning to collect tears in her eyes. "All I wanted the instant I sensed you again was to feel your hand in mine, you cheek against mine. But if all you want is to see my aeon… then I will, but only if you show me what you've been hiding from me for so long."

X leaned backward. She was serious. Completely serious. It could kill him even to make the attempt, and she knew it.

"Use my body to summon it if you have to," Raven said to him.

The stare that ensued between the two was almost completely absent of the tenderness that Raven had desired. What did _he _desire? She had no idea. The experience and practice she had gained at reading the streams of their consciousness in the time she had known him paled in comparison to the strength of the dam he had erected. He would not allow her to influence his choice. Was he hiding the same desires?

"I don't want to accelerate your condition even worse. The Mako is poisoning your body faster than it infects the people on Gaia. Using it too much could…"

"What's your answer?" she demanded.

Then, time did completely stop around them, up until his lips moved with the answer. For a brief second, such silence had never been heard by either.

"Alright," he said to her.

Raven's breath cut off more pronounced than if her heart had simply stopped beating.

"Summon yours. Then I'll show you the aeon that I've kept a secret for so long."

In disbelief, Raven nodded. The palpitations of her chest were audible. She pulled up the sleeve of her red robe up to her shoulder, exposing the deep near black of her Titan undergarment. Her upper-arm began to shine with a fierce glow, and the runic symbols of materia summoning encompassed her feet and body in rhythmic light flares. The incantation, the words of summoning, they came to her more plainly than the words of any verse of poetry she had ever read or memorized. None of her favorite verses by Poe or Shakespeare slipped from her tongue quite as easily as the words of summoning. Upon calling for the flesh of her flesh, the blood of her blood, Rikku, the Lady Inferno, burst into being from a colossal fireball above Raven's head. The flames stroked and shaped into clothing over her naked, tattooed body, seductively pressing against her breasts and taunting those who were too weak in the presence of something so sumptuously lustful. There was no one of that kind here, and Rikku knew it immediately. She floated slowly down to her feet and stood by Raven's side, waiting for what was to come next.

"Rikku, the Lady Inferno," X bowed deeply, and he then turned to Raven, who still stared firmly at him.

"Your turn, she said."

"Ironic," he whispered, mostly to himself.

Rikku gave her a subtle expression of curious interrogation. Raven nodded that he was indeed the man she had spoken of, the man who held her heart so fragile in his hand.

X's wrist began to glow, but though their materia orbs were so much the same in appearance, it was unmistakable that the presence sealed away inside his was of a caliber that even Rikku had to stand in awe at. Energy was sapped fiercely from Raven's being in order to call forth his aeon. This Mega Man in his new armor bore a new confidence and a hardening in his heart that was apparent as he executed the summoning. His wrist illuminated the space of the entire room, not with virulent flames or swirling Mako streams, but with obelisks of light that cooked the very air they breathed.

"I beseech you, aeon of ancient aeons, long flyer of the skies, igniter of the stars and essence of the soul's birth and rebirth; grant us your divine presence and spread your wings upon those who would seek you. Reap the unjust with your flames of life, stealing away the pain of those who suffer. Come, Phoenix, the Resurrection's Flame!"

The walls turned to black. A golden orb of liquid fell from nothingness to the morphed, coal-like substance of the floor. It splashed, radiating marvelous warmth and comfort, and the puddle it created rippled constantly, slowly changing and growing in its amplitude while expanding toward them.

Raven and Rikku both stepped back. Mega Man's radiant green footwear was enveloped without a flinch from the reploid as his glowing, fiercely burning arm began to shake and fight to complete the summoning. Even while using Raven's body as a conduit for the flow of infectious Mako his insides burned, and bright lime liquid that stung his eyes began to seep out like tear drops.

A magnificent bird's call from the rippling puddle brought Raven's and Rikku's hands to their ears from the sheer impact of volume. The sound was like a falcon, singing with ferocity and grace with the decibel level to shake the foundation of the Dreamweaver itself.

Phoenix tore the puddle into zero-g beads of golden spatter that spread in all directions as he soared, wings spread fully in a rainbow of colors, red, gold and orange lining each feather of the mighty wingspan that contained greens, blues, purples, and a wheel of other hues. Rikku was slightly larger in her aeon form than she was when she lived, but she made no comparison to the Phoenix. It was more than three times Rikku's height, and though the long, slender bird form was elegant and powerful, tufted with pure gold on the bird's breast, it was even greater in wingspan than it was tall. Part peacock, part falcon, part embodiment of the glowing suns of space, Phoenix used one of its titanic wings to gently wrap around Mega Man, who had collapsed to one knee.

The aeon spoke. Its beak stayed shut, but it spoke through glowing eyes of pale blue.

"_Echoes of olden art all that thou all see before ye_, _complacent with existence between existence and non-existence_. _Only by the will of those embodied eternally in chaos, their sacrifice greater than all others, do I exist before you in this epoch of time distortion and un-fate_."

Phoenix tilted its glance ever so lightly, giving Raven a direct glance into its yellow irises and glowing, pale blue whites.

"_Thou, young lady of supreme shadows, yet coursing with the light of the Righteous Soul_ _through the embracement of thine horrors and hells of genetic bindings, blame not the Hero of Time for your anger. We are wards of each other, I for him in his vicious trials since the Viridian Vale decreed my presence apace with him, and he for me so that mine essence shall have a role in overseeing as I have been commanded. In the time that you refer to as years, a hand's count ago I resurrected The Hero of Time from most certain exile to a place where the living can no longer touch."_

"What?" Raven gasped, looking both into Phoenix's eyes far above hers and into the bright greens from Mega Man, still being shielded by the aeon's outstretched wing. "You saved his life five years ago? But that was when he was here, on Gaia, when he was…"

She had known that X fought a monstrous creature created from the planet itself known as the Ultima Weapon. He had told her that the creature left him for dead without finishing him off and that he only barely survived. Was it all a lie?

"_Thou needed knowledge of that wretched being, the Ultima Weapon, but in falsifying circumstances of the encounter to those close to him, the Hero of Time has kept his word to me, to hide mine existence as best as his will could manage, but it seems he could manage no more, and I granted my permission to bring truth to past lies. It is of joint will that I am before you, but I beg of you, young child of the twilight and chaos, inflict whatever anger you wish upon _me_, for it is I ultimately who refused to relinquish my hiding place in the past, even in spite of this Hero's deepest and strongest wishes."_

Phoenix, whom Raven expected was an incredibly ancient, wise, and powerful aeon well beyond Rikku and perhaps beyond the King of Dragons, Bahamut, bent down and spread its blazing, rainbow-gold wings and bared its chest. The great bird waited, silent aside from the crackle of flames and the sizzle of air that touched it. The dark sorceress realized that Phoenix was humbling itself before her, ready to accept any order or punishment that she commanded.

Raven glanced briefly to her side at Rikku, who was bewildered. She turned back to the aeon.

"Can you heal our Mako poisoning?" she asked.

"_Restoration and resurrection is a part of my strength, though phantom-like and beyond I am, but you must understand that the use of aeons and chaos-spawned or human-manufactured concentrations of the Lifestream inflict damage that no being has ever discovered a panacea to, and that using my healing power merely exchanges immediate wounds for much longer ones."_

"A simple 'no' would have sufficed," Raven scowled, surprising her with the near hateful tone. At first she thought that there was a twinge of enjoyment within her at this position of power, but she soon began to despise the aeon. Raven began to suspect that Phoenix had stood between her and X on more than just this occasion.

"What else have you hidden from me?" she asked. "Tell me everything."

"_The things that I have suggested X to withdraw from his speech are few in number but great in importance. I have also kept within me knowledge that even the great Hero of Time here does not know."_

"I want to hear everything, now. No more damned secrets. Tell us everything. If you know something about Zero, the Triforce, the Lifestream, then tell us."

Still with breast bared, the great bird spoke loudly. _"As you command, young Sage of Darkness. I shall tell you what I know of the beast-reploid Zero, the golden force, and that which keeps me in half-existence. Listen well, for it is unlikely that the Hero of Time will be able to summon me again, and if I am summoned by another, I will be refreshed in knowledge and unable to acquiesce the time to regain it before doomsday comes."_

"We're listening," X spoke suddenly from beneath the great glowing bird's wingspan, softening Raven's rigid posture. He was furious, withholding much of it without the strength to back up his anger.

The Phoenix bowed even lower in his response.

"_Then let my tale begin with the Triforce, left in the land of Hyrule by three great goddesses charged with creation some countless number of centuries ago. Perhaps hundreds, perhaps tens of hundreds or thousands of thousands. Not even I, though I existed several millennia ago, know the distance in epochs. It is and always has been the spoken purpose of the Triforce to grant divine power in the event that it be necessary, though who deemed it necessary is layered in enigma. Whenever humanity develops free will, emotion is born. Time only tells whether that emotion be evil or just and how much of each balances the scales of soul-worth in the span of a humanity. But such is the nature of all souls to reach new extremes. New feats of strength, new knowledge, and new greats of evil and justice. Eons ago, before I first came to being, a great evil seized the Triforce for itself, but the Essence of the Triforce was not content to let one man hoard the golden power all for itself, so it split into its three separate beings, Courage, Wisdom, and Power, relinquishing only the Triforce of Power to this great evil."_

"Just like Ganondorf," Raven heard Mega Man say.

"_No, not like Ganondorf," _Phoenix stated. _"Though not entirely unlike Ganondorf, either. The Gerudo man of evil has reincarnated himself many times in past centuries, but he has forever been naught compared to the ancient evil I speak of. Names I do not know, but there were eight men and women of incredible strength who called themselves 'sages' and a single person who led them all against the great and first evil. This person was called 'Hero,' being just in soul. Many were carried beyond the threshold of non-life in the war against the great evil, and it is said that the greatest of sacrifices were made by seven-and-one of the eight-and-one to seal the great evil away forever. The remaining one of the eight-and-one was made to pass the story on from generation to generation so that no one ever completely forgets the great evil, lest it return and wreak its vengeance against all existence, half-existence and non-existence."_

"What does all of that mean?" demanded Raven. "What did the eight sages sacrifice to seal away the evil? Are you saying it's escaping now?"

"_To the second of your questions, yes. Through some form of evil cunning, the great monster blackened and abused the great sacrifices of the eight-and-one, and after such vast time and imprisonment, the great evil has regained itself within the being you know as the reploid, Zero. Zero is the great evil reincarnate, and yet an evil of his own, like Ganondorf, but far greater in monstrous intent and power than the Gerudo man ever was."_

"How did this happen?" Raven asked, continuing to lead the questioning, but Phoenix standing between her and Mega Man X began to make her blood boil. She wanted him badly. "How did the evil reincarnate take over Zero?"

"_That, I do not know. It is beyond the simple transferal of the Triforce of Power, though it has something in common with that event. Since that fated moment and as we speak, the reploid-beast Zero is gaining power through those he consumes, and he seeks all power related to the Triforce in hopes of being victorious over the spirit of the Hero. Only when he feels the time is right and all of the sages are assembled with he make his final move to crush all those who might oppose his wrath and dominance in a single blow, but the more time between now and that moment of un-fate, the greater the odds that Zero will have acquired even more power to gain his victory. It is in your greatest interest to gather the sages quickly."_

"And the Lifestream?" Raven asked lastly with a snap of anger. Her teeth began grinding together.

"_A conduit," _replied the aeon Phoenix. _"A reflection, a mirror, a half-life, a pulse of will and souls. It is a means of communication, a warehouse of knowledge that no man-made device can store. It is so many things. Some of these things are already known to you, others are new. On this world of Gaia, many think that the Viridian Vale – The Lifestream, or for Zero, the Deathflow – has always been here. This is true, and it is also not true. Though I know not from whence the conduit came, its existence came into being when the now slain being _Jenova_ seeded the planet more than two thousand years ago. It is without doubt that other planets have lifestreams created by other means."_

Raven began memorizing the information into her tortured brain. "Jenova created the Lifestream, Zero killed Jenova to get the Lifestream. The Triforce was left to the expanding strengths of good and evil, but a great evil took it for itself. The evil was sealed away by the original sages and the Hero, who sacrificed something incredible except for one, who passes on the story. Zero is searching for powers related to the Triforce, which means that somehow the Lifestream and Jenova are connected to the Triforce. _That_… is new. Other places also have Lifestreams, created by some other power. But if Jenova created one, did she create more Lifestreams? How did the evil get into Zero, and… the sages… what did they… who did… why…"

Raven's head was throbbing uncontrollably. Feet away from Mega Man X and yet she was still unable to touch him, and this damn bird answered fewer questions than the new ones that arose in her head like swelling welts in her brain. She screamed, startling her aeon and Mega Man, but not Phoenix.

"_God fucking damn it!" _Raven screeched. "Get out of that stupid pose!" she shouted at the bird. "I know you can't be killed, though right now nothing would make me happier than to rip your head off you fucking bird!"

"_Your assumption is not true," _Phoenix spoke powerfully, but calmly._ "If the Master Sword pierces my heart, then I will cease to be."_

The blade was telekinetically wrenched from its scabbard on the transformed X's back and into Raven's hand in a second. She pulled her arm back, preparing for a thrust that would rip through more than the bird's heart. Even though Phoenix was large and longer from back to front than the Master Sword's blade, Raven envisioned how exhilarating it would be to thrust the blade through its spine and out through the feathers and flesh of its back while her hand stirred deep and violently, twisting her closed fist into the compartments of the giant heart itself. The delight of the thought was more than she could resist any longer. Her feet thrust forward from the ground in a flying leap.

"Raven, no!" Rikku shouted, failing to grab her legs, and with a swift thought from the sorceress, the aeon dissolved and returned to her materia orb.

She lunged at him with the blade fiercely, feeling heat blast her face and body from the bird, but she continued to press forward until a bright flash of green leapt into view.

Mega Man X's palm crashed against her cheek in mid air and their bodies collided. His mind began to whisper to hers as they somehow hovered without falling.

"The Climhazzard," he said. "An ancient and horrible thrust with foul and inhuman strength. Almost always it is used for dark purposes when the heart wishes it for those who wield blades with the greatest of power. I last used it to kill Alia. Remember what happened to me after that? Look at yourself!"

X's other hand had held back the Master Sword from Phoenix, but now it crushed the flesh of her face against her cheekbone so hard that she thought it was going to break. Suddenly her eyes became his and his became hers. Raven saw herself in real time, eyes blazing red, glowing with the same bloody light streaks as X had after he killed Alia. Her teeth had turned sharp, and her cloak morphed into a vile wraith's garb, tattered and layered like death itself.

"I… can't… stop!" Raven screamed. "I… have to… release it!"

"No Raven," X shouted. "You _can_ fight this. I can feel the chaos emerald that you have. You can use it. It's causing this incredible rage, but it can calm it just as quickly if you have the will. Let the anger melt away, not explode!"

"I… can't!" she screamed, her head throbbing. The Dreamweaver began to shake. The next word came out of her mouth even though she didn't want it to. "_Chaos_..."

X's lips pressed against hers quickly, forcefully, and then softened into passionate, warm, long kissing. Her sharpened teeth stabbed him slightly, tasted his blood, and they began to slowly contract as if crying and apologizing for causing him harm of any kind. The Master Sword dropped from her grip and she embraced him, making swift love with his mouth, warm and wet and strong. Her tongue searched and found his, and their necks curved and swayed with the movements of passion as their tastes intertwined. His arms felt the slim, strong flesh and muscle from the sides of her waist up to the sides of her breasts and around her shoulders. Her hands felt for his helmet, and somehow, through some accidental and unintended motion, removed the helmet, seeing the incredible silver-white of his hair and the long, Hylian ears that had been hiding beneath.

She pulled back, gasped for breath, and as he let the psychic grasp go, the aura around her fell, as did they, but they were caught by the Phoenix's great wing. Both of them found that they could not move.

Raven saw what she had done with the sword and immediately cried hot tears.

Golden cruor was flowing quickly from a stab wound in the great bird's chest. Soon, Phoenix's feathers and flesh turned a bright, reflecting silver, and tiny wisps of green and other colors seeped away.

"I… I'm…" Raven whispered; her face flushed with shame.

"_Do not fret," _said the aeon. _"My heart remains in tact, however close the injury was. The Hero of… no, Mega Man X, wise reploid, no longer has the energy to hold me together. Goodbye, young girl of darkness. Should we see each other again…"_

Phoenix faded away, and time resumed as normal. The room was filled with burn marks and the stench of smoldering… everything.

X and Raven were lying on the floor, almost immobile, embraced in each other's arms. From outside the hall they could hear reploids coming for them, but they didn't move to their feet.

Slowly, X nestled his cheek against Raven's as she lay with shut eyes and long, deep breaths. Beneath her cloak, pressed between his stomach and hers, was the sky blue chaos emerald. Its glow – only moments ago fierce and rapid – had pacified into a slow, soft resonance, and it even emitted a gentle heat between them.


	48. The Vindication at Midgar

Chapter 48 – The Vindication at Midgar

Fiends sometimes travel amongst the desert hills and cliffs bordering much of Midgar for many miles. They take the shape of many types of animals, but in reality they are much different. They slowly leak out from the Deathflow, the Lifestream's counterpart, and reside in various places on the planet's surface. Cutting into one of them normally releases a thick, black smoke and ooze instead of normal blood, and upon being destroyed, they are reduced to ashes at most.

Raven used her astral form to bring the others to X's ship, and shortly thereafter they reached the broken city of Midgar itself. There, fiends shaped like wolves, humanoid bulls, lizards, and all manner of other creature had surrounded the city. The inhabitants cowered in their homes, the lucky ones wielding guns, swords, and even their bare fists if it was all they could manage against the monsters. Their behavior didn't make any sense; normally the fiends stayed away from the city itself.

"More than four thousand," said Mega Man X, peering out awkwardly at the waiting armada of black creatures. An unfinished roadway at the very edge of town was his perch, and a strong breeze tugged his eyes. He jerked his head to one side with a pleasant cracking sound as his joints loosened. One strong leap and he would be amidst a sea of Zero's forces.

"Yes," Red XIII answered through the radio link-up tuned to the frequency in X's helmet. The reception was deliberately lacking in bass so that distinguishing between sounds next to him and far away was easier.

"Jenova and Sephiroth had great numbers, and Zero has expanded that even more by combining his body with theirs. I don't expect this to be easy."

"Come now," said Saria at another point along the circular perimeter wall, "we can't let these humanoids down now, not after Rufus' big introduction for you and your own little speech, Mega Man X. They all think you're as much of a warrior as Cloud was."

"He _is_ as much of a warrior as Cloud," Tifa's voice chimed in solemnly on the radio.

"You ready for this, Tifa?" X tried to comfort her after Saria's slip of the tongue. "I'm adjacent to you along the border. Don't hesitate to call me for help."

The radio responded with subtle static for a moment. "Thank you, X," she said.

A thick diesel puttering turned Mega Man around. Along the way, he met Raven's eyes, and they stopped to share at each other's Mako poisoned symptoms. He smiled and kissed her lips, squeezing her palm gently all the while. She laughed softly and kissed him back.

They both faced the three-wheeled truck approaching them. Tseng and President Shinra stepped out from the passenger section, and Elena, Reno, and a tall, very slim man in a black robe hopped from the back.

"Axel," said X when the black robed man approached them first.

He lifted his hood and revealed his fiery green irises and blazing red spikes with a devious grin. "You do have it memorized!" he said jubilantly. "Nice new digs, man," he tapped X's pale jade armor on the shoulder. He winked flirtatiously to Raven. "I like yours too."

"I see Reno's decided to let you come out and play," X scoffed.

"Actually," Axel countered him with over-exuberant sarcasm, "Reno has so graciously hooked my materia orb up to a sophisticated piece of technology. Back at the Shinra building, a dozen people are hooked up simultaneously to me, diluting the Mako poisoning _and_ prolonging my presence at the same time. I'll be able to thrash these nobodies for as long as it takes."

"Good for you," Mega Man responded.

"Heh, gonna be just like old times," he grinned and approached the edge of the unfinished highway. His legs dangled over unfinished stretch of tar where he sat and stared at the malicious sea of dark creatures with a smile.

Elena was changed. Reno's aeon, in the few times that X had met him in the past, was always quite the same. Sarcastic, confident, and often callous. Elena was young and fragile in comparison, and the darkened circles expanding around her eyes were the horribly perfect way to reflect the misery in her heart. Apparently, as X watched her slowly follow behind Axel, her physical wounds had healed well enough. But no materia, no sacrificial trade of injuries, and no manner of comfort had begun to seal the rift inside of her. A saddened, bitter frown hid behind the unkempt locks of blonde that somehow seemed to have gone down several shades. In each of her angrily grasping hands was a machine pistol. Mega Man suspected that at least a dozen extra clips hid within the folds of her navy blue suit jacket.

"You don't have to do this, Elena," said Rufus. X was surprised to hear it come from him and not Reno. Clearly the young man resembling Axel was still too bitter about the loss of Rude.

She didn't respond to him. Elena took a stance just behind and to the side of Axel, who looked up at her plainly, maybe conveying his version of apology for her loss. Her hands had to squeeze tight to the handles of her machine pistols. If a finger came loose, it would go straight to the trigger.

Tseng sidled up to Mega Man and whispered to him, "If you can do anything, I would be grateful. Elena won't speak to me, but she will listen to you. If something isn't done for her…"

"I'll take care of it, Tseng," said Mega Man X. "Just don't get killed. Elena doesn't need to lose anyone else."

Rufus approached him last, carrying not his favorite shotgun, but instead some very heavy artillery in the form of a gatling gun.

"Nice speech," he said.

X snorted and half-laughed. "You warmed them up for me. I was just playing off your energy. If I had opened, I'd probably still be picking tomato seeds out of my armor."

"And yet you couldn't make me sound a bit better," Rufus said. Mega Man couldn't tell if it was a joke or not.

"Sorry, not much for gross exaggeration and lies. The people deserve to understand that you're not the greatest person morally even if you are a good leader otherwise."

"Greater confidence and unanimity means fewer problems erecting government and order," Rufus countered. He spun a disc at the back of the massive gun made of steel until it clicked. After he pulled out a small metal shaft behind the enormous, rotating barrel, he began to join Axel, Reno, Elena, and Tseng, but it was Raven who stopped him. The dark sorceress made sure that the look in his eyes was taking her seriously before she released the white of his trench coat.

"The thing that people like you always fail to realize," Raven snarled, "is that some problems are worth taking the time to fight through."

Rufus huffed with a scowl on his face and took his spot next to his comrades; Raven felt X's hand clasp firmly on her shoulder. He was smiling warmly at the reaction she had just pulled from Shinra.

"You got to him, Rae."

"Oh really? I thought he might just be sexist."

X had trouble silencing the chuckle enough to keep the others from hearing it. "Oh, he is, Rae, he is."

X tapped the side of his helmet, signaling all those connected to the radio transmission.

"Final call before the assault. Tidus?"

"Check, these guys are toast," he replied.

X paused for a moment. "Zelda, make sure the new kid doesn't do anything silly, ok?"

Laughter spread across the com channel.

"I'll keep Tidus in line," she said back.

"Yuffie Kisaragi?"

"Ready to kick some butt!" she bounced on the other end. X rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Axl and the Hunter squads?"

Numerous 'ayes' and 'checks' were heard.

He checked in Saria and Red XIII; Cid, Tifa and Barrett; Soldier forces and trained mercenaries of Midgar alike. Everyone was ready.

"Switching to open radio now," he issued his final statement. He then looked that the entourage ahead of him and Raven. "Turks ready?"

They all nodded, save for Elena, who kept her gaze at the monsters far beneath them and refused to look at anyone else, but it was obvious without looking at her that the expression was tortured at best. Mega Man kept her in thought as he glanced lastly at Axel, the cocky aeon who was waiting for this like the end-of-school bell. X had an idea.

"Maybe perhaps now is a good time to give your aeon – Rikku, wasn't it? – some fresh air? I think Axel and her might get along fabulously."

"Heh," she gleamed with amusement, but it turned quickly to hesitance that caused her to clench her palms against her legs. "Sure you don't mind? You know… considering what materia does to us?"

He shrugged with a sigh. "Despite all I've said… I know we can't give up materia's power. We need it in this fight, even if it means risking our lives. After all, that's what the hero is all about, small time or across galaxies like us."

X embraced her again. "And besides, she'll be happy to see you, I'm sure."

Axel turned subtly from his perch feigning a lack of interest as Raven summoned her fiery aeon. With blazing hair and body clothed by nothing but those same locks and a jumpsuit of flames, Axel's attention was drawn very quickly. He jutted to his feet, and she approached him with a very slow, side-to-side, sexual walk. Raven and X glanced at each other, surmising to themselves that the psychic leftovers from their conversation were free for Rikku to hear. She tightened the fire, and a flame patterned, tight fitting robe almost identical to Axel's in shape clung to her every luscious curve.

Rikku walked past them all, and as she passed close to Axel, he jumped up on his toes.

Raven was sure that not only did she pinch his behind, but that her mischievous aeon had whispered: "Hey big boy," to the other fire summon.

They all surveyed the ocean of darkness encircling them. From a distance of fifty yards below and about a dozen yards in front of them, it was hard to tell where any one of the black fiends began and ended. X reached for his sword, but he stopped, just before his fingers touched the handle. Slowly, methodically, he stared at his hands and studied them, back and front. He re-sheathed the sacred blade, making Raven's sensitive mind-bond with him react much like a long blade of grass can make a person scratch their leg.

"X, what's wrong?" she asked him.

"Nothing is," he answered. "I just thought… I hardly use my X-Buster these days. Ever since I pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal, I've been using it more and more, and even materia and other powers have taken my Buster's place. I know the Master Sword is an incredible weapon, but so are the things that I was born with, and the powers I absorbed into it along the way. My creator… Doctor Thomas Light… he'd be sad to know that I haven't been using the strengths that he gave me."

"What made you think of it so suddenly?" she probed a bit further.

He pursed his lips, shrugged, and made all manner of confused, subtly flailing motions. "I can't explain it. It was like I just got bombarded from thoughts of my past," he shrugged again. "But we shouldn't delay this any longer just because I'm getting nostalgic. It's time to wipe Zero's forces off this planet. Then we can free Terra and be one step closer to stopping Zero from poisoning every land he sets foot on altogether. And you'll be able to visit home."

"I can't wait," Raven grinned warmly.

"Clear a space!" X shouted, and in response, the Turks, the aeons and Raven all stepped to the edges of the highway, not sure what he was about to do. Still, no one questioned him. He had earned respect from all of them that was stronger than any single vendetta that any of them had. X was their leader.

The emerald reploid jogged back from where they all stood for almost a minute, until he was a pint sized figure in the distance.

"Oh, by the way!" he shouted down to them, letting the echo of his voice boom at them, "I wasn't planning on leaving any for you!"

He suddenly bolted into an incredible sprint, twenty, thirty, forty miles per hour and more with his legs blurring and his arms trailing behind his back. Small dust clouds kicked up and began to grow behind his metal treads, and as he passed Raven with the flashing image of a wink, his hands retracted in a metallic glimmer of light into twin X-Busters. His body gleamed brightly, pulsating in a build-up of internal power and that high hum that followed from the charging of his birth-given weapons.

"Attack!" screamed the reploid across the radio as he took off from the ground in a leap that sent gusts of wind across everyone's backs. Time slowed. Not from chaos control, not from his or anyone else's powers. It was the pure euphoria of the free flying rise over this pit of Zero's soon to be extinguished fiends and the exhilaration of freeing Gaia that halted everything.

He focused his thoughts and systems, and he altered his inner weapon systems from the ordinary X-Buster to a weapon he had absorbed long ago, one of the few that still remained with him after all those years for a reason he didn't understand until now. The radiant green tones of his newly crafted Hero armor shifted into the blinding hues of the high noon sun; a reflection of the weapon that was rising from within. Finally, when time resumed, directly before the beginning of his descent into the pack of howling, leaping, thirsty animals, he called out the light that his righteous heart held onto since his youth.

"_Ray Splasher!"_

Like hailstones of miniature stars, a constant and seemingly infinite shotgun blast of light and incredible fire rained upon the monsters from above, tearing through the darkness that they represented.

_I understand_, he whispered to his own mind, to the most private core of himself while the streaks of white-gold sundered and spread the enemy. The sunfire downpour slowed his descent as his mind marveled at the golden rays, spreading out so far, so powerfully; far stronger than they once were even though they had not escaped his Buster in years. And he knew that it was neither the sword nor the trio of triangles composing the Triforce mark on his hand that amplified the power.

_The reason I still hold these great rays of light when many of the other powers I've borrowed have faded away… is because of the light of justice in my heart. And then there's the chameleon vanish, twenty years ago I absorbed it, longer ago than any other Maverick power I acquired. It still lives within me because of my conflicting desire to hide from all this fighting. All along… my heart guided and chose what would stay within me. Dr. Light… Father… was this part of your intentions all along?_

Gravity began to take hold of Mega Man X. He focused the bursts directly below him, and then he spiraled his arms out, puncturing and eradicating the fiends into a haze of deep amethyst and onyx dust with the luminescent barrage. A wide landing area was cleared; Mega Man narrowed into a foot-first pencil dive and shattered the dirt and rock beneath his legs with a resounding _crunch _that echoed within the high walls of Midgar, halting everyone and everything. For just a moment, X stood freely and readied the Master Sword while leaving his other hand in Buster form.

Black fiends resembling wolves, panthers, serpents and flightless dragons charged and, without a single worry or sideways glance from X, were deftly swept up in twisters of flame from Axel and Rikku. Raven's aeon of fire engulfed the swarms in cones of incendiary matter and superheated liquid lava that bubbled and pushed them back, only to be sliced in half down to the last shadowy sinews from Axel's flame-tipped circular blades that worked as extensions of his hands. He flicked his wrists, and the blades would extend beyond his reach, causing the enemies he carved to dissipate into the steadily fogging air. When the two aeons got a chance, they would exchange glances of all kinds, starting with amused ones from Rikku to awkward but curious ones from Axel, then changing to gratefulness on Rikku's part after Axel risked his own safety by releasing one of his blades from his telekinetic reach to lodge itself in a rather large fiend's face. He grinned back slyly.

All around them, from edge to edge of the fighting, cover fire dove into every mass gathering of black fiends. The shells from Rufus's gatling gun found targets everywhere in the densest clusters, wasting few rounds (which gave the President a small financial delight). He never ceased fire. The other Turks saw to his ammo supply constantly, earning their respected positions all the more.

Tseng had been loaded down with several orbs of materia that were merged into each of his arms. In between alternating to reload for his long-time employer and leader, he unleashed the mystic forces of the Lifestream that he had long since become masterful at. Some fiends were attempting to climb and smash down the thick walls surrounding the city. Few survived the jolts of lightning and blades of ice from his fingertips. Those that did were impaled by jagged uprisings of stone and disposed into dark mist.

Elena's face was twisted in fury, clenching and wrinkling around her eyes and forehead as a result of the surrounding facial muscles tightening to the point of pain. Within the sides of her suit jacket were a full dozen extra clips for her machine pistols, and she was going through them quickly, firing everywhere she saw movement other than her allies, singling out any fiend that was crippled from a non-mortal blow, reducing them to ashes and ooze.

Raven could feel Elena's pain seeping from her gritting teeth, maddened eyes, and white-clenched fists. An insatiable rage continued to fuel her aim. Along with the two fire aeons, Raven often took to the sky, giving X cover fire whenever necessary with her energy bolts and keeping an eye on the adjacent sections of the battle. Tifa, Cid, and Barret were faring well with a small platoon of Neo-Soldier units. Flashes of elemental materia were everywhere, mainly from Cid and Tifa, while Barret stuck primarily to the physical exhilaration of brute force and his gun arm. On the other side, cascading waves of water flooded out of nowhere, but it was clear that, even though they had known him for hardly more than a day and a half, it was Tidus's power as the Sage of Water that sent tidal bursts across the battlefield. Zelda worked well with him, somewhat enjoying the refreshing drench of residual splashes that dampened her face and hair from time to time, calming the sometimes overwhelming sweat and heat of battle. Where his crowd controlling tactics failed, Zelda complimented him with sharp shooting light shells that, even upon grazing the fiends, caused them to crackle and rupture into nothingness.

Further away, on the opposite side as Raven, X and the Turks, Red XIII and Saria worked as an amazing team. With Nature's Blade wrapped with vines around her arms, the girl of the forest rode on the wolf's back at very high speeds, keeping her balance almost effortlessly. Flaming breath scorched anything in front of them, and Saria's double bladed weapon sliced from side to side, chopping limbs and chunks out of fiends. On a few occasions, Red XIII even used his tail to strangle some of the small fry throughout the hordes.

For the first time since Raven's meeting and joining with Mega Man X, and for the first time for many of these people, this battle would not, even in a single instance, go to the enemy. The crowds of fiends were thinning out. Even under Zero's influence, some even began to cower and run away for the hills when faced with Red's flaming breath, the aeons' awesome strength, the power of materia, and Mega Man's incredible X-Buster.

The sky might as well have been lit up with fireworks. All of the gunfire, materia explosions and bursts of ice and water made for a spectacle that many had to stop and admire with their eyes even as their bodies continued to fight. The poor residents of Midgar came out of their houses. Hope filled them. There were no fiends there to hurt them; they were completely protected, and not one creature made it more than a few feet beyond the barrier around the city. Those fortunate enough to have materia even considered joining the fight, but when one old, overweight, jolly man lifted his walking stick in the air and hobbled toward the edge of the city with a feeble battle cry and sputters of materia's light at his feet, every able bodied person, young and old, male and female, charged with a roar that stopped the Hero, the Sages, the Turks, and all the fiends in awe.

X smiled. As he did, half the rest of the fiends, now dwindled to only about a quarter of those that had began the fight, cowered and bolted like fearful pack creatures. Those that were braver saw their feral allies fleeing, and frail cowardice filled them all.

X suddenly felt a sharp twinge in the back of his head. Raven felt it too from high above him. The battle was almost over, and there was not a single casualty, even among those citizens that approached the gate and used their materia to drive the fiends back. And yet, something was wrong.

"_Elena!_" Raven shouted into X's consciousness.

The blonde Turk was screaming as the fiends retreated. She was down to her last clips, and she wanted to kill more. She wanted them all to die. Reno no longer needed to refill Rufus's weapon and tried to console her and calm her down, but Elena thrust him across the road with incredible strength, skidding him across the tar of the highway.

"Elena, stop!" Rufus commanded her, but at that she spat through her teeth with labored breath at him. Her eyes raged and right cheek twitch as her head slanted in his direction. Rufus truly thought she might open fire on him as her grip on her pistols caused her palms to bleed.

X snapped toward the running fiends, flying out to them with his jet boots until he caught a fiendish coyote by the tail. He began to spin the creature around by the tail, rounding about fast enough to cause even his advanced reploid vision to blur. Finally he launched it upward and toward the hate-filled Turk, and with a shove of telekinetic guidance from the dark sorceress, it careened directly for Elena.

She dropped her pistols and let the creature tackle her full on, making sure that her hands were around its neck. Her finger nails dug in so hard, so painfully. Deep violet ooze, hot on her hands, reeking of metallic scents, seeped from the coyote's neck. It tried to bite, only making her squeeze harder. It slashed its claws into her cheeks. Her blood began to drip on its blood, sizzling and releasing and even stronger copper taste on her tongue as she screamed and screamed and screamed at it.

"_I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU!_" she screeched until her throat was raw and in pain. The creature convulsed; it was losing too much blood to move. It's flailing and scratching eased into writhing and then even further into feeble twitching as Elena's thumbs and index fingers met deep within its oozing flesh. All the pain of the old injury to her belly, the loss of the still-young life that had been inside her, it bled out through the deep cuts in her face, and it bled from the fiend's shredded neck across her fingers. Elena's screams had become filled with deep tears that stung all over her face where the salty drops filled her wounds. The sting of her crying somehow fulfilled her hatred. Her grip loosened as the monster fizzled away in a pile of ashes and smoke. So many feelings overwhelmed her. Shame and sadness were the strongest.

Screaming subsided into silence, and then into loud sobbing for the poor woman, thankfully drowned out by the victorious cheers and hollers of everyone else not atop that unfinished highway. Elena had no strength to stop her crying; it felt so horrible, thinking of the child that died inside her. She imagined the tiny life, nestled peacefully inside while her fear mounted, only to be cleaved in two by Zero's wing, ended before it even had a chance to see day's light. Elena never had a chance to hold her child in her arms.

Blood from her cheeks and the creature she had strangled into nothingness covered her hands. It felt horrible, and yet, something deep in her muscles alleviated her from the inside out. Anger still pumped hot through her veins, but it wasn't tainted with the poison of hatred anymore, and the unstable lust to kill those responsible – Elena couldn't find it within her when she imagined the reflection of her torn face and bloodied hands. She couldn't even understand how she had let it in to begin with.

Gentle arms scooped the Turk up from the ground supporting beneath her legs and at her back, and Elena felt the warmth of a deep navy suit jacket with strong, slim muscles beneath it.

"Tseng," she mumbled, blissfully unaware that she had just fallen asleep.

"Elena…" he whispered back. Tseng watched a small peace settle in her shut eyes as she pressed against him. Words couldn't express his gratitude toward the strange and powerful machine that somehow did this for her.

X returned to the edge of the highway. The pitiful remnants of Zero's Deathflow army were all far away and still running for the mountain range in the distance. They would not be back soon. Raven quickly hovered down to his side from the sky above, and the two aeons followed shortly after, each returning to their summoners. The dark sorceress felt Rikku's heat and warmth, her hand on the shadow sage's shoulder.

"I understand the way you feel about him now," Raven's fire aeon said to her while staring at Elena and Tseng, and then to the dark waves of fiends converging on the horizon. "He'll fight to save an entire world, but he never forgets the individual people in it. All the time he was fighting off Zero's monsters, he was trying to find a way to save her. Reminds me of Yuna. Tidus, too."

Raven's red materia resonated within her arm, and flecks of light started to trail off from her fire aeon. "I could never meet anyone else like him, not in lifetimes of searching, I know it."

Rikku smiled. Her body turned silver and metallic as the color fled away in the direction of the breeze. She was dissolving, fading, and though Raven would have loved her company longer, the sorceress could feel the sapping sting that was lighting her eyes Mako green and the weakening of her limbs that came with the red materia. Rikku gave a nod of approval, continuing to grin warmly as her tall, curvaceous form fell into a stream of matter and returned to the red orb in Raven's flesh.

Axel had been watching her intently. He turned away, walked down the highway towards the city, and started to fade on his own, which made Reno turn sharply to the aeon with a gasp of anger and helplessness.

"I'm bored now. See you around, people."

He faded and vanished faster than Rikku had, and completely on his own.

Everyone and everything seemed to be settling down.

"We should be going, too," X said to everyone, Raven in particular. "Zero lost today, but we need to make sure he doesn't come back to Gaia. I don't want to see anyone else on this planet suffer because of him. It's time for reploids to leave."

--

**END Part II**

(I won't actually split up the fanfic, but breaking it into 3 parts feels better to me at this point).


	49. Black Wind Awakens

**Part III – The Unified**

Chapter 49 – Black Wind Awakens

The time: early morning, but for the observer, entirely irrelevant. The place: an almost entirely abandoned space colony in high orbit over the planet Mobius, a world that, as a rarity compared to the also-technologically inclined worlds of X and Raven, had multiple, very segregated intelligent species. Recent events had allowed a very minimal opening of borders between the Mobians and the Terrans, the two most dominant in number on Mobius, and the orbiting space station, created by the latter of the two species, was designed for the most incredible technological advancements in space travel, planetary and orbital colonization, and weapons. They called it ARK.

Sleep. Sleep was the only purpose for the single being still living within the metal walls of the small, manmade continent. He had little interest in the Mobians or the Terrans, and just as little for the Islanders, the third most dominant in number on Mobius. Artificial atmosphere and environments that was almost entirely generated from the sun's exceptionally powerful and unfiltered solar rays gave him all manner of things to do, but he chose sleep most often.

At least… when things were normal. And for a while now, he stirred in his sleep, sensing something very _ab_normal that he fought to ignore. In a hibernation slot built and hidden into the floor of one of the science and research chambers (lights dimmed green and set to 'inactive' mode) he hid from anyone who might disturb him, but he was beginning to consider finding the cause of his unrest.

Eventually, when the visions and sensations began to accelerate and intensify to utterly aggravating proportions in the most recent days, he awoke uncomfortably in his snug space and his wall-to-wall, personally designed armchair. A vicious and rage filled huff effortlessly sharpened the features of his face despite a length of sleep that may have been coma-like. His mind worked with swift deliberation as though he had been active for hours, and he began delegating himself priorities.

Quick to sleep, quick to wake, he thought on the side of his more formal preparations for the coming minutes and hours. He despised that he was not the only person with such traits and abilities.

He tilted his neck with the aid of his palm, and as he pushed on his thick, black locks with their blood-crimson highlights, a delightful series of cracks rippled through the base of his skull and his cervical vertebrae. A similar sensation on the other side made him let out a half-sighing groan.

"I swear…" he said with an ominous tone grafted into his vocal cords; he tapped a small button on the arm of his seat, "this had better be worth my time."

He recalled the last occasion he was awoken as the various red alert lights flashed on (he had long since smashed the devices that emitted the most annoying of klaxons in combination with the lights) and once again the unsealing of his self-imprisonment began, but his recollection was interrupted by a presence that he sensed directly above him, one that made him tense. Anyone who could sneak that close without him noticing was clearly…

Bursts of jet-fire from his boots matched a timed, somersaulting leap, and he curled his body into a spinning cyclone, ripping the seal above his head into bent metal scraps and shrapnel. His feet smacked the ceiling for a brief second, and he dove through the field of sparks that his destruction had released, aiming for the chest of the target.

Cold steel met his dive kick firmly; his target hovered above him in mid-air, and his foot dented the floor. It was odd and infuriating that the very colors in his upward periphery identified the intruder.

"I should have known…" he snarled, staring up at the sneak-thief, a woman he was quite familiar with. She was built with many of the features of a white bat, just as all Mobians had the resemblance of lesser animals. Her wings were not any wider than her arm span, but they allowed her to hover and glide well enough to evade his kick, something that few had the reflexes to do. Large, triangular ears on the top of her head could detect even the tiniest sound or physical sensation, granting her the knowledge that she was going to be attacked well before it happened, and even the ability to gauge her own movements in silence was hers.

"Hmph, what kind of way is that to greet a lady?" she huffed haughtily, hands on her hips as she hovered to the ground. "Then again, I suppose I shouldn't expect a hug and a smile from the stone-faced Shadow the Hedgehog, now should I?"

Shadow grunted elegantly, if there was such a way to grunt with distinction. He was not a hedgehog in the sense that he had a bulging back of hard spines. Rather, the frame of much of his body was very human-like aside from the animalistic traits of Mobians that made him classified as one. He was slim and strong, although like most Mobians did not have visually defined muscles, and his spines were less spines than they were fur and hair like the rest of his body, most of it black. Some patches of it, particularly in acute triangular shapes on each arm and leg were crimson red, matching the highlights on his head. His 'hair' was more fashioned as a statement of style, arcing violently in larger spine-shapes that jutted away and mostly upward from his head. However, with a single muscular gesture, Shadow the Hedgehog could tighten those 'spines' into very sharp, very deadly weapons if he needed to. The irises on his large eyes that could bore into anyone's confidence were also deep red, and gold bands were clamped tightly around his wrists, just above his white gloves. A tuft of pearly fur sat on his chest, because, like many Mobians and Islanders, being unclothed was not necessarily inappropriate. It was often more of a question of being aesthetically pleasing.

"Rouge…" Shadow stated simply. His feelings toward this woman were, like most of his interactions, rather difficult to define.

The Mobian woman he stared at was what many other people of the Mobian species (and even many Terrans) would consider voluptuous, a fact that she flaunted quite often, and her deep voice added to it by giving the impression that she could work as an old-style lounge singer. The curves of her hips and breasts were strong, and she wore a pale purple, sparkling lipstick that matched the color of her chest plate and blended well with the darker purple-black of her jumpsuit. Occasionally she switched off to the color rouge, after her namesake. Her legs appeared relatively slender beneath those curves, and her custom boots (white, thigh length, and leather of course) had irritatingly cute heart shapes at the toe of each boot. Shadow, however, knew from first-hand experience that those boots were lined with a flexible metallic alloy and that her lightning-fast kicks could bend steel and snap bones if necessary. Both of them had short, thin, often unnoticed tails behind them, his black, hers white and protruding from a tiny holy for it in the back of her outfit.

"I come all the way out here, and all I get is 'Rouge'?" she mocked his deep voice and pouted. "Well, that's a fine way to hurt a lady's feelings!"

"I don't have time for that," he said broodingly with his forceful palm raised, commanding the flow of conversation. "What's been going on? What's happened to the chaos emeralds?"

When she returned with a look of confusion and surprise, he almost mimicked the reaction with bewilderment of his own.

"Isn't that why you came here? Don't you need my help?" Shadow asked.

When she still had no response but silence and a shrug of her wings and shoulders, Shadow knew that either she had no clue as to what was going on, or that perhaps there was something very wrong with him. His discomfort was sheathed beneath his stern posture and consistent angry glare.

"It's been months since we've seen or had contact from you, Shadow," Rouge frowned with a frustrated sigh. "We were just worried about you. That's all. And I… well, I missed you, damn it. Is that so wrong?"

A lid of discomfort stifled his breathing for a subtle moment; his stance softened slightly, but once the impact of the comment faded, he reverted to his standard, socially defensive posture. Rouge let his indiscretion slide. No matter how much his callousness hurt, she knew it was part of who he was, especially when something was the matter with the world.

"Maybe I should be the one asking what's happened?" she asked, quick to change the subject. "You said something about the chaos emeralds. You were designed to be in tune with them, so you must sense that they're being used."

"That's right," he nodded. "What's happening on Mobius?"

"Nothing," Rouge answered him, almost with a feminine exhale of boredom and contempt for a world that ought to be more entertaining

"Nothing?" Shadow said. Was she even treating him seriously, he wondered? "You mean to tell me that while I've had dreams and visions for weeks now in ways that I've never had them before, all of which involving war machines, superhuman power, strange golden triangles and the emeralds… that _nothing_ is happening on the planet?"

That brief inflection was a hint that he was considerably, for all intents and purposes, pissed off.

"I wouldn't lie to you, Shadow," Rouge tried to calm him. "You know I work for the Terran government, and – I swear, don't ever repeat this," she warned – "I've done considerable spying on _them_ for my own curiosity's sake in addition to all my normal tasks. I know more about the Terrans than their own President does, and I chat with the guy on a regular basis. Seriously, we've got each other's most secure phone numbers on speed dial."

"I see you've been climbing the corporate ladder," Shadow interrupted.

His slight grin on that face of constant seriousness made her smile hard, even if it wasn't a friendly one. "I… well, I don't do it for money's sake," Rouge blushed, struggling to maintain seriousness like he always did. "I may enjoy large gemstones and priceless jewelry and the occasional mani-pedi, but I know that information can sometimes be more valuable than any shiny rock."

"Just don't let curiosity kill the bat," said Shadow as he passed by her, presumably to the center of operations for the ARK, but Rogue, cheeks getting a bit rosier, forgot to consider where he might be going.

"A joke? That _must_ mean you're actually happy to see me!" she beamed deliberately in a way that was certainly not reserved, but not over the top, either. It was the type of reaction that she knew, deep down, Shadow could at least tolerate, perhaps even like with enough patience.

"Just don't try to force me to say it," the dark hedgehog said. He was beginning to think that maybe his visions were nothing but bad dreams. It's not like they had never happened before, he considered to himself, but still, he had to be sure. "So you're saying that nothing out of the ordinary is happening with the Terran world at least," he prompted her.

"Nothing that would interest you, certainly," said Rouge, picking up her pace to catch up to him. "There's always the secretive weapons development, a few criminal issues, homeland problems with left wing, juju-smoking hippies, diplomacy with the Islanders and Mobians… you know, all that crap I have to deal with that doesn't really deserve _your_ glorious attention."

"What about the Mobians, and Robotnik?" Shadow asked next.

Rouge was quick to answer. "Eggman's behind bars, and hopefully he'll stay that way this time. Last I knew he was under a half mile of water and surrounded by several six-inch thick walls made of reinforced titanium. The location of the prison itself is a government secret – not to me, of course – and it has enough firepower to take down an armada of subs and planes."

"Hmph, they should execute him."

"Shadow!"

If anything, the black hedgehog's arms crossed even tighter. "I think they all underestimate Robotnik's uncanny ability to dodge and escape the most impossible of situations despite his rotund torso," he growled. "After all the warships we've seen blow up with him on it, I'm beginning to think he has well beyond nine lives."

The white bat woman smirked at him with a gentle flirtatiousness. "Maybe his parents were cats?" she joked.

Shadow huffed and didn't respond otherwise. It echoed against the metallic doorway they approached, just before it graciously opened for the two of them. Remnants of ancient battle in the form of scarred machinery, exposed wiring and smashed computers and light fixtures served as a reminder of why the dark hedgehog disliked the humanity of the species on Mobius, Terrans, Mobians and Islanders all included.

Learning how to fix these things was one of the few things he did when he was awake aboard the ARK. When he was younger, it had been something that he took interest in, back when the ARK was still populated with scientists, passengers, and various other tenants.

He cringed, and a shiver wrung his spinal column, leaving an unpleasant feeling coursing through his veins. That was the past. No one but him lived aboard the station anymore.

"What about the Islanders?" Shadow broke the silence through the long hallways that sometimes distracted the unaccustomed with semi-panoramic space views. Rouge was certainly not an exception with an eye for anything shiny.

"As far as I know, nothing," the white bat Mobian continued to answer. "I deal with them the least, at least on a professional level, but they're as xenophobic as ever. Probably more than the Terrans have been until the past few years."

"But you do go there for personal reasons, I imagine," Shadow rasped with particular disdain, and Rouge was hugely taken aback by the tone.

"For the sake of avoiding a fight, I'm going to forget you said that," Rouge huffed angrily, hand on her hips. "And quite frankly, I can be friends with whomever I like, and furthermore, that's _all_ that we are, if that."

"If you say so."

"I _do_," Rouge glared.

Shadow completely changed the subject; a pointless argument was avoided. "Do you think it's worth considering that the Echidnas are never doing 'nothing'? Our friendly-neighborhood Guardian of the Emerald alone was seldom up to nothing. Their infrastructure and democratic hierarchy are too constantly in a state of self-checking for inactivity, especially since their return from the void was only a handful of years ago."

"Ooh, I didn't think of that," said an intrigued Rouge. "What do you think they're hiding?"

"Don't know," Shadow said with a minute rise in pitch and inflection. "But I plan to find out."

Rouge had long since learned that those signals in his tone indicated that he was curious and therefore interested. But even before that, she could have predicted what he was going to do. Once he was awake, Rouge had never experienced him to allow things to move along by themselves when the emeralds were involved. Actually, Rouge had never experienced him to allow much of anything to be carried on its own volition when he was awake.

Rouge clumsily stumbled backward when Shadow pivoted on a pinpoint in the opposite direction.

"Shadow?"

He stopped. "Are you coming?"

"Wh…what? We're leaving right now?" Rouge stumbled.

"I am. You can come with me or follow me in your own ship, since you must have one."

"Goodness," she leaned against the glass looking out over the planet and the stars. "You don't waste a second, do you?"

Shadow the Hedgehog huffed plainly considering the rhetorical question, and he decided to answer it.

"All the Chaos Control in the universe can't stop my time. There's never a moment to waste."

He looked back for a brief second. "So… are you coming?" asked the black hedgehog.

"Well, when you put it that way, a girl doesn't have much of a choice, does she?" winked Rouge at him.

"Good. We'll take one of the ARK stealth pods," he explained. "I don't want people to find or recognize you in your ship. If the Echidnas notice either of us, they'll get awfully protective of whatever it is they're hiding. We'll be much harder pressed to find it then."

"Yes, sir," she responded with a bit of flirtatiousness. "Floating Island, here we come!"

_We're not going sightseeing, _Shadow thought while Rouge rejoiced over the coming vacation that she could probably pass off as professional spying for the Terran government. He then changed his perspective on it.

_I don't know the Floating Island well. Perhaps I can let Rouge indulge herself a bit while getting to know the city undetected. Her presence alone shouldn't provoke too much concern, even if she is a thief._

As they continued through the dim halls of the ARK, Shadow planned his strategy for infiltrating the Echidna High Council based on all the available information he had read and studied from the computer banks on the space station. Hidden to him entirely, Rouge was forming plans of her own for the great city of Echidnopolis that didn't involve him in any way.


	50. Truth be Told, Part I

**Chapter 50 – Truth be Told – Part I**

Farewells saddened X, probably more than most other things. People died from war, from old age, and simply from being unable to stay in the same place together by fate and duty's sometimes cruel natures. How many times had he been forced to say goodbye to a friend? More than he dared count, and he knew that his sophisticated reploid brain was probably capable of chronologically recalling every incident. He forgot very little, just didn't think about some things for a very long time.

And that was how it had been when he had to say goodbye to the world of Gaia. His mind drifted back with vivid precision to only hours ago, blocking out the small hum of the Dreamweaver, the silver-blue metallic décor, and the sight of flying stars through the thick transparent panes of his conference room.

--

It was a strange affection that kept Elena's hand holding tight to X's as they shared a few moments together in the corridors of the landed Azure Dreamweaver. She felt something perhaps in the middle of what lovers feel and the love that a child has with a parent, but coupled with another strange, foreign third love that she didn't have for anyone else, not even for Tseng.

"The love for a hero," she whispered in thought.

"Hmm?"

She shook her head gently. Her face still hurt a bit from the gashes to her face, but even if she hadn't had the healing power of materia and several bandages to help, she probably still would have smiled warmly in his presence, just as she was doing. It was almost twenty-four hours since they had crushed Zero's horde of fiends, and since her outburst, when she had let loose all the anger and hatred she had borne. She had spent a few of the hours since then with Mega Man X, and although she would have liked more, Elena knew that the she had been given more of his time than most had since the fight, possibly more than even Raven. It was an honor, a privilege, and a joy.

"...maybe that's how I feel about you," she said to him. "You saved my body five years ago... and now I feel like you've set me on the road to saving my own heart."

"I wish I didn't have to put you through pain to do it," said X with the utmost apology in his voice. "But I thought it might be the only way."

"I think you're right," she answered. "Time alone would never have healed what I was going through. I was holding so much hate, and I could never forgive someone like Zero for it. I still can't believe myself, looking back on it."

"You mean at the battle?"

She nodded with a sad exhale. "I still feel ashamed of myself for acting the way I did. I wish I could have been stronger."

"Elena," Mega Man said firmly, and he turned her so that they could look at each other face to face. "You had the strength to recognize the hate inside of you _and_ that you had to get rid of it for the sake of your _heart_. You say that you love me as a hero, but I feel like I should look to _you_ as a hero for having so much courage. And now that you've released what you needed to, you're recovering emotionally faster than I could ever have expected. I'm so proud to know you."

Her blush was so strong that she might as well have taken off the bandages across her cheeks.

"I… thank you, X. You're so kind," said Elena, starting to tear up. "I'll miss you. Please, when all this is over, you'll come visit, won't you? I… well, I know things have been awkward with me as a Turk; we've been enemies just because of my profession. Still, you mean a lot to me, even if things were rocky and we haven't known each other for long."

"I'll visit," X agreed. "As long as I still have a ship left to visit with. And if I don't have one, I'll build another myself. Sound good?"

"That sounds perfect," she grinned painfully. Sunlight suddenly flooded in as they approached the open door of the ship. It felt like the emotional coming of and end to them, that sort of feeling that makes you slow down and stop, trying to savor the moment and make it last. X let the silence fill the moment as long as Elena wanted it to, until she felt the need to speak, to make the motion to move on.

"I guess… this is goodbye."

"Only for now, I promise," said the reploid.

They stood together at the entrance together, neither one wanting to take the first step out. As much as Elena wanted him around as a hero, he also wanted her, as a friend.

"Elena."

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you to do something for me?"

"Yes, of course," she very quickly answered like the Turk that she was.

X sighed, thinking of the impending departure. "We'll be heading out in just a few hours. And I don't have enough time to talk to Reno. He's hurting pretty bad."

"I know," she agreed. "We're all having a hard time after losing Rude, but Reno's taking it the worst, and knowing him, he'll hold it in until it eats a hole right through him."

X gave a short huff of quiet laughter. "Damn male brain patterns. Sometimes wish I wasn't programmed with one."

Elena laughed back. "I'll do what I can. Maybe I can pull a page out of your book and make him tear out a fiend's jugular. That was helpful."

"Anytime," said Mega Man, grinning to himself while he stared upward toward the sun.

X made the first move to hold her tight. Elena, being just shorter, laid the side of her head against his shoulder, and it felt pleasantly warm, just like a real human's. That one surprise never seemed to leave anyone disappointed. If he had to feel someone else latching on to him, only to be turned away by the cold of metal, then he wouldn't want it. His mind traveled once again to the wonders of his own creation as he embraced Elena, his hand cupping the back of her head and her blonde hair. Was the warmth that came from him another deliberate design from the long late Doctor Thomas Light? X liked to think so.

--

Of course, the moment had to end, but it was only one of several goodbyes and other moments that Mega Man X experienced and endured through the tough exterior of his armor, trying not to let the loss of departing pierce him.

His face voided for a brief half second, and he discovered from his internal chronometer that the other sages would probably start filing in less than fifteen minutes from then. More than enough time to reflect on some of the other people who had touched his life in one way or another on Gaia, although some were not quite as pleasant as Elena.

--

X wasn't sure what to do about Rufus, and considering that he was remarkably close to confronting him (about a half minute's walk), that was slightly unsettling. Surely, after forcing his way into the reploids' affairs and claiming himself to be the driving force between the alliance between the two races saving much of the planet, it was clear that Shinra was going to lead not only Midgar, but also many surrounding regions. Rebuilding and relocation programs across the planet would undoubtedly be funded and organized primarily by Shinra, and if he planned to rule the people by inflicting fear again, then X knew he would have to stop him. With Cloud Strife presumed dead and having left Tifa a widow, he figured there would be no one else either willing or fully able to do the job, and after prying Zero's stranglehold from Gaia, Mega Man had truly hoped he would not have to return again to protect in Cloud's place.

Through the dark of Rufus' intentionally dim-lit congregational office, the shinning green of X's armor and Mako eyes at the open double doors were strong enough to bring all faces to him.

There were several Turks and other Shinra Co. employees seated around the solid, silver, crescent conference table with their soon-to-be resurrected President facing them from his dais and comparably large desk, which was privately fashioned to have the appearance of wood grain even though it was solid metal. It was clearer than day that Rufus was seizing his opportunity as quickly as he could before he lost some of the momentary hype of recent events. At that rate, X figured that the corrupt man would be on top of Midgar in days.

"Everyone, out," X ordered. The Turks continued to stare. An overhead light illuminated each face including Mega Man's own, leaving the room's borders and much of the rest of it in perpetual shadows, but X saw from a distance the violent glare coming from Rufus with a matching set of irises infected with materia.

"Now!" bellowed the green-armored reploid, projecting his strength through his vocal chords, and it felt as though the floor rumbled.

The reaction might have been comical if the situation wasn't so serious. The Turks and Shinra employees began to hurry out with the automated lights following their paths, some clambering uncomfortably over one another to give Mega Man a wide breadth when they saw the handle of the Master Sword behind his shoulder.

The President and the Hunter remained fixed until the doors slid shut behind X. He slowly paced towards Rufus, and the lights followed his slow foot steps as they gently clanged against the floor, quietly releasing the hydraulic press of some of his reploid joints. Two overhead beams continued illuminating the suits and faces of Turks – those of Reno and Tseng – who weren't as afraid of Mega Man. X ignored them both. He recalled how he and Raven had lost against Tseng and Rude a while back, but now he felt authoritatively confident that he could take on all three of them.

"I hope you don't think my Turks are too cowardly, Mega Man X," Rufus said, snide but calm. "They've just seen and heard what you're capable of, like rescuing thousands in Wutai and single-handedly destroying half the fiends unleashed by that Maverick reploid. Some of them think you're something of a monster. Sephiroth-like, even."

"If my power makes me guilty by association, then so be it. What matters is what you do with it, and that's precisely why I'm here, Rufus Shinra. To talk about _your_ power."

"Ah, another righteous savior of the pitiful downtrodden," he mocked angrily. "I had hoped for better from you."

X narrowed his glance very sharply, making the jade resonance in his irises consume his dagger stare. He stepped closer; Tseng and Reno shifted subtly in their seats. X made a plain turn of his head back and forth between the two.

"Tseng, you wouldn't dare attack me. Reno, if you try, I'll break both of your legs."

Tseng froze in every aspect of his movement for a brief second. Then, he slowly stood, held his head and eyes facing firmly forward, and headed for the door in complete silence. Reno stumbled over his own breath and lost the ability to use words as he stared at his boss, his fellow Turk, and back to his boss, who had nothing to say.

X considered that Tseng might have just lost his job, but even if he did, Tseng and Elena were more than capable of sustaining themselves in other ways. He wasn't worried.

"So," Rufus spoke with blood pressure rising, "what are you going to do? Kill me? Expose me? You say you'll break Reno's legs, but you don't have the stomach to kill a human being unless you have to. I don't think you have the time or will on your hands to tell the people, not that they'd believe you anyway."

X grinned darkly. "I have a contingency plan."

Shinra's face turned monstrous and vulnerable. He reached beneath his desk quickly for his weapon, but before the double barrels of his old style shotgun came into view, X revealed the sky blue Chaos Emerald from a pouch at his side.

"Chaos Control!" And the emerald warped the fabric of space by the strength of his will.

Mega Man ripped past Reno, who rose slowly under the time bending influence and was completely unable to follow X's lightning movements. Rufus reacted quicker, but under the light warping power exuded from the reploid and the chaos emerald, there was a bounty of seconds in which to use the edge of his desk for a hand plant somersault. Colors were distorted. Sound reverberated slowly like an oversized drum being beaten from below. X landed firmly behind the slow-motion Shinra and smacked the back of his neck while loosening his physical and mental grip on the emerald in his other hand.

Everything resumed normally, not without a nauseating jolt for all involved. X felt slightly heavier but fine otherwise as he quickly returned the emerald to its hiding pouch, while the Turks dealt with a dizzying blur in their eyes. Rufus however, raging with anger, was concerned with the blood leaking from his neck where a round, pronged object was planted.

The legs of the device began to dig down beneath his flesh and uncomfortably situate around his spine. He roared, eyes flaring, beginning to leak the green tears of Mako poisoning. He scratched and dug, trying to tear it from his body, failing completely when X clenched Shinra's wrists so hard that his fingers contracted and spasmed.

"It's attaching itself around your spinal cord," X whispered in Rufus's ear from behind him. "Think of it as a means of repaying you for the way you treat your citizens. As long as this device is attached to you, should you receive any spinal cord injury, it will be repaired. Even if your spine is cut in half, as long as you're still alive, you will quickly recover the use of your limbs. Any kind of spinal fluid build-up will be dispersed and regulated, making you immune to many kinds of brain cancer, degenerative diseases, and epilepsy. You'll even be resistant to poisons, bacteria, toxins, and radiation that could normally damage or destroy the brain."

Rufus huffed and spat violently in a futile struggle, still held in place by the wrists with his back to Mega Man. He waited for the downside in abject vehemence, worsening the Mako effects on his body.

"But," X cautioned, "If I find out that you are abusing your citizens and making their lives a nightmare for your own personal gain, then I can reprogram this little device from a very great distance. Instead of protecting you, it can weaken your body, disable your limbs, or even kill you. If you forcefully remove it, your spinal cord will tear and the device won't be able to reattach itself without me. You will become a quadriplegic. If you're thinking of trying to short out the device with an electrical shock, I should let you know that it can withstand quite a charge. If you use a high enough voltage to break it, the energy will be passed directly to your spine and will probably kill you. If you somehow survive, you'll be a vegetable with complete certainty."

X shoved the Shinra President into the back of his chair.

Reno watched, completely dumbfounded and helpless in front of Shinra. There was nothing he could do for his boss. Reno then realized that, in addition to Rude's death, Elena and Tseng potentially finished, and the world altering events that had taken place, another aspect of his life was about to become far different. His job had just changed more dramatically. It was no longer to do whatever Shinra wished for the good of him, the Turks, and the company. To be a Turk now meant keeping him in line, because the redheaded man believed every word that X said about the machine now nestled on the back of Rufus's neck_ and_ what he would do if Rufus ruled Midgar as he had up until five years ago.

"It doesn't work on Mako poisoning," added the reploid unfortunately. "But even still, that device will probably add at least ten years on your life as long as you act with a little selflessness now and then."

X jumped over both sets of conference tables and landed lightly, and like those who had fled, the overhead lights marked his path all the way to the door.

"One last thing," X stated callously. "You _will_ get your Zanarkand project up and running, and you will do it soon."

Suddenly Rufus began laughing. It was far from joyous laughter; that anyone could tell.

"Ironic…" he leered, slightly amused.

X stopped.

"…that a sophisticated machine, the very sort of thing that Shinra Company strived to develop while under my rule… is a better leader than I am."

Rufus clutched his bloody neck and stared at the back of X's head, as if willing him to turn around. The three waited in silence.

"Goodbye, Rufus Shinra," Mega Man X finally answered. He did not look back.

--

Had he done the right thing? X sincerely hoped so. Scrapping Mavericks had always seemed so right to protect humans and innocent reploids for the first few years of his life. Then he learned the often painful truth that there are few if any things that are truly evil, just difference in opinion and beliefs. And harming a human… that was something that no reploid was ever intended to do despite their free will. Of course, the best laid plans of mice and men…

There were always unpleasant moments that had to be dealt with in some manner equally disagreeable. It wasn't his job to make everything perfect. Only to do what he thought was best against those who misused their power. That was his goal many years ago before he joined the Maverick Hunter ranks, and it was probably that very ideal that lured him to fighting for the Hunters in the first place.

Mega Man had time to immerse in one more memory, one about a good friend he had still managed to keep over a long life of fighting and loss. Most didn't survive quite as long as Axl had managed to, much like the blue armored reploid himself. X had missed the friendly loquaciousness of the gunner reploid while traveling across space and how he had the ability to change his demeanor at any moment should the circumstance call for it. He was a great Maverick Hunter through the hardest times and had helped keep X sane when their purpose faltered, but now X felt a growing gap between them like moving half way across the globe in olden days when rapid transport and star ships didn't exist. Could it be helped? Often no. But faith that a friend is at least safe and happy means enough to hold on to that strand of friendship for distances immeasurable.

--

Axl's laser pistols, each a twin of the other, served as a resting place for his hands during many moods and roles. Overseer was the designation then. Reploids were busy reinforcing the walls where the dark fiends had nearly broken through earlier that day. He was amazed at how easily the humanoids on this planet had joined forces and cooperated with his kind thus far. If anything, it was his troops who were more awkward around the people of Midgar than the people were around the reploids, even non-humanoid types.

"Why can't things be like this at home?" Axl wondered, his chest filling with dejection. He felt too warm and uncomfortable in the face, like a vast pouring of shame was drenching him and his entire race for failing to do what these mere humans were capable of achieving in hours.

"It's different," he told himself. "This place… it's free of the Maverick virus."

A great black bird was soaring across the sky, momentarily shading the sun from his eyes. It gently descended from the sky with a strong cawing from its maw, and it shifted shape before his eyes into that magical human girl that X had become so close to.

"Raven, it's good to see you again," he said, helping her step up to his vantage point at the fringe of one of the more stable sections of the old Midgar Tower, once the centerpiece of Rufus's operations at the center of the city. It had been ruined for years from the bombardment it received during the struggle with Sephiroth years ago, but finally, after years of distrust and anger at the Shinra Company, it was finally being tended to, if only to make some of the sections livable for refugees who were rumored to be flocking towards Midgar in the thousands.

"Likewise, Axl," she bowed gently in her deep crimson robe. It clashed some with her violet eyes and hair, unlike the astoundingly beautiful white dress she had worn weeks ago at the reploid ball, and yet her facial features still… Axl mentally chastised himself. Thinking about a human girl this way was, well, utterly ridiculous to him. So what in the hell was X thinking?

"I came to deliver a message," she went on. Her tone was very solemn. Awkward, as well. It was a very uncomfortable thing she was about to tell him, giving Axl that impossible-to-get-used-to, humanoid gurgling of the stomach, although for him he knew it was more of a whirring mechanical pulsation that others could only hear in absolute silence.

"Sigma…" she spoke. "He's dead. Forever."

Axl's voice died and he fell backwards; the reploid's metallic body clanged against the floor in their open perch in one of the higher floors in the Shinra building.

"There's more," the dark sage went on. "Just before he died, Sigma was rid of the Sigma virus itself."

Quickly his voice returned. "Liar!" he shouted at her, rising to his feet with inside boiling.

"No, she's not," said Mega Man X, rising past rubble-ridden, shattered stairs from the floor below.

"X, you came!" Raven said, surprised.

It was still unusual for Axl to see X in his new armor. The drastic change from various blue hues to a thorough set of greens in an archaic tunic form combined with the reploid appearance was… unique, to say the least. It was like he was becoming less and less a part of their society and rather a culture of his own. Following quietly and gracefully behind him was the authoritative human Tifa Lockhart.

X somehow forced his reploid brother's eye contact toward him.

"Is it true, X?" Axl subdued his anger. "Sigma didn't have the virus?"

"It's true," Mega Man nodded. "All of it. The virus left him."

"But that means…"

"Yes, of course," X commanded the conversation. His friend looked as though he might break down and cry if he tried to speak. "Sigma was never the source of the virus in the first place. He was just the main carrier and spreader. With him gone, Maverick transformations and occurrences would normally shrink and eventually die away, but the origin of the virus is running loose across planets now, infecting more than just us machines."

"Zero is… the beginning of the virus?" Axl asked them, dejected and miserable.

Raven placed a hand on his shoulder, hard enough to not let him back away.

"As you've known it… yes, I'm afraid so. But we think that there's something even behind him, something that…"

Axl shoved her hand away with a disgusted look. The shock and horrid absorption made him forget about the drop off directly to his side, as well as the human and reploid workers pushing hard to fix what was wrong. As their commander, it was his task to suffer this, the most painful of news – that their beliefs had been for decades very wrong, and that fighting Sigma had been a completely pointless struggle. Millions upon millions of flesh or circuit beings were slaughtered, and all along they could have just destroyed Zero?

"Stop, Axl," X tried to calm his friend. "Sigma and Zero always had a symbiotic relationship. If one remained alive, the other could always come back. Even having both dead in the very first campaign against Sigma ended up with both of them surviving. Materializing Sigma's very essence with the creation of huge materia has stopped him for good. Zero might be able to create a reasonable facsimile of Sigma with his newfound power, but it will never be the same. The true Sigma is gone for good. And although I'm sure it doesn't mean a damn thing to our people, Sigma apologized for all that he's done."

"_Sigma doesn't deserve one God Damn shred of_…"

"Sigma was a victim of the virus just like everyone else!" Raven shouted.

"What the hell do you know?" the gunner fought back, staring her down, attempting but failing to intimidate her. A few of the citizens and other reploids below caught the argument and peered up awkwardly. Despite the height of their perch, the collapsed walls of the broken Shinra building made non-windy days dangerous for conversation. X spied a familiar face and with a black skirt and leather gloves entering the bottom floor.

"You may take me for an outsider," the dark sorceress stood her ground in the Shinra ruins, "but I know what the virus has done. I know _everything_, though X's own eyes. I've felt it, I've fought it in the present and the future, and it even tried to consume one of my friends. I am anything _but_ an outsider. Sigma did not want this…"

"_Leave_," Axl shouted, turning away from them. His fingers pressed against his eyes. "Just go away!"

Raven's face fell downward, but X quickly picked up her chin and then squeezed her hand gently. It was consoling to know that she had spoken well, and that even if X had been the one to have the same argument it hardly would have left Axl in a different mood. The memories from X residing in her mind mixed with her own first hand experience on the reploid planet gave her the insight that the machine species had always fought a deep-seeded hatred for Sigma and everything that he was. Sigma, whether it was truly him or some other force connected by puppet's strings, was a mass murderer and the kind of person responsible for words like 'genocide' being added to dictionaries across the solar seascape of the universe. Deep down, Raven knew that she and Axl weren't all that different in that respect.

Trigon, her father, had also been a mass murderer. Her beloved home of Azarath had been annihilated when she was a tiny child, and Sigma had been responsible for the Maverick revolt that had ravaged their home planet for two decades now. It was hard to fight the ingrained memories of the burning heat and smoke tainting the beautiful golden spires and buildings of her past. X knew all of that, of course, from his travels within her mind upon their first meeting. Raven only wished she could make Axl understand, but at least X's loving touch in her palm helped her accept the reploid gunner's anger. As he wished, she slowly paced through the rubble to the staircase leading downward. X stayed.

Descending to help the citizens continue with repairs, she met with Tifa Lockhart and the concerned expression that had led her toward the arguments. Her deep brown irises conveyed a mix of anxiety about spreading any kind of downfall or bit of bad news to the citizens.

"Raven," she addressed the dark woman. "Is everything alright? People heard the shouting. It'll crush their morale if the reploid leader loses his calm, and word spreads fast."

Raven eyed her with hope. She knew that the young fighter had been leading much of the restoration effort. Despite all of Rufus's bragging, he hid beneath whatever veil he could while trying to maintain the front that he's the driving force behind Midgar's refugee support and rebuilding, and while some of the people acknowledged that Rufus _had_ been contributing, many others had witnessed first hand how Tifa used her leadership and brute force to help the people directly. Raven hoped that her rapport with Axl as respective leaders might help his spirit where she and X could not.

The gentle reverberation of X's metallic steps followed Raven, surprisingly. Raven had been sure that he would stay to speak with his friend.

"I think Axl could use you," he said to Tifa with a smile that uplifted her mood, as well as Raven's. "Even though Axl and I are friends, I'm practically an outcast among my own people, and Raven is directly associated with me. He's too angry to listen to us, but I think he might listen to you. You're unbiased, and you can relate to his suffering. I hate to ask…"

"You don't even have to say it, X," she nodded and accepted the need for help. "I owe you, and I trust you unconditionally. I'll talk to him. I don't want anything to be left undone before you all have to leave."

Tifa pulled Mega Man X in for a tight embrace, which he returned happily with a warm smile and a warmer heart. No one ever said it in farewells like these, but it would most likely be their last moment for some time; in hours X, Zelda, Raven, Saria, Tifa's own dear friend Nanaki, and the blonde young man from the future, Tidus, would all be traveling across galaxies far away from Gaia and it's warping environment.

Raven was taken by surprise. Tifa's close hold on X slowly slid away, and before her hand left the green armored reploid's shoulder, the embrace had transferred around Raven's much smaller frame. Strangely for the dark sorceress, the sensation didn't feel as awkward as it often had in the past, like some offensive, encircling constrict. A couple of months ago, Tifa wouldn't have even made contact with her without a hasty retreat occurring, then followed by a quick scolding from the dark sorceress. Raven laughed very gently, mostly at herself and just audible enough for them to hear, and she wrapped her arms around the Gaian woman, feeling the long, black hair brushing on her fingers.

"We'll come back, one day," Raven told her.

"I know you will," answered Tifa. "Somehow I think our little planet is special enough to bring people back to it. I hope that next time you'll both get a chance to do what you want to do. You've done too much for us."

Raven bowed gently and courteously, and X looked downward humbly.

"It's what we live for," smiled Mega Man. But if we did get a chance to share the sites in peace, I can't say I'd mind that."

"It'd be my pleasure to show you both around," she said.

Raven warmly smiled. "It would be our pleasure as well."

Random, gentle banging came from the ceiling, knocking tiny dust particles on their heads.

"Axl," Tifa whispered. She turned to Raven and X with worry on her face. "I should go. And so should you."

"See you again, Tifa," said Mega Man X. His smile was weak. He did want to stay. Within Raven's mind, he could sense the subdued sorrow indicating that she wanted to as well. Maybe it could be possible, the reploid considered as he stared at the dark woman he cared so much about. Maybe, once Zero was gone, but no sooner.

Tifa had already climbed up the broken staircase to the floor above, and both X and Raven heard their movements, one slow and careful, the other quite the opposite with uneasiness. Axl was in her hands.

"It's time to leave Gaia, X," Raven comforted him. "Come on, I'll save you the trouble of a long goodbye. I know you don't like them."

The dark sorceress swung the folds of her crimson Al Bhed cloak and enveloped them in the veins of the astral realm for the short journey away from Midgar and to the Azure Dreamweaver. Somehow, emotions like sadness permeated the entirety of Raven's astral form and X inside it. Mega Man had thought he understood why Raven used to make a point in pacifying her emotions, but now he had an unfortunate new understanding.

--

"Yes, that's one of many reasons," Raven stated.

X grinned, hiding his surprise. "You know, nobody likes it when you do that."

"Lies," the dark girl said to him with a sly eye raised. "You like it very much."

"So I do," he shrugged. "But we'll have to talk about that later."

Immediately, Zelda passed through the automatic sliding doors with Tidus behind her, and only moments after that, Nanaki and Saria entered, making six. That completed their group of four sages, one hero, and the Hylian princess. Everyone stood, waiting.

_Alright_, X thought to himself, _it's time that truth be told._


	51. Truth be Told, Part II

**Chapter 51 – Truth Be Told – Part II**

"We're all here, X," Raven announced at his side. "We have a lot to talk about, don't we?"

Mega Man X, once Maverick Hunter, now Hero of Time, surveyed the sages and other friends with him in the conference room of the Dreamweaver, its silvers, creams, and pale blue hues setting a militaristic tone from a reploid standpoint. Raven found it quite comfortable, but X wanted everyone to feel at ease, no matter the urgency of the situation.

"Computer, white light," he said, and without argument or sound, the lights slowly switched to a standard white-yellow. Immediately the sensation of rigidity subsided, although his words took long to join the lax tone of the environment.

"We're all friends here," X went on. "Not just a bunch of sages ready for a fight. There's more to us than just that, I want to make sure we grow as much as we can together. We'll beat Zero and whomever else he's assimilated with the strength of our hearts, our fists, and our friendship."

Everyone watched intently. Raven, Zelda, Saria, Red XIII, and Tidus.

"I'm afraid I can't completely agree with that," Red said sternly, and the sages' glances were skeptically and unpleasantly drawn to his sudden and unexpected lack of enthusiasm. A grin showed his wolf-like teeth with warmth. He finished the joke.

"I can't make fists."

There was a short paused, then withheld chuckles until all laughed, some much harder than others. His elderly wisdom and perception had sensed the discomfort among everyone, and he fixed it with a simply. Saria had been right. The Sage of Fire was a strong leader, but Nanaki wasn't X's chief concern. He wanted to question Tidus, the newest of their entourage of sages.

"Fists and paws and flaming tails, then," Raven added with a smile.

Post-joke smirks and titters settled them into seriousness with much less tension than before. X used his gaze and gentle nods to thank them both. He was just as tense beforehand, and it had helped his semi-organic musculature to settle. In his new, shades-of-green Hylian-reploid armor, this had been the most relaxed and content he had felt thus far. It was something to get used to, he noted.

"Yes, we have quite a lot to talk about. A new sage that unfortunately I have to grill a bit," (he looked at Tidus as politely as he could), "some secrets that I've been hiding that need to come to the light, Zero of course, and our next destination after we release Terra back on Raven's Earth."

"I'm up first then," Tidus remarked with his palms pressed against the table. "I don't want to just sit here awkwardly before we talk about everything else. At this point, the only ones that even sort of know me are Zelda and Raven, so…"

"We'll help you," Zelda volunteered, placing a comforting arm on the water sage's slim but firm bicep, easing him a little bit with her familiarity and the soothing, gentle aura that typically flowed from her pleasant features.

X tapped the control panel in front of him built into the table itself. A cubic, holographic grid popped up at the center of the table, but it was quite blank. "I've set up the ship's computer to display an approximate image of what you're saying," he said. "There are a lot of unique visuals for all that we have to talk about, and I think that'll make it all seem more real to everybody. I've felt that's been lacking at many points in what we've done so far, the sensation that what's ahead and behind us feels so… unbelievable. I want everyone to understand what's at stake, here."

All of the sages and Zelda watched him seriously, unblinking, converging on his speech and sight.

"Now… enough of my rambling. Tidus, please fill us all in, and then we'll do the same for you."

Tidus sat up. X could tell he seemed nervous. Appearances were deceiving sometimes, but the blonde didn't look any older than Raven. Then again, most people wouldn't believe that Saria had celebrated her hundredth birthday, possibly much more. Mega Man considered that he had no idea how old the Sage of Forest was at all.

Suddenly she was staring at him sideways from the farthest seat. She then turned her attention to the Sage of Water.

"I…" began Tidus, but he was met with annoyance at himself despite his youthful fervor. "Man, there's no good place to start."

"Start with you," Zelda suggested from the seat adjacent to him.

"That's a great idea," X agreed. "I'm fine if you tell us you like sunsets and long walks on the beach. We've got several days until we reach Raven's Earth."

The blonde man appeared to loosen up at the shoulders, and he leaned forward with his arms onto the long, trapezoidal conference table.

"Ok, so… I'm Tidus. It's weird saying this, but I don't really know if I existed in this time period or a thousand years in the future. Maybe both. My dad was the same. Supposedly he gave birth to me, but I've also been told that he and I were created by the Fayth."

A few bewildered looks came his way. Raven and Zelda were the only ones more informed, so Tidus explained.

"I think you call it the Lifestream. That's what they said, anyways," he indicated the dark sorceress and the light princess.

Suddenly the grid in the center of the table filled with swirling green streams of light that flowed and ebbed like the ocean at one moment, then changed to the smooth, unnoticeable sway of the wind. Occasionally, multi-colored sparkles or individual sparks of emerald light would separate from the rest of the collective aura.

"From what we've seen," Raven added, particularly to X and the other confused faces, "the Lifestream manifests itself in different ways, but we're pretty sure that the Lifestream and the Fayth are one and the same. It felt very similar in this time and in the future."

X nodded with his chin in his hand in contemplation. "That only makes sense. It may have been a different time, but it was the same place."

"Right," Tidus agreed. "We have aeons and orbs that gave us power, too, but we just call 'em spheres, and you call them materia."

Simple enough, they all reflected. If only everything were that easy to grasp.

"Anyways, after I helped defeat Sin - that was a handful of years ago - the Fayth vanished, and I sorta did along with it, but after that I found out that the Fayth weren't really gone, just reduced, and pulled back from the surface where people could abuse its power. Not too long after that, I met Terra."

The display transitioned seamlessly - artistically even - as Terra's plain, slim figure appeared in a simple, standing position. From there, three other images sprouted diagonally, one of her dimly lit and frozen in stone in her current position, another riding a giant boulder in midair with other small glowing ones around her head, and the third depicted the youthful earth-wielder wearing mechanical armor, bandages, and a fearsome expression. The entire display slowly rotated to show the six clearly who was being discussed.

The Sage of Water's explanation froze for a moment as he watched the images of the slender girl with straight blonde hair in various poses. He shook his head, realizing that he was mostly mesmerized but also slightly disturbed by the final image, one that reflected her dark history.

Raven cleared her through conspicuously with a tactful amount of sarcasm and good humor to bring him back. "Terra is a Teen Titan, a group of youths who fight for good and peace including myself. She has the ability to manipulate pure earth and most any other thing attached to it. Controlling dirt, most rock types, and even soiled muck is within her power." The grid shifted to magnify the darker image of her wearing mechanical armor. Raven figured that X knew what was coming and manipulated it with the touch of a button. "Unfortunately," the dark sage continued, "she had difficulty with her emotions and being precise with her powers. Terra was coerced into working for Slade, one of the most notorious criminals on our planet. Our city and many around it were nearly destroyed by their combined strength."

"But then she saved everybody," Tidus interjected. "She fought off Slade and stopped a volcano from exploding by pushing her powers harder than she ever had before."

He was eyed awkwardly. The jump to defend Terra was particularly pronounced, and he had realized it afterward.

"If you could," X suggested, "tell us about you and Terra in the Lifestream. It could be helpful to know, if you don't mind."

Tidus hesitated for a brief moment with his eyes turned down. "Yeah, that's fine," he said. "Most of the Lifestream, as you guys call it... the best way to put it is that it's hard to understand. It's peaceful existing as a part of it, but at the same time when you try to make sense of all the life energies inside it, you don't really get anywhere. Sort of like talking to a whole stadium at the same time. You have to get really good at it just to understand people a few seats away." He scratched his head and then used his hand to prop up his face. "There are all kinds of people and living things that are drifting, and there's a consciousness inside, but there's also a group consciousness, like they can all be together and separate at the same time."

"Like reflections of things that once were?" Mega Man suggested plainly, though his eyes gave passage to his multifaceted thoughts. He sensed Raven trying to dig without him knowing, and her attentive expression towards the conversation was a tribute to how effective their bond had become. How often, he considered, had she been doing it? And was she good enough to have picked out what she wanted with his defenses down?

"Yeah… yeah, that sounds right," he said.

"Aeons are like that as well," Raven said, a fact that she should not have known so confidently despite her bond with Rikku. X grinned hardily before giving Tidus a wave of his hand to continue.

"If you could tell us more about you and Terra in the Lifestream."

He leaned back in his seat and stiffened up. "Uh, what?" he stumbled awkwardly. He had begun to blush and then made it even more obvious by pressing his lips tightly together in far-too-firm a facial expression.

"Tidus," X frowned. The blonde held the lightly cushioned arms of the swiveling chair. "The long walks on the beach comment _wasn't_ serious. I'm happy for you, but now's not the time."

"Yes of course, I'm sorry," he apologized.

X shook his head and put his smile back on. "Not necessary. We were talking about Terra… much to your enjoyment."

Everyone let out a short chuckle which slowly rose to fierce laughter from the embarrassed grin on Tidus's face, and even that had come out of growing comfort rather than the lack of it. Even Saria, who had sat rather stone faced at the farthest point from Mega Man, reacted to the somewhat adolescent presence that Tidus so comically added to their troupe.

X felt a twinge of discomfort coming ripple up his back and into the back of his head. It came from Raven at his side during the short but pleasant outburst, and he made a mental promise to deal with it when they were alone.

"Terra and I were both different from everything else in the Lifestream," said Tidus. "She wasn't dead, and I've never have been alive like the rest of you in the first place. It didn't take that long for us to find each other. Together we found ways to understand the Lifestream, and to even take temporary shapes, but it was pretty hard. We found out that trying to take shape in a time period that you didn't come from is much different. She tried, but the best she could manage in the future where I met Zelda and Raven was an outline made of Lifestream energy, which didn't last long. I had the same problem in her time, the time we're in now. Made things kinda tough," he said in regards to the relationship.

"But we started discovering little bits of history here and there and kept an eye on people who were important to us, like the Teen Titans for her, and the people of Spira for me. All we had to do was think hard enough about them, and with a bit of practice we went to that time and place. Of course, I'm in a permanent form again, so I can't travel through the Lifestream as I please all that easy. Once we get to her world and turn her back to normal, she probably won't be able to either."

"We never even thought to ask you," Zelda said with concern and humble shame. "Are you feeling alright? I can't imagine this all being easy even without that difficult transition."

Tidus smiled uneasily. "I'm ok," he lightly lied. "It feels really strange, but I'm getting used to it again. I just need some more time."

X made another mental note to spend time showing him around the ship when they were done as well as tend to whatever Raven's concern had been. He wanted to make sure that everyone was as content as possible during the journey between worlds. After all, it was rare that landfall brought them pleasantries for very long, if at all, with Zero at every corner.

"The Dreamweaver is well accommodated; I can show you around after we're finished here so you can at least be more comfortable," X added.

"Oh, no, you don't have to do that," he waved the offer away politely. "It's not like I didn't know that some of this was coming while I was with Terra."

"Do tell," Nanaki stared across at him, the glowing tip of his tail wagging as he sat upright like the great wolf he was. "It was short enough notice for me that I had to pitifully beg half the Canyon to look after my pups."

"You're a dad?" Tidus asked, surprised.

Red cocked his head with a wolf's toothy grin, but it was warm nonetheless. The ornamental braids jingled very softly with the metal feather-shape clips at the back of his head. Red XIII was proud of his children.

"You seem surprised," he said back to Tidus in his elegant, refined voice.

The water sage shook his head and explained. "Not really. I mean, I just thought that…"

"I didn't want to leave them without me," he smiled, "and some might think I'm neglecting them selfishly, but the truth is that I am doing this more for them than anyone else. If the situation is as dire on other worlds as it is in ours," he glanced at X with a worried calm, "then finding the remaining sages and putting an end to Zero is a much a benefit to my children and my world as it is every other great, foreign place I travel to. That is more than worth the effort to find a long term guardian for them."

Tidus nodded and listened while Nanaki spoke. The old wolf, partially as a result of his polished speech, had moved everyone to reflect on the people that waited for them to return on different planets or even different times.

"That reminds me," Zelda said when she noticed Tidus's deep thought about the world and time that he came from. "When Raven and I traveled to the future, strange things started happening."

"My God, of course, the changes in the timeline," Raven almost jumped.

X stared, almost angry. "You didn't mention that before."

"I'm sorry X," she said. "There was so much going on at Midgar. I still can't believe we forgot."

"Never mind that now," X sighed. "Please, explain."

Raven stood up and addressed them with great importance. "When we were traveling with a man called Baralai to the future city of Zanarkand, he suddenly began twisting and changing right before our eyes."

Zelda also stood. "People we had met before drastically changed, and the landscape altered itself. Even Rikku, Raven's aeon, is not the same Rikku we originally met on Spira."

"Whoa, what?" X held up a hand to each of them in complete astonishment. "Ok, when we're done with the timeline conversation, you're going to explain how a person you met is now a hunk of red materia. For now, time changes."

"Right," Raven nodded. "We weren't affected by the changes in the timeline at all. If we were, we wouldn't have realized that anything was changing. We think that somehow Zero is behind it, but we don't know how."

The sound of a feminine presence clearing its throat turned their attention to the back of the room. "I believe I can answer that," Saria spoke for the first time.

X gave her a firm nod.

"Zero is in control of part of the Lifestream. The Lifestream, as Tidus already stated, is timeless. Hence, Zero has been attempting to alter time through his demonic Deathflow."

"Why?" Mega Man X asked simply, not sure why he knew that Saria had the answer, but his instincts compelled him to wait for her answer.

"We have a theory about that," Raven responded instead at his side, but X kept a firm eye on Saria. "We've noticed that we seem to be immune to the changes in the timeline, and we think that the rest of us are as well. If Zero were to change time everywhere else but now, and since now is the only time that's immune… well, it's hard to explain."

Saria's long, wavy green hair covered half of her face as she spoke gravely. "Think of a fishing pole. You can bend it a great deal to try to change the natural path of a fish, but if you pull too hard..."

Her expression was dire.

"_Snap_."

"And just what the hell does that mean?" X gritted his teeth.

Saria attempted a sallow grin. "I couldn't even begin to answer that, but it would likely result in the destruction of existence as we know it, or perhaps all time being crushed together, or who knows what. To speak plainly, it would be very bad. The good news is that as long as you exist in this time, X, that will never happen."

Mega Man narrowed his eyes at the Kokiri Forest woman. She returned his glance plainly, encouraging the answer out of him.

"Of course," said the reploid. "The Triforce."

At the very mention of it, Mega Man's Triforce sign appeared on the back of his hand, and it was followed by everyone else's; Raven, Nanaki, Tidus, Saria, and even a weak, faded one on the back of Zelda's remained. The room had become gold with the glow of the triangular symbols, each on the back of the sages' hands. The holographic display followed suit, rotating the three enlarged triangles as it perceived them to be. Of them all, Mega Man's shined the brightest. The mark of their unity and what they stood for was also a defense that they hadn't understood until now.

X chuckled. "That's part of why I'm _called_ the Hero of Time, isn't it?"

Zelda recognized him with newfound awe. "The ability to protect yourself from time is something that has never occurred to me before, but I can't say I'm entirely surprised, Mega Man X. As if traveling through time and manipulating it weren't enough?"

The reploid smiled. "We all have this protection," he stared at the Triforce. "And we still don't even entirely understand what we've been branded with. Zelda, Saria, for the sake of our two newest friends, what can you tell us about the Triforce?"

"How much do _you_ know?" Zelda questioned.

"The basic story," X explained. "The three goddesses who created Hyrule – Din, Farore, and Nayru – left the golden power behind as they departed for the cosmos. I also know that each triangle represents something different."

Saria hummed contentedly and ran her fingers through her long, jade hair. "They represent the body, mind, and heart. More specifically, power, wisdom, and courage."

"I am confused," Nanaki spoke up. "Each of us is branded with the symbol, but separately the three triangles physically belong to a person?"

"Correct," X nodded. "I have the Triforce of Courage. It grants me unbelievable strength of will in times of desperation."

The symbol on X's hand suddenly changed, flooding all of the golden glow into the bottom left triangle, where it beamed like a beacon. The holographic display began to disfigure from the sheer radiance, morphing the enlarged symbol into garbled, golden mess in comparison. Suddenly, adjacent to him, a second beacon erupted, making it so difficult to see that the newcomers of fire and water shielded their watering eyes.

"The Triforce of Wisdom is in my possession," Raven spoke beyond the blinding light; the golden triangle shone from the bottom right. "With it my intellect is enhanced and my psychic abilities are all heightened. And… I am honored to know the person it belonged to prior."

She gave a wink and smile in Zelda's direction while the white-gold shimmer still blinded the others. The former princess of Hyrule seemed to be the only one capable to tolerate looking straight at the reflection of their true Triforce pieces, which were finally beginning to fade into a more normal gleam.

Tidus looked around. "So, I'm guessing the Triforce of Power…"

"Yes, Zero has it," Zelda answered him. She sighed hard. "It was given to him by a man named Ganondorf from my world. Long ago he was known as the King of Evil because he wished to rule all of Hyrule, but over a century ago the Hero of Time before Mega Man X stopped him, and the sages and I sealed him away in an eternal void of light. Once, Ganondorf attempted to escape, but by drawing myself and my servant Impa to the Dark World, we were able to re-strengthen the seal."

"From there," X continued, "Ganondorf attempted for years to find a way out without success. Zelda existed in the Dark World for seven years, but time in the Dark Hyrule didn't pass the same as it did in the normal world. Zelda's seven years turned out to be a hundred for us."

Tidus and Red XIII gasped. Zelda merely clenched her fists underneath the table in an attempt to disregard that painful reminder of how far away from her own time she was, and she tried to ignore the shocked looks that she was receiving.

"Ganondorf finally found a chance to escape," said the Princess. "But it was very dangerous. The King of Evil couldn't free his body, but he could send the Triforce of Power away in hopes of contacting someone who _would _free him. He needed someone powerful, but still someone he could control."

Zelda held her breath tightly. "Being quite full of himself, Ganondorf made a very poor choice. He found out quickly that he couldn't control Zero at all, and so without knowing that he had the Triforce of Power yet, Zero let Ganondorf fade away and die."

It was hard to notice during the tale of how their war had begun with the crimson reploid, but the holo-display had changed again, this time to Zero's appearance. As it had done with Terra, it showed multiple stances and actions, as well as a plain, standing image at the center. None of them matched what had become of his appearance and demented mentality.

"He looks so… honorable," Nanaki frowned, taking sight of the images.

X nodded solemnly, staring at his old friend. "He was," X added. "And I feel we need to discuss that as well. You all know by now that Zero was once a righteous person who fought for justice against the Mavericks just as I do. None of us are truly aware of how or by whom he was created; only that he was discovered in an abandoned lab like I was. Unfortunately, he was far less docile than I was upon being activated."

Mega Man felt his heart sinking with each word he spoke. The story was too painful to recall, especially after seeing all those people slaughtered in the Icicle Village on Gaia, and the horrible destruction that occurred on his own planet, and to Alia…

It took all his strength to keep his facial features from trembling.

"_I can take this burden_," Raven's soft, echoing voice beckoned to his mind. "_I've seen some of this moment in your mind, and if you give me access to more, I will tell them._"

He glanced quickly at the dark sorceress, sucking in the features of her face as she so tenderly cared for the slightest pain that entered his mind. Beneath a firm exterior with stern eyes and pale, almost grey skin, there was so much beauty that so few knew she could exude. To be among those few was wonderful. Her hair, deep violet, accenting the cool sweetness of her eyes, had grown beyond her collarbone, growing more accentuated waves the further it trickled past her neck.

Two seconds wasn't nearly enough to appreciate her. With a simple nod and the weight of so much lifting from his chest, X agreed.

"Zero was a Maverick," the dark sorceress stated, barely allowing any interim between when X had stopped speaking and she had begun. Through the images in his mind that he made for her, the story came together. "He was one of the most powerful ones they had encountered despite his small size in comparison to junk robots and other reploids. Sigma, (X flinched in his seat), the reploid man we defeated with the future, was also once the leader of the Maverick Hunters, and it was he who barely survived that first encounter with the unknown Zero where so many others were destroyed."

Sigma and Zero were both being displayed now in the rotating hologram, but, like Zero, it was a Sigma that they barely recognized. The malicious creature that had once attacked them in the Temple of Time as a conglomeration of reploid body parts now looked like a man, only with the facial rigidity and angles of something slightly less human – one of the reploid trademarks. The body armor that the past Sigma wore was a pine shade of dark green, and he wore a red cape that was tattered and lightly torn at the bottom where it nearly reached is feet. His eyes were solid in color and still very cold.

X tapped his control panel and breathed heavily. The look on his face stated to Raven that he was relaxed enough to take over again, or at least that he didn't want to look weak in front of the sages any longer. The dark sorceress happily relinquished the baton to him.

The room was now tinted pale purple. At the center of their table, the grid had expanded to include multiple figures. One was clearly the floating head of Sigma, but it was veiled in static like some sort of garbled video feed.

Tidus looked closer, as did the others. No, it was not static. The very shape of Sigma's head was subtly warping. Gushing streams of the strange violet substance took many forms, though most resembled the late Maverick leader in one way or another.

"This is much closer," Zelda said to X, "to the Sigma we fought in the future who was merged with Zero."

X glanced at her sideways, his effort geared towards lack of emotion. He tapped his control pad once again, and a quiet fizzling sound accompanied the change in lighting. Once again the purple wash shined across their faces and reflected upon the large glass windows of the Dreamweaver's conference room.

"It's Zero…" Nanaki realized with brimming curiosity. "They look the same as Sigma did," he said, noting the same delicate deformations in the static beings. "What exactly are we witnessing, X?"

"This and the previous images are physical manifestations of the Maverick virus," X said. "And what I'm about to tell you is considered to be the largest secret on my entire planet."

They waited patiently. X breathed hard.

Raven squeezed his arm just beneath the shoulder pads where his protective plating was softer and more sensitive, a fact that she had become well aware of. An intoxicatingly inspiring sensation rippled throughout him.

"During one of the campaigns against Sigma, we witnessed these," he indicated the clones of Zero. "For the longest time, we all thought Sigma was behind the virus, but these images were strong proof that it was actually the Maverick Zero who began everything though his first battle with Sigma so long ago. Zero had actually been captured by Sigma, not destroyed, and they took the opportunity to study such a powerful reploid while they had the chance. To their amazement, there was nothing left of the Maverick virus – as they called it then – in Zero's body. They reprogrammed him and he started from scratch as a free and good reploid. Maverick revolts still continued to occur every so often without our knowledge of how, but eventually Sigma went berserk and came to control the rest of the Mavericks himself. It was assumed that he had started everything, and after all, that was what he claimed, and he believed it because even he didn't know that Zero was behind it. For that matter, neither did Zero at the time with his reprogrammed brain. Something within him, like a second personality, continued to hold and spread the virus after reacquiring it through fighting Sigma. Unlike other reploids, Zero was completely unaffected emotionally, and he even became physically stronger from the virus, so none of the Maverick Hunters ever suspected except for the two of us."

"I'm embarrassed to continually flaunt my ignorance," Red XIII grinned, "but if the virus did not affect Zero, then how did he… become what he is now?"

"That's part of why I'm telling you this," Mega Man answered. "The non-Sigma strain of the virus was growing stronger, resulting in these manifestations that appeared like Zero. It was theorized that they were pure samples of the virus that came from him, unlike the ones spread by Sigma. Those ones managed to cause harm to Zero. Since then, he's been fighting both the original and the Z-virus, but being sent the Triforce of Power shouldn't have in any way pushed him over the edge. If anything, it should have helped him fight even harder. So the only logical conclusion is that Ganondorf sent something else, whether he was aware of it or not, and whatever that something was it caused a massive instability in Zero, turning him into the monster he is now."

Raven sighed, holding X's hand tighter.

"We need to find out what Ganondorf did," Zelda insisted.

Mega Man X nodded to her and then to them all. He continued. "Even before Zero was reprogrammed, he wasn't this calculatingly disturbed. Neither was Sigma while he led the Mavericks. The goal of the Mavericks has always been to conquer and evolve, not whatever Zero's attempting to do by destroying the timeline. He is something much more evil now."

A cynical jeer came from the Kokiri woman sitting in the dim light.

"Is there a problem?" Nanaki eyed her.

"No," she responded with a vacant grin. "But I think it would be more accurate to describe Zero as many evil things, and that's excluding whatever personalities are fighting each other in his mind."

X glared at her. For some reason she was suddenly being very callous and distant from the conversation as well, but whereas the others exuded emotions that he and Raven could faintly.

"She has a point," Zelda said gravely to X. "We may have stopped Sigma, but Zero still has Sephiroth and Jenova, and possibly even Ganondorf. What is the purpose in absorbing all of these life forms?"

"Simple," X stated confidently. "If anything, it's the only obvious similarity between the virus's behavior before and now. As long as the virus spreads between multiple hosts, it can't be destroyed unless all of the hosts are. As long as Zero has the bodies and souls of Jenova, Sephiroth and Ganon, he can fight us without risking total destruction. The difference is that the virus used to spread to other people from Zero, whereas now Zero makes other people a part of him. It's likely he'll attempt to find others if he hasn't already."

Zelda, Raven and Tidus found themselves thinking inevitably about their encounter with Jenova-Zero. The princess in particular clenched her fists beneath the table and pursed her lips nervously. She had been killed, torn to pieces, only to be pulled back in time by the chaos emerald. The sensation was nearly as horrific in reverse, and every moment.

"Zelda, are you alright?" Raven asked caringly. "Your face is flushed."

She nodded and wiped her brow. "I was just thinking. About the chaos emerald. Zero wanted to take it from us in the Deathflow. It saved my life and the life of…" she bit her tongue, "…many others."

Everyone but Raven looked to X for guidance, including Saria, whose glare was strangely menacing. The dark sorceress simply kept her hand wrapped in his, only letting him fall into the outside of her sight.

"So many unknowns," X said to himself, though the others all heard it. "But I can answer more for you than I could before, and the chaos emeralds are a part of it. There's a connection between the emeralds and the Lifestream that I think you'll be interested to hear about."

He stood firmly, reluctant to release Raven's grip.

"I said that the Maverick virus was the greatest secret on my planet, but that would make the chaos emeralds one of the greatest secrets in the entire galaxy. I don't know everything, but there's an important connection between the emeralds, the Lifestream, and the Triforce. Aboard the Dreamweaver are six out of the seven emeralds. Come with me, and I'll show you them."


	52. I am Reploid

**Chapter 52 – I am Reploid**

_I have hidden so much from so many. I existed inanely for two decades at the beginning of my life, then learned to become what I am now from something I always thought inferior, worthless, and even parasitic: a human. Since my harsh lessons in humility, wisdom, and the limitless potential of the supposed 'heart' of a being, I have journeyed across dimensions, times and galaxies, discovering what it means to exist and the power of this 'heart' that I somehow have been given as a machine. Seldom did I make… friends. But I have lost loved ones regardless of my position as a staunch observer, and once I even tried to kill myself as a result. Clearly, I failed. Many years have passed since that long-forgotten event, and by my internal clock and the time measurement of my birth planet, tomorrow will bring my one-hundred twenty-sixth birthday. For the life of me… I don't even know what that means anymore. If I am not killed, I don't know if I will ever die. If circumstance allows me to survive the onslaught of Zero's wrath, what will I do?_

"What is it, Alexander?" The Sage of Light spoke at nothing atop the peak of a thick, grassy knoll. A small glow like a firefly beating inside his cloak reacted to the question. A second one joined the first, holding a conversation of lights in his body.

"Bahamut, you don't seem very grateful that I rescued you from the Deathflow. I know you'd rather be with Yuna, but after being passed from generation to generation, I didn't think you'd be so discerning. I thought that being back in the time period of young Cloud Strife might be nostalgic for you."

The second red glow beat strongly a few times.

"You must sense the disturbances in the timeline," spoke the Sage of Light very seriously. "After all, you are remnants of things that once were, existing within the timeless Lifestream. I would not bring you back here without purpose."

Both of the aeons within the red materia orbs in his body remained silent, leaving him to wonder if they were contemplating that statement. In the distance, perhaps a few kilometers away, was a rising cliff face that allowed the afternoon sun to spread its shade. There was a gentle sound – a soft hum and a force of wind – coming from beyond it. At nearly one-hundred twenty-six years of age and experience, and with the reploid technology he had evolved with through those years, he may have been the only person capable of hearing its subtlety on all of Mobius. The several hundred million inhabitants, many of them considered anthropomorphic creatures from his species' standpoint, retained a majority of the same heightened traits that their less intellectually developed animal counterparts held. Hence, he theorized that the canine or sonar-based creatures could not have out-heard his mechanically superior sound receptors. Despite that, in rare cases that the sage had noted from studies and various computer banks that he had effortlessly hacked into, some species even developed _more _superior abilities than they had once had as a coupling effect from their heightened intelligence. On the other hand, some of these human-animal races developed completely new skills, and the Sage of Light reflected on the Echidna race specifically. Many of them were dreadlocked, and they had also developed remarkably aerodynamic body shapes. Combine the two, and you got a portion of the population that could almost _fly_ across their secluded land with no mechanical assistance. With the right wind currents, it became a reality for those best suited.

For any unfortunate soul who had not experienced the Echidna home throughout their childhood, the sight of the Floating Island (and the remarkably quiet sound it made through the sky), made people's arms hang to the side and their jaws drop open like a weight hung from their chin. Hearing the great land mass declare its elegance before it emerged somehow made the experience breathtaking in ways that others could not appreciate. Much like waiting for the sun to rise, knowing that the moment of its arrival is getting closer and closer, holding one's lungs in tight as the first light breaks through; yes, it was something very much like that for the reploid sage. He found that, for the first time in a very long time, he was appreciating the fusion of nature's raw beauty and what living beings had done with it.

"I don't understand what you're saying," said the cloaked reploid to the beating aeons, but he had lied, partially. Listening to them convey sensations and ideas through his mechanical tissue was an exercise in interpretation. What his aeons, Alexander and Bahamut, were expressing through the medium of his flesh and conscious thought was clear only if they had a one-track message like anger, warning, joy, and even love; simple, directed emotions such as these were very easy to recognize. Now, the sage found himself lost trying to pull apart the mix of caution, skepticism, and doubt that they sent from their resting place in his arms to the rest of them. He did, however, know that he found the message irritating at best. They were ruining the moment.

At that thought, they pressed the same message even harder, but a vision that felt near tangible came with it.

"Zelda?" he asked defensively. Her slim figure, golden hair, and long legs were imprinted beneath his eyes. "What, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?" growled the sage at both the message and the image of her that they did not do justice. "You find her untrustworthy? She and her lineage have protected the legacy of the Triforce, the Ocarina of Time, and the Hero of Time for countless centuries."

Alexander resonated strongly in his right arm while the Floating Island's desert edge appeared above the crest of the plateau. The Sage of Light continued to watch it, trying not to let the aeons distract him. Unlike Mobius's or Earth's suns (or really any planet warming star, for that matter), the diameter of the Floating Island as it breaks the horizon never seems to stop increasing. Even at the relative size of several suns across, the island continues to expand exponentially in width for the viewer, having not even shown a quarter of its full magnitude.

He found that he was thinking of Zelda once again and almost cursed Alex and Bahamut out of anger, but he realized that the reminders of the princess were purely his own. His well-practiced vacancy of expression was useless against aeons, and they could sense his reaction to the potency of recent memories. The Light Sage recalled with pinpoint visual precision her smashed, bloodied knuckles aboard X's ship and the long, golden-blonde hair that had continued to caress his wounds as she sacrificed her strength for him in Gaia's thousand-year future.

When he had first met her at Turtle Rock in the Dark World, the sage had thought she was quite lacking, as so many humans were, the Hylian breed being no exception, but she grew incredibly stronger in his eyes in a remarkably brief time. Zelda had lost everything in every sense of the word, her friends, her kingdom, and even her own Hero of Time, but she still learned to fight with the strength to support Mega Man X and the other sages even though she no longer was one. The additional irony that she had such strength in a land that was very pre-industrial was rather astounding, the Light Sage admitted with a grin while the vision of soaring land front of him grew even greater in size.

The jagged underside of the Floating Island deterred those unfamiliar with it from trespassing, but they were no less a wonder of nature than the rest of the Echidna home. It was seldom that pieces ever broke off the island, and sometimes when the flying continent neared mountain tops, the forces keeping it aloft collected loose debris or chunks of land weighing as much as several hundred kilograms. For a much different feel to this subjugator of the common sunrise, a lucky person might just catch the entire underside of the Floating Island covered in stolen snow as it brings rain to those beneath it.

"I suppose you expect me to sever ties with the princess just because you told me to."

Though they had no breath to hold, the sage noted that the aeons felt as if they were holding air in judgmental frustration.

"You're hardly infallible," said the reploid sage. "You're just as capable of error as any human. I'll do as I see fit, and that involves Princess Zelda Hyrule whether you wish it or not."

The materia orbs became dormant in a surprising instant. Apparently they no longer wished to argue and chose to hibernate within him neutrally, the way most people experienced red materia.

"Finally, no one to pick at my thoughts or words," he growled, and he noticed that his tattered brown cloak was beginning to blow from the fierce wind brought about by the Floating Island's movement.

"Almost time," he whispered despondently, watching and listening as the flying continent blotted out sunlight with ease. "Don't you think I know?" he continued to himself in private. "I know more than many of you aeons could ever dream to understand. I know what Zelda is responsible for, but no one knows what she may do with this Hero of Time, and I am willing to take the risk. Zelda did not mean for Link to disappear, and as a fellow reploid, I know that Mega Man won't allow a woman to corrupt the Hero of Time that he claims to be. Rather, that dark girl is his strength. Of course, none of that truly matters. And as for Zelda… it has yet to be seen, but judging by the way she's handled the Chaos Emeralds in the recent past, if she were to obtain all seven…"

A crackle of crumbling rocks reflexively but coolly turned his gaze upwards. His advanced sight, reploid though it may have been, was entirely unnecessary to see the enormous boulder careening towards him from the sky, picking up incredible speed like a missile drop from an aircraft. The sage cocked his head.

"Ah. I've been discovered," he amused himself. "I was expecting Zero and his demonic ilk first, but it seems the Echidnas do, in fact, have things to hide as well."

His eyes began to burn with scarlet flames through his visor. The rock was almost upon him, yet it didn't stir any inclination to move. Simply dodging would be easy, but the closer, the better. He noted the remarkable and rather impossible way that the rock altered its course without visible means of propulsion. It was making sure to direct itself in such a way that was most challenging for the target to dodge, at a steep angle increasing the radius of destruction upon impact. Fascinating.

"Alex, what do you think? Are my reflexes failing me in my old age, or merely growing stronger after a century and a quarter?"

The holy aeon awakened from its dormant state and acknowledged the question but left him without the distinction of a response. Alexander – his knowledge and wisdom based greatly on logic – was still able to detect the query's rhetorical nature to get an internal grin out of his host. Only a few seconds from crushing him, blotting out the entire island's mass and majesty and the light setting down on the lush knoll, the Sage of Light shrugged with a deep huff.

"I'll just have to settle for the Floating Island's topside."

His body began to emit a gentle red aura as his insides hummed with a soft electric whirr.

The reploid ability to dematerialize had a unique but seldom used trait, and having lived for more than a century, he among few knew of it. His body dissolved and dissipated just before the point of impact, and the guided boulder collided with his partially dissolved molecules in an explosive and violent reaction. The explosion was blinding and lethal to the organic plant life below. It was a sight to see for whoever was watching, and that was the purpose. Mildly displaced but otherwise completely intact, the Sage of Light's matter stream – an effectively concealing mix of red and browns in the stone explosion – soared upward a full kilometer into the thick under-crust at the island's edge, and then another quarter kilometer to the surface.

The Sage of Light reformed atop a blizzard of sand.

Machines had been prepared to defend the island in the Sandopolis region, an arid wasteland void of any consistent residents due to the utter lack of rainfall. The Islanders were not foolish, and they knew that this was the prime choice of entry for invaders of any kind, though the Sage of Light knew that they could never expect someone quite like himself.

Rather than execute intruders at that moment with gun placements, only cameras served as guards, camouflaged creatively as rocks or in miniature, crimson-tan sand dunes. That way a fierce and torturous interrogation could proceed upon capturing any trespasser.

The wind blew lightly and in variable gusts as it frequently did on this frontward face of the Floating Island, a primary reason for the dry weather, the intensity of erosion, and collection of new debris. Even meager sand storms hid their surveillance equipment from naked eyes. For the Light Sage, it was simply an application of the intense awareness imbued within his age, experience, and superhuman circuitry.

With one sleeve of his blood-stained cloak pulled up, the oval-shaped shield attached to him began to extend on his wrist. Metal discs separated and reconnect, spiraling outward until it reached a medium size just short of its body-shielding maximum. The sage stared through the layers of shifting sand in front of his eyes, and he narrowed his vision beyond the veil of his hood; a small mound caught his attention and made him raise an eyebrow at it.

His disc ripped out of grip with a forceful throw, and it hovered low to the ground, slicing the unusual mound clean apart, revealing the spherical camera and the sparking wires left from where it was separated from itself.

"One down," said the sage. He held out his arm. The white shield with red trim had gone out of sight in the veils of sand in the air, but the sound it made like razors wildly spinning was coming back within earshot. A moment later it cut through the sediment walls and a magnetic force from his wrist returned it effortlessly to him, where it shrank back to portable size. He continued the search carefully.

A few rock formations were at the edge of his path of normal sight. He thought that there would be one there for sure. His other hand aimed, and his fingers retracted smoothly. He fired a small spread of concentrated electrical bursts from his Light-Buster, and one of them caused a chunk of rock to spark and explode with abnormal exuberance. That made two.

Nothing else appeared immediately suspicious. Just a pair of cameras was not enough, though. In any immediate area, three would be more effective to cover multiple angles while still being inconspicuous. Fewer would prove ineffective, he thought. A greater number would be too easy to find.

Slowly, methodically, he took three steps forward and a strange sound crunched underneath his feet, more like snow than sand. Stepping back, his metallic footprint didn't appear quite uniform to him. Allowing his Buster to become a hand again, the Sage of Light flattened his palm and drove his fingers deep within the sand, allowing a metal rod to find its way into his grip once the sand had reached elbow length.

The camera hidden in the sand was ripped from its power source and tossed negligently over the island's edge for a mile long drop that would reduce it to bits.

He flinched. Alexander was beating again, causing a resonant pulse that jolted his arm. It was so strong it made his reploid musculature fall limp as if he were flesh and blood struck by too high a voltage. Pin pricks stabbed from his chest outward as his nano-circuitry rebooted itself and spasmed the shocked and disabled joints with very thorough, very absolute pain. A moment later, the sense of touch allowed him to feel his cloak waving against him in the wind once again, but it was inhibited by the sage's anger.

"For so ancient a being, I expected more wisdom out of you, Alex. But then again, you're just a memory, aren't you? Only a fragment. Same with Bahamut, Axel and even Rikku. You're just a once-was being, saved by the Lifestream. I know far better than you, and you can't stop me from achieving my goals. I will gather the emeralds together with Zelda. We will stop Zero _our_ way."

With a painful surge of light and daggers in each of his shoulders, the two red materia orbs popped out, not without a great deal of effort. They had resisted, and now they were merely precious stones that could do nothing without a host to draw energy from. They were, as he said, just memories. Someone had to make them real, and if they planned on trying to stop him, then he would have nothing to do with them.

The Sage of Light set them into a pouch in his cloak and wandered into the vast Sandopolis desert of the Floating Island while deep in thought.

_I am reploid. I am almost one-hundred twenty-six years old, and my strength is unparalleled. The far future that stares ahead of me may be clouded, but for all my trials, sufferings, and uncertainties, I know what lies directly in front of me and my destiny. The footsteps of the coming days will either bring solace or apocalypse, and I shall see to it that the prophecy of greatest light versus greatest evil will come to fruition, and it shall be Zelda and I who will bring down the rays of judgment upon Zero's poisonous grip on time. This is what my heart guides me to. It must be so._

_Hence, come, wielder of blackest chaos. You are also a part of this struggle. I have no need for Raven. My Sage of Darkness shall not be her._


	53. Shadow and Light

**Chapter 53 – Shadow and Light**

"I don't normally care about the Floating Island surveillance," Shadow the Hedgehog stated in his dark, abrasive voice. "But finding it all destroyed is cause for concern."

He and Rouge had taken one of the small pods from the ARK and made the short trip down the surface from the orbital colony. The island was currently hovering on the side of the planet that faced the ARK, so it was exceptionally quick lasting a mere fifteen minutes before they landed at the edge of the Sandopolis region. The shuttle was then sent back to its docking port at the colony on autopilot, and the black, watch shaped device to control its return for them was safely tucked underneath Shadow's right glove.

Detective work tried the dour hedgehog's patience, but if someone or something was coming for the Echidnas with violence in mind, he intended to know as soon as possible. Two of the destroyed cameras didn't worry him as much as the third. The one of most importance was also the most noticeable. Embedded into a chunk of dark, desert stone was where he surmised that it had been situated, but the camera was reduced to metallic splinters, and the rock itself had been blown into many pieces by a violent, explosive force. The scent of burnt stone and machinery lingered only when he brought some of the rubble directly to his nose. Sand infused winds erased any other trace of odor as soon as it escaped the broken fragments.

"Shadow," Rouge called, her deep, alluring intonation lost in the need to yell through the sand storm. "It's hard to tell, but it looks like there are footprints here."

Her black-purple wings blew raggedly in the unpleasant desert weather, so she curled them up underneath her arms so that the tips rested on her metallic breastplate. She only wished they were long enough to cover her ears. By the time they reached shelter there would be a small beach's worth to shake out.

Shadow discarded the metallic fragments like garbage and examined the faint dips in the sand that the bat woman was kneeling to inspect. He could see what she meant. As though someone had dropped a large bowl too many times, several slight depressions – alternating left and right – led out into the brownish wall of fast blowing particle grit.

He got closer. Something felt off when he neared the prints. His forehead and chest tingled. Rouge said something that he didn't hear; the sensation was growing too strange, familiar even. Shadow dunked his hand into the soft sand. Power rippled up his arm fiercely, and he could have sworn that golden ring braces on his wrists pulsated.

The hedgehog narrowed his eyes as he stood and mindlessly paced forward with his white teeth showing out of the corner of his mouth. His fists clenched out of tension, and he knew that the possibility of near-future combat, the kind that invigorated his tightly bound emotions, was growing the longer he looked at the vanishing trail.

"Shadow, where are you going?" Rouge asked, bewildered. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

He didn't respond and began slowly picking up speed, acting trance like in his movements and seemingly oblivious to what she said.

Rouge knew she could not keep up with him if he accelerated to top speed, or even half speed, for that matter. The incredible way in which he could traverse flat terrain with a movement infinitely smoother and fiercer than a rollerblade glide would quickly overtake her comparably snail-like forty mile per hour sprint. She considered gliding, but the sand would have made it very ineffective as well as unpleasant, because it would allow much more of the desert grit to slip past the tops of her boots and breastplate, and no one likes sand in their toes and _especially _not in the cleavage. She hurried ahead to grab his shoulder before he became too fast to catch.

"Shadow, tell me what's going on," she hoped for a response.

Surprisingly, he stopped dead.

"I haven't felt that sensation in a long time," the black hedgehog growled. Shadow unclenched his hands, and he realized that they were shaking from a tightly capped gale of anger, excitement and worry bottled into one volatile phenomenon. There was no formal way to describe it.

"I felt them, Rouge."

She stepped back, confused and even a little uneasy, but deep in her mind a suggestion occurred that she didn't want to share with him. "Who do you feel?"

He pivoted, wearing eyes wider than they normally ever grew. His hands continued to shake. Clenching them again didn't make it stop, and Shadow twitched his jaw angrily.

"Shadow," Rouge whispered. Her hands touched him cautiously, one of them amidst the spines on his back, which he allowed. "Please, you can tell me anything." Her other hand slid down his slim but firm bicep towards his hand.

Shadow stepped away from her. "I felt… the chaos emeralds."

She suddenly forgot how to breathe. Her hands reached for her chest, but all she could do was claw at the metal breastplate that protected her instead. Gasping in dumbfounded astonishment let the sand blow into her mouth until she began to cough. Thoughts of the emeralds and all that they could do and had done to the world and to shadow buckled her at the knees, and her coughing became worse, drying her mouth badly.

Through the sound of her coughing, Rouge heard Shadow shouting fiercely, and then the particles of sand came to a halt. As far as she could tell, so had she. That is, until Shadow touched the nape of her neck as lightly as he could, like brushing the tiniest feather against her skin.

"Catch your breath," he whispered, still looking away.

How could she hear him with the storm raging?

It struck her deftly, and the realization didn't help her breathing even if the Chaos Control did. It was as though she could count every little speck of sand that passed like… well, like nothing else, but the closest was slowly falling snow, except much slower than that. It had been a long time since she had experienced the strength of his Chaos Control and how thoroughly it halted time for anyone and anything of his choosing. But what made it continually difficult to stop gasping was the comprehension that after the emeralds had mysteriously vanished over a year ago, he had slowly lost the ability until it was almost useless. That could only mean one thing. Now, as she managed to spit the moisture sucking desert gravel from her throat, she knew that they had to be back. Somewhere on Mobius, no, somewhere right on the Floating Island not far ahead of them, a dangerous person had at least one chaos emerald, maybe more.

"Stupid… lungs," she panted. She pried the metal plate away from its clamps, showing a much less protective, heart-shaped crop top that clung to the edges of her black body suit. Despite how irritatingly pink she knew Shadow had always found it, she unexpectedly found him staring, and she quickly understood what he looked at. The smooth, tan flesh at the top of her chest had two very noticeable discolorations that she had done everything she could to fix. Scars.

"How did you get those?" he asked her. He sounded furious.

"Never mind that now," she protested, equally raising the temper of her voice to match his. "If the emeralds are back on the island, we could all be in danger."

"Rouge, tell me how you got…"

She snapped at him with a growl. "You didn't give a damn when it happened, so why do you give a damn now?"

Shadow was taken aback and the Chaos Control ended abruptly. He still appeared angry and unwaveringly stern through the resuming gusts of sand, but the speechlessness and the way he held his breath in told her that she had struck a sensitive nerve somewhere in the mess of the iron chains that made up his feelings. A glint of satisfaction set a tiny blaze in her eyes, but her stomach followed by churning her into guilt, as if one part of her body was determined to spite the other.

Rouge bit her lip and stared past him crossly. "We should just go."

She pressed the purple, Y-shaped plate back into place without looking at him. It contoured to her body and covered the pink heart and her scars thoroughly, and her teeth clenched with anger because Shadow knew what hid underneath it.

Rouge started to run without thinking, squinting her eyes against the sand, and Shadow followed at her side deliberately a few inches further back than her. Keeping up with Rouge was remarkably simple. He skated along the dunes just above thirty miles per hour he guessed from the wind speed that struck his body. It would be a moderate nuisance getting the sand out of his fur and spines, he knew, and moving at top speed would prevent most of it from even touching him, but he instead chose to allow Rouge her anger while he wondered what had happened.

Shadow found it hard to neglect the powers of chaos that he felt radiating from the path that they followed; someone very dangerous, as Rouge had said, was heading towards Echidnopolis very quickly. Faster than them, it seemed, as he noticed the footprints spontaneously replaced with two straight, parallel lines that were quite possibly the remnants of tire tracks.

He fought the growing angst and desire in him, as well as that unfortunate foreboding sense that something very dark was going to happen. Instead he recreated in his mind the brief glimpse he had caught of her scars. They had been small and somewhat circular, but clearly deep and life-threatening by the distortion in color. He wondered. It could have been a knife or other sharp object, but Rouge was too strong and too careful to let something like that happen.

The thought of her being stabbed in the chest twice or perhaps more times made him cringe inwardly. He found himself grinding his teeth as if he was going to crush them against each other, fighting both the anger and the other less comfortable emotions. Shadow quickly shrugged the thoughts off. If someone had been able to get that close to stab her hard multiple times, she probably wouldn't even be alive. No, it just wasn't likely at all.

Gunshot wounds then? Those weren't so easily avoidable, and judging by her outburst, he figured that they had been life threatening and therefore high caliber. Small pistols and sub-machine gun bullets probably couldn't have even made it to her organs, Shadow knew from how impressively durable she was, though not nearly as much as him. He grinned as he recalled how he could shrug off low velocity bullets without Chaos Control, even to the head, assuming that anyone could actually aim well enough to hit him.

And yet, Shadow was pursued by the internal vision once again. Rouge was in his mind being blanketed in bullets by an invisible gunman outside the scope of his mental creation. The background was blank and meaningless as the metal shells tore through her, blood droplets spitting out initially, followed by…

"Ngh!"

Shadow clutched his forehead and looked up from the ground, still gliding through sand.

_Focus on something else, damn it_, Shadow told himself.

At her slower speed, they would be going for almost an hour until they reached the Sandopolis temple ruins that bordered the Angel Jungle. He was glad that Rouge hadn't heard him groan in discomfort to the painful reenactment in his head. Shadow had observed over the past few years he had known her that frustration and haughtiness were among the most frequent outbursts that she articulated, but outright anger was odd. An anomaly to him, really, but the scars obviously had leverage.

The black hedgehog frowned unhappily. He didn't need such morbid thoughts. He tried to pick up the scent of the emeralds again, which wasn't difficult at all, but it became harder every time he glanced over at the white bat woman. Her legs kicked up at remarkable speeds, ripping the left indentation apart while he skated along the other. He decided that the trip would be more tolerable if he was next to her rather than slightly behind. That way he wouldn't be as uncomfortably inclined to notice her.

For miles of desert, the path was completely straight. Both of them noticed that they _hadn't _noticed a change at any point. It was incredibly consistent and straight throughout every rising and falling dune, as if the creator of the tracks had known precisely where to start and what direction to go during one of the more blinding storms that Sandopolis suffered. It was too perfect.

The blue sky began to show. As if on cue, the flying sand thinned out, and blue sky with a spatter of thin white clouds began to dominate above them. In front of them, a skeleton city constructed in the same color as the bright, sunlit sand began to rapidly expand as they approached it. The abandoned desert structures were camouflaged into the dunes, and many were even buried from years of nonuse. Since the only abundant source was sand, the domiciles were constructed of hardened desert bricks.

Then, looking down, the trail vanished immediately, and they both came to a stop. It had led directly to the ruins, and there was no clear indentation in the sand where the culprit could have escaped to. It was smooth as far as the eye could see, but the light breezes still existed in this spot even though the sand storm. If there was a secret passage it would be a nightmare to find.

"What now?" Rouge groaned and set her hands on her hips. She was a bit out of breath.

Shadow hummed in contemplative thought. He turned back to the tracks and bent down to inspect them. Touching the sand with his fingers and eyeing it carefully, he didn't notice any difference between it and the tracks they had followed for miles, but something soon caught his eye. There were always slight, occasional differences in the color of the sand, but a small portion of it at the end of the tracks was almost black. He spread it around further, revealing even more black sand. He did the same with the other of the two trails, revealing more black sand. Shadow then traced the sand backwards a few feet, revealing no black sand at all.

"I think our elusive target may have taken to the sky," said the black hedgehog.

Rouge narrowed her eyes and followed him to the tracks, seeing the darkened sand with understanding. "Burn marks."

They both stared upward in the direction of the tracks. Rouge leapt first and glided to the ruins with her wings. It was built in hollowed out, varying sized tiers made for living, none of which were too high for her to jump to the top of. Shadow followed shortly behind, jumping higher but falling faster without wings. They quickly reached the top about the empty, sandstone structures fifty meters from the ground, and sure enough, the trail resumed, but with a bit of a variation from the landing of whatever they were following.

From the point where the two streaks of sand continued there a large boot print with no noticeable treads and a slight point to its front, and more noticeably, it was only on the left side.

"Shadow!" Rouge pointed to something just ahead of the boot print.

The black hedgehog scoffed when he traced her finger to the obvious hand shape pressed into the sand between the tracks. Shadow placed his hand into the remnant of one temporarily framed by the ground. Even gloved, the other person's hands were larger. Then, he felt it again. His body shuddered into tight muscular spasms and exhilaration that focused his gaze to the path ahead. The chaos energy that this person exuded was getting stronger.

Rouge paced ahead down the sand slope that disguised the ruins from that side as a simple mound of sand. She breathed hard in confusion. Shadow had heard it, and he dashed to her side immediately.

The trail stopped again, but it was much more pronounced this time. Though it had gone on and on for miles without a single twist before, the two parallel streaks now whipped to one side and then stopped. This time there was no black sand to indicate that the pursued was airborne, and the last time that had happened there still hadn't been a change in the unbelievable straightness of it. Stranger yet, unlike the hand print, Shadow sensed very little energy from the chaos emeralds even when he placed his hands at the end of the tracks.

"Well, what now? I'm sweating," Rouge pouted, feeling more drained under the hot sun than she had before. Sights at a distance were distorted from the sheer heat rising off the light reflecting desert, making the temperature much less pleasant than it had been in the storm. The gusting wind was also much milder, making the natural fan of wind gusts ineffective.

"We have to find out where he went," directed Shadow as he continued to inspect where the path had stopped. "Especially if he knows that we've been tailing him."

"Well, that's awfully sexist," Rouge glowered at him. "How do you know it's not a she that we're looking for?"

Shadow rolled his eyes with a scowl.

A tiny wisp of laughter fluttered over the air.

Rouge scoffed angrily at the chuckle. "Shadow the Hedgehog, how dare you be so rude to me!"

He stood very, very slowly, staring at his surroundings, at everything around them except for her.

"Rouge," he said quietly, "that wasn't me."

"Indeed it was not," boomed the voice. It echoed across the sands, coming from everywhere. "And I also find it sexist that you presume that I'm male _or_ female. You should never make assumptions regarding the chaos emeralds. You _both_ know that."

"And just who and what are you?" Shadow demanded, shouting at the sky.

"Such boring questions, yet again," he snapped. "Can't anybody spare an ounce of originality?"

The black hedgehog paused for a moment and then grinned with narrow eyes. "As a matter of fact, I can now. Since you said that, I know that you've been asked those same questions many times, and so I know you've traveled to many places and hid from many people. You're powerful, an anomaly among anomalies, much like myself, but you aren't well known because you hide, also like me. You aren't immediately hostile or friendly, and you claim to be neither male nor female, which means that you're another creature altogether or a machine, or perhaps some unfortunate genetic disaster as a result of worthlessly dimwitted inbred parents."

The voice hummed a small and neutral laugh.

"I doubt the latter one," Shadow continued, "because that would most likely make you too stupid to know precisely where to go without the slightest swerve in the middle of a desert storm. That's the trait of a machine, but at the same time that would have to make you a machine that can use the chaos emeralds. It takes emotion and inner strength to properly use the emeralds through any machine. So that would imply that you're not a machine, or perhaps you're a very rare machine with the ability to feel just as Rouge or I can. Since I was genetically created and have the ability to feel – not all that different from the creation of a machine – there is a possibility that you can feel too, machine or not."

"Fascinating," the voice echoed again. "And what question does that lead you to?"

"Hmph," Shadow grunted. "I was created primarily by a creature from another planet, and the technology to create another like me doesn't exist on all of Mobius. So, my question is: were you created by the extraterrestrial monster known as Black Doom, and why do you have the scent of the chaos emeralds?"

It sounded as though the invisible being was smiling. "Extremely specific," he said, and they both spun.

Standing behind them, no footprints leading to the place it stood, was a person with a brown, heavily stained, tattered cloak. His face was mostly covered, but they could see the shaded mouth and chin of something that appeared human, and when the slight gusts caused the cloak to sway, they could see a sort of boot, shiny, wide and metallic, and with a slight point at the front, exactly like the footprints they had found.

"You may call me the Sage of Light," he said, not waiting for them to adjust to the fact that he appeared out of nowhere. "And to your first question, no. Although I am familiar with the being you call Black Doom, I have never met nor was I created by him or Doctor Gerald Robotnik, your co-creator and Doctor Ivo Robotnik's grandfather, for that matter."

Shadow snorted at the names of both Robotniks.

As he watched the cloaked man step forward, Shadow instinctively placed a hand in front of Rouge and matched the step, placing himself between the strange being and her. Even though she was still angry with him, the gesture made her heart leap, but she forced herself to keep a firm expression. When the enigmatic being approached even closer, they both realized that he was almost a solid foot taller than they were, and considerably broader.

"To your second question," the cloaked person continued, "I do not actually have a chaos emerald, though I did recently. What you are sensing is merely residual energies from when it was in my possession as well as other similar energies I hold that you cannot yet comprehend."

"If you don't have the emerald, who _does_?" Shadow commanded, ignoring the rest of what he had said.

"I returned it to the previous owner," he said plainly. "You'll meet him soon enough."

The cloaked man walked even closer, within arm's reach. Rouge resisted the urge to cling to Shadow, and the dark hedgehog kept his protective hand up, planting himself in the sand as he craned his neck to stare the stranger in the face, or what little he could see of it. A black visor like an out-of-scale pair of sunglasses covered everything but the bottom of his nose, his mouth and his chin, all of which were sharp and dignified in appearance but smooth and un-weathered like a young human.

"Have you ever considered that the chaos emeralds are not the most powerful things in existence?" he asked, and it sounded like the question was pointedly directed at Shadow only, not Rouge.

"I've considered it," said Shadow, irritated, "but like any civilization, it's difficult to consider something that you don't understand. When people used to live in caves, they probably thought that lightning and fire were the most powerful things in existence, but in today's world we can create explosions and disasters far more powerful, even without the emeralds." He glared at the cloaked being. "Are you saying that _you_ know of something more powerful?"

He hummed with an amused grin.

Before Shadow knew what was happening, his wrist was almost crushed in the incredible grip of this being, and a faint yellow glow appeared on his hand. If it were not for the strange yellow glow, he would have attacked, and he was still considering it with wide, angered eyes bared on this person. He hadn't even realized it, but Shadow had kept Rouge from attacking by the same calm hand that he still held in place. He turned his head to her with a nod explaining that what was happening was, although infuriating, not cause for panic.

His fingers fought to clench tightly into a fist even though the bones in his wrist wanted to buckle. Slowly, causing the immobile cloaked man to tilt his head in an impressed gesture, Shadow closed his hand. The air moved like swinging a steel pipe when the dark hedgehog tore his arm free, but he noticed that the yellow glow lingered on the back of his glove.

"Look at your hand," said the Sage of Light.

Shadow glared at him sideways, inspecting it while acknowledging the aura of invigoration that was suddenly flowing through his veins as well. He felt incredibly strong.

Beneath Shadow's glove on the back of his hand, a strange set of three glowing yellow triangles had appeared, forming a pyramid out of the three of them.

Behind his shoulder Rouge's eyes lit up in amazement. Her mouth hung wide, unable to pull her gaze from the shine.

The glow faded, but the mark – like a tattoo he had been given against his will – stayed where it was.

They looked up. The Sage of Light was gone.

It fell remarkably silent.

Rouge huffed before long. "What the hell was that?"

Shadow shrugged, still looking at his hand. "You're asking me?"

The sage's voice echoed once more. "You, Shadow, are the Sage of Darkness, a person who has suffered incredible pain and evil but has learned to control it into light. A war has inevitably been approaching Mobius, and it is partially up to you to prevent it from destroying all that you know."

Shadow focused hard. He realized that he could sense this 'Light Sage' nearby without being able to see him, but he couldn't before. Was the strange symbol on his hand responsible? Then, the presence vanished.

Once Shadow was sure that the cloaked man was out of earshot, he said, "What a jackass."

"I'll say," Rouge agreed. "And I thought _I_ had met some shady characters in my day. What do you think he meant by war coming to Mobius?"

He shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I think he was telling the truth. I also think I know where he's going and where he expects us to go."

"You do? Where?" Rouge asked him.

"He's headed to the underground chamber where the Master Emerald is held."

Rouge wiped sweat off her brow and face. "That means we're going, right?"

He raised an eyebrow. "We were headed there anyway. But now I wonder if the Echidnas know something about this Sage of Light. If there was anybody who would be hiding something even _more_ powerful than the chaos emeralds…" he glanced at the golden triangles again before sliding his white glove firmly back into place and tucked underneath the golden band that the cloaked man had moved. "Then it would probably be the Echidnas."

"So, what then? Nothing's changed?" Rouge asked, pacing uncomfortably in her own sweat and sand covered skin.

"Of course it's changed," Shadow said with spontaneous haste. "Now we need to get there faster."

The black hedgehog held out his arms, and his face was as serious as a stone.

"Oh no," Rouge backed away. "I'm a lady, not a piece of luggage. If you think…"

"Rouge!" he scolded, teeth tightly together and eyes burning. "I can still run twice your speed while carrying you, so if you want to come, come now. Otherwise, I'm leaving you here!"

The white bat woman threw up her arms in defeat. "Well, when you put…"

Shadow had already scooped her up in his arms and took off. They accelerated, swerving smoothly but rapidly from side to side while she held tightly around his neck.

Rouge couldn't hide the fusion of annoyance and elation on her face, but the stream of wind from the sheer speed that surpassed her very fastest forced water from her eyes until she was perpetually blind, so she couldn't see any reaction that he made to hers. It was contenting enough for her to be held tightly with the utmost care as Shadow skied through the remainder of the desert towards the Angel Jungle and soon thereafter to the Mushroom Forest and then Echidnopolis itself. Somehow, for her, it was hard to focus on the unreal visitor they had spoken with briefly, but she did wonder about the golden mark on Shadow's hand. It was there so suddenly. Rouge pictured them in her head. What could they mean for him? And what did they mean for her?

In the distance, a mass of lush greenery began to grow as they left the desert.


	54. Truth be Told, Part III

**Chapter 54 – Truth be Told – Part III**

Other than himself and Raven, Mega Man X had not taken anyone into his memoriam for a very long time. Not his reploid brothers, not the fair Tifa Lockhart, and not the other Teen Titans; not even Alia whom X had trusted explicitly had seen what had been hidden within its walls. And now, with four additional people in tow about to discover the secrets inside, X couldn't help but feel a deep sense of angst and discomfort about revealing what he had for so long intended to keep protected.

He surveyed them all, wondering if what he was about to do was truly the _right_ thing to do. There were others he had trusted more than these four newcomers that had never seen the artifacts and dangers hidden inside. Zelda met his eyes almost the same way Raven did, with admiration, respect, and the utmost faith. He swore that he even saw some of the affection that the dark sorceress shared. The only thing missing was the passion and an earnest understanding of who he was in the deepest crevasses of his heart. Zelda would do nothing to betray him.

Nanaki had a fatherly quality to him. If only for his children, X knew the wolf wouldn't allow the secrets of this room to fall into the wrong hands. But how could he trust his judgment? No one knew these things like he did. The emeralds, the true extent of what materia could do… only Mega Man knew better. It felt so dangerous to include them.

Saria and Tidus were worse. He barely knew Tidus, and Saria's behavior had been odd since she joined them in Midgar. And how exactly _had_ she managed that from light years away on another planet? Questions were mounting the more he considered it, yet there they all stood, waiting for him to reveal what could save or destroy everything. He swallowed hard, facing the fake wall that eluded those directly in front of it.

"_No more secrets_," Raven whispered to the echoing corners of his mind.

"No more secrets," X repeated aloud. He looked at all of them one last time, meeting their eyes, trying to see past them to the minds inside. He had to remind himself that these people were not reploids that could be warped by a virus. Perhaps this gesture of ultimate trust might earn the same from them, and there was only one way to tell.

Mega Man X turned his back and passed through the hologram. Shortly after, Raven gave the other sages and Zelda a quick nod and entered after him.

Zelda gracefully stepped into the hologram next, followed by a hesitant Tidus. Saria passed through wordlessly, and the old wolf trailed in last, contemplative and quiet.

The simple, titanium silver walls and pattern-grated floors belied the rarity of the relics underneath their glass cases. Each was given a grand pedestal of solid metal that spiraled in thick beams to a flat top where the items lay. As a declaration of significance, every artifact was given more than an arm span between it and the next. High above them, several stories up, a second and third floor held what Raven and X knew were the rarest and most dangerous of his treasures, and the sorceress knew that was undoubtedly where they were all headed.

Once they all reached a certain point, a large, square section of the floor began to lift them up. There were no rails; the six of them had to watch their step as the platform slowly inched towards the top, but Raven was more surprised than anyone else.

"You chose not to use this on purpose when you first brought me in here," Raven smiled incredulously. She laughed lightly, and warm tears touched her eyes. "You… wanted to hold me!"

X's face got very hot as he felt amused eyes on the back of his head, and he placed his arm around her just as they passed the second floor, when Zelda chimed in teasingly: "He thought you were beautiful the moment he laid eyes on you, and even more once he finally got the chance to speak to you in person."

Once again, Mega Man's reploid flesh was luckily immune to the colored flush of heat that Raven was so susceptible to.

"She's right, though," X tenderly kissed her forehead.

They had reached the top.

Nanaki pushed through from the back, entranced by the large case of materia in front of them, most of it green, but some were yellow, blue or purple. Much to his relief, there was no red materia amongst them.

"I think you're looking for this," X said, taking Phoenix from his body.

"You do have one," Red XIII stared grimly. "I guessed by the acceleration of your condition that you might be holding at least one summoning materia."

"Condition?" Tidus repeated with concern.

X glanced to the Sage of Water and then lowered his head, as did Zelda, Raven, and Red XIII. Saria reacted only mildly.

Mega Man and Raven told the story of what had happened on Gaia five years ago, how X used materia's power to challenge a monster known as the Ultima Weapon and lost, nearly dying in the process. They explained how Phoenix, the creature inside his materia, saved his life and in exchange requested that the chaos emeralds and many other of the artifacts in his memoriam be kept secret from all other beings. It was painful but necessary as they described Mako poisoning and how its cancer was eating away at X, Raven, and even Zelda because of her use of the chaos emeralds, a proving point that the Lifestream and the emeralds were connected somehow. At this point they knew that the Lifestream was a direct creation of the emeralds' presence, but they still didn't know why.

Lastly, X and Raven shared their experience with the Phoenix and how he told them of the great, first evil that had lived countless years in the past, trying to use its power to conquer everything. The tale of how the original sages fought to defeat it and how it was somehow returning to the present through Zero's body astonished them all.

X recalled one part of the story that was still a mystery. "One of the things I didn't understand was something Phoenix said about the old sages and the first Hero… he said that seven of the sages and the Hero of Time sacrificed something to stop the great evil, and the other sage remained to keep telling the story so that no one forgot. He said it as though it was the most important thing, but he never explained what he meant."

"It's quite possible," the wolf suggested while he eyed the materia, "that they sacrificed their lives to stop this ancient monstrosity."

X pursed his lips. "I thought of that too, but it still doesn't explain how it's relevant to now. At any rate, this isn't the time for wondering about the unknown. I have to show you the emeralds."

The reploid hopped head first over the waist-high class case of materia, and he phased through the wall with a rippling effect as though it were a standing wall of water. Raven shook her head with a smile for not realizing that the greatest secret had been right in front of her face on numerous occasions, and she hovered in after him.

The incredible gleam of one chaos emerald attracted the eyes of any living thing, but witnessing six of them all at once was a startling mental collision of sight and emotion that attracted the blind. There they lay in an unlit room in an unlit case, but by themselves they were more luminous than any other part of the ship. There were seven slots, three emeralds on either side of an empty slot dedicated to hold the final missing one. First glittered the sky blue emerald, the one they all recognized, and it held intense memories and the light of hope. Next was amethyst purple, releasing a deep, thoughtful aura to all who gazed on it. Adjacent to that was the flaring red emerald, blazing with the will to fight, and on the other side of the empty cavity a sunset orange emerald glistened with raw, unadulterated strength. The yellow chaos emerald made five, and something about its golden aura made their emotions rise with excitement and joy. Farthest right, the forest green emerald secreted tranquility from its perfectly cut, infinitely reflecting surface.

Only one remained absent.

Zelda stared as all the others did, but she found her knees growing weak, forcing her to lean hard against the side wall in the small, concealed room.

"My emotions… they're overflowing!" Zelda exclaimed.

"Such is the effect of the chaos emeralds throughout history," X said, and he held a nostalgic grin on his face that warmed the room. "Just by being near, they take our emotions and magnify them, giving tremendous strength to even the most ordinary person if their heart has the willpower."

"Pushing the limits of existence," Saria added, finding her rigid demeanor melted by the glory of the emeralds. She glanced at Nanaki, reminding him of their conversation in the Hall of Sages. "Is there a limit to what the emeralds can do? Can a person's _potential_ have no end?"

X couldn't pull his eyes away from the six glowing jewels. They were peaceful and brilliant, but he considered the possibility with interest. "I… don't know. Once… just once, I witnessed what happened when someone with an incredibly powerful heart obtained all seven and used them with all of his soul."

"I've already seen what can be done with a single emerald," Zelda whispered in awe. "I can't even comprehend what all seven could do."

X slowly shook his head, still smiling, and his hand inconspicuously and instinctively slid into Raven's, sharing warmth. "There's no way to describe it with words and give it justice. When I saw what all seven emeralds could do together… it's beyond anything the universe has ever seen."

He faced them gravely. "And that is the danger that they can pose if they fall into Zero's hands."

"How can we protect them?" Tidus asked, cutting to the chase.

"I'm hoping we won't need to," X answered the water sage. "I've attached the emeralds to a machine that can draw their power out for a single purpose."

Mega Man reached out to the red chaos emerald near the center, and it was suddenly deflected by a bright, static surge of energy.

"There's a force field around them," he explained. "Anytime anybody with the slightest emotion causes the emeralds to react, power is transferred into the force field. The more people push, the more emotion, anger and desire fills them, and it just gets more impossible to penetrate it. No living thing with emotion can take the emeralds from here, and since emotions are drawn out by the emeralds in the first place, it's the perfect defense."

"What about a remote controlled machine?" Tidus pressed.

X smiled. "You'd think, but emotions have a special trait that you might not know of. Physical objects can become _imprinted_ with the emotions of the people who touch them or come near. Makes even automated devices useless to the shield protecting them. Of course, as a backup there's the laser system, corrosive gases and liquid nitrogen spray, too. If anything unauthorized makes it into this room, they'll be vaporized, dissolved or frozen and shattered."

Raven rolled her eyes amusedly. "Overkill much?"

They all smiled as X answered with a wry grin, "No such thing."

The six chaos emeralds captivated them. It _was_ hard to maintain calm in front of their auras. They invoked so much thought and emotion and mental drive, and Raven was very grateful that since she had first met X, her strong emotions rarely seemed to set off her powers anymore. The sages were eternally grateful for the sky blue emerald on the far left, and memories both fleeting and horrific swept across their thoughts and senses. For Mega Man, the scent of sulfur and the incoming shockwave at Wutai staunchly remained in his forethought. Raven, Red XIII, Tidus and Saria could still feel the disorienting non-gravity of the Deathflow and the harrowing presence that Jenova-Zero invoked at mere sight.

But Zelda felt something much different. She felt longing and a twinge of loneliness that was telepathically drowned out by the emeralds, so no one sensed her. The princess harbored the torment of being away from the Sage of Light, and she alone bore the burden of keeping him secret for whatever purpose he had in mind. She backed away from everyone else to look down at the fading scars on her knuckles, and with a rising, breath-stealing sensation in her body, Zelda tried to remember how he had cared for her, and how in return she kept him from dying. Before she knew it her arms were wrapped around her own midsection, and the princess longed for him once more.

When Tidus broke the silence, Zelda cursed at him inside her thoughts for interrupting her memories.

"So how do you actually get them out of there?" he asked.

Zelda leered at the back of his head with pursed lips, trying to calm herself.

"There's only one way," X answered. "There must be no one near the emeralds invoking any kind of emotion, and they can have no objects on them whatsoever. Since my armor is a part of me and my emotions course through it, my armor can also reflect complete lack of emotion. So, I can remove all of my emotions, and then force field won't activate when I reach out for it."

"Incredible," Nanaki awed. "I cannot imagine showing no emotion in front of these."

"I wonder if I could do it," Raven contemplated.

X grinned. "Your clothes aren't a part of you like my armor is with me. They'll still hold emotion for a while even if you can go completely vacant. There's no way you could hold long enough for it to wear off on your robe."

"Looks like I have the advantage, then," Nanaki said. "I'm technically unclothed already."

Saria placed a hand on his shoulder. "I think you'd receive a very forceful awakening when the bangles on your legs and the ornaments on your braids set off the machine."

"Guys, this isn't a competition," said Mega Man as he rolled his eyes. "You can all practice naked if you want; we've got several days until we get to Earth. The point is, no one's getting in easily, especially Zero or any of his followers."

Competitiveness and curiosity aside, X's words were relieving.

None of them, save the reploid himself, knew well how easily the emeralds picked up emotion and how effective the shield was with even the slightest mental provocation, and each person felt varying levels of speculation and confidence to try it.

Zelda immediately made it a future goal. If she could calm her emotions enough, she could prove her strength of will to the Sage of Light. She could clearly remember the weathered tone of his deep voice and the grip of his seared hand as he fiercely held on to life. Bitterness mixed with the longing. Mako poisoning now afflicted her too because of the emerald, and a part of her wanted to blame the Sage of Light. Guilt became the usurper, knowing that without having used the chaos emerald he would surely have died. When it came down to it, Princess Zelda wanted nothing more than his approval, the approval of a man whose name she did not even know. Any unbiased party would assume that she had earned it if they knew the sacrifices that she had endured, becoming nearly emaciated for his sake, but she still felt a barrier that he would not entirely let down. Beneath that dark visor she had felt his eyes, Mako green, holding a prejudice that was rooted into the depths of his being. If it was the divide between a reploid and a human that kept them at a distance, then she was determined to shatter it and prove that she could be just as strong, perhaps even as strong as Mega Man X. The next time she saw him, Zelda swore she would be strong enough for him to reveal who he was.

Tidus posed a question. "What are all of us fighting for?" he asked thoughtfully. "And what have we lost along the way?"

"What makes you ask?" Mega Man said curiously.

Tidus shrugged with a youthful lack of grace. It looked odd compared to the bright light of the emeralds. "Ever since I got in here I've been thinking about all kinds of things. When I traveled with Yuna to defeat Sin a few years ago... well, it's a thousand years in the future for you… we had very different reasons for trying the impossible, but we still did it together. So why are _we_ fighting? Who are we fighting for?"

For a moment, the room relinquished its noise, allowing the gentle hum of the Dreamweaver engines and the sound of passing outer space to permeate the air. All heads had looked downward to consider what had been posed to them.

"I fight to protect the innocent," Raven began, drawing everyone's eyes and ears. Her words were solemn and her posture was firm. "To allow those who don't have the strength to fight a chance to live their lives to the fullest. What I've lost is the person that I used to be. I lost the safety of my small-town hero life. At least, it was small compared to all of this. It has tugged my heart in ways both more painful than I can describe and more incredible."

She fell silent.

"What I fight for is already fairly clear," Red XIII said next, distinguished strength rising in the culture of his voice. "I fight for my children and also for my world, for there have been far too many calamities brought down on the people of my planet in the past decade. No one should suffer like that. My losses have not been direct, as I personally have lost little, but my world is shifting, changing, and falling apart. To an extent," he bowed his head, suddenly appearing to be in pain, "I feel their losses deep within me."

"What has been taken from me…" Zelda took her turn wearing a confused look on her face that didn't seem nearly as pained as she thought it was going to be, "…is everything. I have lost my home, my kingdom, my title, my friends, my family, and even my Hero of Time. And yet…" she paused in reflection. Her face, entirely against her own expectations, was wearing a smile. "And yet I have had the chance to completely start over again with a group of friends so wonderful," she looked particularly at Raven and Mega Man X, "whom I would give my life to in a heartbeat. I fight for all of you, and for the legacy of the Hero of Time and the Triforce – it is what my lineage has done for countless generations, and I am honored to have fought together with not one, but two Heroes."

But secretly, a burning warmth rose in her chest when she thought of the sage she fought even harder for. Zelda's only concern was that Raven suspected something. Tidus had been so caught up in the battle with Sigma, the Triforce, and his renewed existence outside the Lifestream that he might have forgotten the blur that was the first few days. At least, that was what the princess hoped.

"I fight for the future," Tidus said after much thought and what X figured was youthful indecisiveness, but the blonde nodded contentedly, acting quite sure of himself. "That's where I feel like I'm from, and I want to make sure it's still there when we all get back. I remember all the stories about how Sin tore across Spira for years, and I want to fight against that, and Zero, and anyone else who would make people live in fear of their own futures. I lost all of my friends when I went back to the Lifestream, and I found out that my memories as a kid weren't real."

Mega Man X watched Saria as Tidus finished. Her arms were crossed again, and she leaned slightly to one side as if it would take a forceful dragging through a pit of spikes to confess her motivation for leaving the Chamber of Sages to trek across the galaxy instead. X earned a sideways glance from the Kokiri woman, and her posture loosened enough to make her appear slightly more sociable than a wall.

"I'm fighting to find out who I really am," she admitted despondently. It didn't sound nearly as heroic as what the others had to say, but it was true. The resonating light of the emeralds dimmed as she spoke, and Saria wondered if they were listening.

"Watching all my friends die, spending years talking to nothing but myself, and suffering decades in complete isolation..."

Saria's body lurched as chills crept up her spine and her stomach threatened to yield to her emotions, but friendly warmth brought her back. At her side, the fire wolf emanated a calming heat, and she could see that the others were reaching cautiously out to her. Wide eyes responded; Saria was confused at the care that they all exuded. She backed away stared at the ground angrily.

"Please, go on," X said kindly without effort. His green eyes turned soft and patiently waited.

The Sage of Forest eyed him and the Triforce mark on the hand that had reached out to her a moment ago. X was closer to her than the rest, except Nanaki, forcing twinges of defensive thought from her, but the genuine interest and worry in the Hero of Time mixed with the wolf's gentle warmth fought for her comfort just as hard.

"I... I think losing everybody made me wonder if I still had an identity. I still don't know who or what I am."

She shut her eyes, shook her head lightly with pursed lips, and then her expression returned to something relatively vacant again.

"I've had enough for now," said the Kokiri woman, and she left without another glance through the cloaked passage into the greater memoriam.

Nanaki made a motion to go after her, but he stopped himself short. He accepted that she might need some time to herself, at least for a few moments.

"Zelda, didn't you know her in the past?" Raven inquired, but the princess was already shaking her head.

"I knew her less than any of the others when Link was the Hero. She lived in an isolated, magical forest where her people existed secretly, whereas all the other sages were important members of one race or another whom I occasionally interacted with. I don't know what's upsetting her."

"Perhaps now is a good time to adjourn?" Nanaki suggested hastily and with enough effort put into the grace of his tone for X to see that the wolf wanted to go to Saria.

The reploid found himself happily surprised, and even more to his delight and curiosity, he alone perceived a miniscule increase in the green chaos emerald's glow at Red XIII's suggestion. His finger tapped on the thin, black armor of his upper leg as he contemplated the emerald's reaction and the wolf's unusual interest in the forest girl.

"I think that's a good idea," X said mostly to the wolf with an encouraging subtext hidden underneath his words. "We need to take the time to get to know each other more personally and to rest. I ought to apologize for being so serious about everything."

"Nonsense," Zelda smiled.

"I agree," Tidus added. "You've been a great leader. But I do want to get out of this room. These emeralds are gonna give me a seizure."

X huffed out a quick laugh. "Go on, then. I'll make sure to give you that tour in the evening, Tidus."

"Sounds good!" The young blonde gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up and headed through the fake wall. Red XIII had already left.

Zelda was about to pass through after him when she turned back to the reploid and the sorceress. "Are you coming?" she asked.

"In a minute," X answered. "I need to talk to Raven about a few things," to which Zelda smiled suggestively with a small blush.

"Have fun… talking," she teased with a subtle wave of her hand. Her half skirt swayed with her stride, and it was the last thing that passed through the wall.

They waited for a moment, completely still.

Then, Raven's hand slipped through the folds in her red, Al Bhed robe and caressed the silver streaks outlining the transparent jewel embedded in X's chest. Her fingers played across the diamond as well, and she wondered if he could feel the gentle touch of her skin on it. The sorceress then pressed her palm against it and playfully shoved him back, barely moving him but still achieving the same effect.

"You knew me for one whole day," she baited him with a slow, arm crossing motion opened her robe, "and you wanted me in your arms that badly?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he shrugged slowly and methodically. "I knew you for a whole week at that point."

She leaned in close and felt the glow in his eyes lighting up her own Mako green irises. "Running around in my head didn't count."

"I'm afraid I completely disagree with you," X fought back as he placed a hand around her waist, knowing what the seductive argument would eventually bring if he continued it.

"Were you having inappropriate thoughts when you carried me?" she pressed further to just a few inches from his lips.

X quickly returned with a victory-winning, "No, but you were."

She gasped in embarrassment and turned away after playfully smacking at his shoulder, but before she had even spun completely away from, X pulled her back into a tight, body embracing kiss. One of his hands pressed her hips against the light armor on his thighs, and the other forced her face tightly against his, coercing her to forcefully wrap her arms around the back of his neck.

Her eyes opened so close to his, and they burned onyx with her mind's powers. X's eyes opened too, his greens against her blacks as their lips remained locked, moving eagerly, opening and closing around every edge and sensation that they could find in each other's warm taste.

The sorceress' powers encased his torso, and he didn't fight it, too enraptured with her body pressed against his own to think of anything else. She wrapped her legs around him, and her telekinesis threw them both against the wall, splitting their lip-lock apart for a moment.

Raven breathed heavy, and her heart pumped audibly in her chest. X's expression was intense and alive with the same desire.

They both had the same thought at the same time. With identical, eyebrow raised cynicism, they turned to the six emeralds, which were all pulsating wildly and at different speeds. The longer they stared, the more the ancient jewels calmed themselves, but the awkwardness remained.

"Damn it, I feel like we're being watched," Raven groaned, very disappointed.

X nodded in agreement, not particularly happy about it either. "I hate to say it… but doing this in front of the emeralds is dangerous. Even ordinary people could cause a reaction strong enough to…"

"Yeah, I know," she pouted. "It wouldn't be fair to accidentally wreck your things with super powers just because I want to have…" she hesitated for a moment, "…to make out."

She immediately moved hug him so that she didn't have to show her face. Wanting _that_ was inevitable after how close they had become physically, and she knew it, but he was a machine, and she was a human. Of all the times she had underestimated him, Raven somehow had always known from the way he acted that this wasn't one of them. It wasn't possible for the two of them to make that leap in the relationship. The highest level of physical love was something that Mega Man X had not been built for.

Her fingernails pressed in hard behind his neck, but she knew it wouldn't hurt him. Her long, lavender hair still hadn't been cut, and she was especially thankful that the resulting waves in her hair protected her face while the sting of embarrassment and discomfort faded. A part of her wanted to cry, but not for herself. Raven didn't know any more than him what it felt like, but she wanted him to experience it together, with her.

Mega Man X heard her heart beating, slow but intense, pounding her ribs with pained thoughts and spreading weakness to the tips of every muscle.

Raven suddenly shivered as a hot, pressing, pulling sensation gripped at her neck. It was slow and passionate as his lips made her skin come alive. Then X's head rose, and he looked at her calmly, with peace in his eyes.

"Don't feel sorry for me," he said slowly, tenderly. "You've given me more than any other person has my whole life. Don't regret the boundaries that we can't cross."

His voice was soothing, and it helped reduce the sting. The sorceress didn't feel much better, but she nodded her head, averting her eyes downward.

"I think… we should continue this later, perhaps in my room," X said quietly, looking at her pale lips and the glossy reflection on them that had come from the passionate compress between the two.

"Alright," she agreed happily.

"We need to remember not to get too distracted with each other, as fun as it is."

She sighed reluctantly from her nose and unwrapped her legs from his torso, making sure not to let go as her palms caressed his firm, powerful arms. Eventually, her hands fell into his, and they both smiled contently at each other.

"You're always thinking about so many things at once," Raven turned her smile into a calmly frustrated half frown. "You're worried about the sages?"

X shrugged and leaned against the wall that Raven had released him from, crossing his arms in thought. The dark sorceress watched a hundred thoughts slip through his machine brain within a tiny twitch of his pupils.

"I'm ecstatic that Nanaki and Saria are close to each other, but I'm not sure about her. You remember how she said she needed to stay in the Chamber of Sages? What happened to that? How did she travel across space in seconds? She's obviously hiding something. So is Zelda, but I'm not worried about her as much."

The Sage of Darkness felt a small twinge of discomfort. "You're not worried about what she's hiding?"

He regarded her tone with surprise. "The two of you don't despise each other anymore. I can tell the way you look at her that she has your trust. And if you trust Zelda, then I trust Zelda. What did happen between you two anyway?"

Raven smiled her intellectual grin and dry sense of humor. "We painted each other's toenails and told stories about boys."

"Ha!" X laughed. "Fine, a girl's secret is fine with me. Either way, your trust in her is enough for me. It's Saria that neither of us trusts. I had hoped that sharing my secrets might make others do the same. I understand that others need time, but Saria doesn't seem to have any intentions of telling us what's on her mind… but you're worried about Tidus, Terra and Beast Boy, aren't you?"

"Like you need me to confirm it," Raven rolled her eyes. "I'm terrible at hiding anything from you."

"I didn't need our link to sense that," Mega Man consoled her, taking her hand as he pulled them away from the bright lights of the emeralds. "I could see it right on your face. You're worried about B.B."

They passed through into the regular part of the memoriam. No on else was there. "He's going to be absolutely crushed!" Raven snarled. "All the hope he has right now, knowing that we're on our way with the cure, and he's going to have his heart crushed! As soon as we use the huge materia and bring her back, it'll be _Tidus_ who gets her instead of Beast Boy."

Part of the glass plate shielding the materia cracked. Raven looked at what she had done, bit her lip hard, and then fell into a sad, downtrodden hunch. She made to pull her hood over her head, but X quickly stopped her.

"You don't have to hide your anger from me," he squeezed her hand with so much warmth coursing through it. "Go talk to Tidus, or I will if you want. We'll do everything we can to set things right, but if Terra and Tidus choose each other, then we can't do anything more."

"You're right," she swallowed. "We can always try."

She floated down to the first floor, and he leapt after her making an impressively quiet clang for such a height.

"I'm going to talk to him now," she said. "Wish me luck."

"Best of luck," he said quickly, and pecked her on the lips.

She saw in his eyes that he wanted to stay for a moment longer with his thoughts to himself, so she turned to the exit. A moment before she reached it, she stopped mid-stride. X noticed the silence and turned to look over his shoulder.

"I love you, Mega Man X," she said.

He smiled with peace settling in his heart. "I love you, Rachel Roth."


	55. Fire and Forest

**Chapter 55 – Fire and Forest**

Saria pivoted out of her daze to see who had called her name. When she realized that it was the wolf, Nanaki, she smiled warmly at him.

"What can I do for you, Sage of Fire?" she asked politely as he caught up to her stride.

"I was merely hoping I might be able to join you," he answered.

"But you don't know where I'm going," she played with the conversation, clearly exaggerating the seriousness in her words.

Red XII noticed her sudden lightheartedness and returned the sentiment. "I think you'll find that the number of places you can go is limited on this vessel. Advanced it may be, but it neglects the convenience of being able to jump overboard."

Saria made the connection to another subject with a smile. "Do you swim, Nanaki?"

His face warped almost instantaneously into disgust for that question. "Seldom."

"Why seldom?" she asked.

He began to answer, but found himself stumbling over his breath. "Well… I do not sweat the way most humans do. I secrete excess heat and cleanse my skin primarily through my tail, my breath, and pores, but I do not have sweat glands."

"That sounds like an excuse for why you don't bathe frequently," she countered. "That's not the same as swimming. If I'm not mistaken, the Nibel Sea and many of the rivers that lead into it pass nearby Cosmo Canyon, and with the seasonally hot temperatures that you have for almost half the year, I assume cliff diving, swimming and rafting are very popular."

The old wolf was impressed. "You know much of our geography," he said, acknowledging her intellect. "If you come from the distant land of Hyrule, then how..."

"I can hear and sense things through the link we all have through the Triforce, as if seeing tiny bits through your eyes and mind. You also know first hand that I have experience with the Lifestream from the Chamber of Sages, and that's a treasure trove of knowledge, though it's very hard to acquire it. Of course, learning to use those 'computers' in Rufus's building was much more fun. X's are even better." Then she amiably glanced at him sideways. "You're avoiding the question."

"No, no," he elegantly stammered. "I was genuinely curious at the source of your wisdom."

"That's fine," she continued to amuse herself with him now that she had leverage, "but why don't you swim?"

Nanaki sighed hard as they walked slowly along the corridors, and Saria suspected that if his face wasn't already covered with fiery, orange-red fur, he would blush like a very embarrassed human. That told her that the answer, sure to be an amusing one, was about to be told.

"After I get wet, particularly in salt water," he turned away and grumbled, "I tend to… smell funny."

The Sage of Forest was grinning before the answer had come. "That's not all," she goaded him, and she watched in amusement as his awkwardly mortified expression answered 'yes'.

"I… also tend to get… I believe my cubs called it 'poofy'."

She burst into laughter. Loud seconds passed, and she couldn't silence herself despite clasping both hands over her mouth. It was if the strength of her laughter had forced her own palms away with an unknown strength that she hadn't felt for decades.

Nanaki soon joined her. He couldn't help but imagine himself puffed out like a sheep anymore than Saria could resist it. The goofy eyes that went along with the mental picture of his bloated fur made it all the better. Her eyes began to tear up from laughing so hard, and she had to crouch down while clutching her sides. Soon, they calmed into gentle giggles and Saria stroked the tears of happiness out of her eyes, wiping them on the green of her blouse and skirt. Some of her long, emerald hair had also fallen into the salty streams and gotten stuck there.

Very humanly, the old wolf took his paw and pulled the strands from her face and placed them back with the rest of her hair.

She placed a hand on his shoulder near the back of his dark red mane. "You're sweet," she said. "I had forgotten what that felt like."

Red XIII watched her patiently, waiting for the meaning.

"To laugh," she answered his gaze.

"I don't understand," he said, sitting back on his hind legs. The orange glow on the tip of his tail slowly wagged behind him as he braced for what he assumed was a hard story to listen to.

Saria shook her head and wrapped her arms around her pale skinned legs, plunking down on the firmly carpeted floor of the Dreamweaver halls. Nanaki was a foot taller than her that way, so he tried to lower down to her level by laying on all fours.

"Zelda wasn't the only person who lost everything on Hyrule," she said solemnly. "I don't want to compare; her loss was terrible. But she had the luxury of living through only seven years in the Dark World where Ganon was sealed while I had to suffer nearly all one hundred in the normal world."

Red's mouth dropped open to respond, but all that escaped was air and shock.

"Yes, I'm very old," said Saria. "Well over five hundred, I think, but in the Kokiri Forest, we never really considered it. We just lived, day to day, strangely content with what we did even though we were so unchanging, physically, mentally, and socially. It's just part of who we were. We did learn new things. Occasionally one of us would come or leave, but the newness was fleeting at best. But I… and I alone, became more aware than the rest of them. That was the day Link arrived."

"The Hero of Time a century ago," the wolf said. It was not a question, but an acknowledgment.

"And for many centuries before that, in the distant corners of Hyrule, to the hidden land of Termina, countless times, the legends tell. The boy in green, whether a mere ten years old or twenty, always seemed to come from nowhere to protect us. I had the pleasure of meeting one such Link who grew up in my village from when he was just a baby. You see, a war was raging between different kings of Hyrule, and his mother barely escaped and wandered into our forest, a place where children and adults alike would never come out again. The protector of our forest, the Great Deku Tree, made an exception for the child, knowing that Link was destined to be the Hero of Time, but his mother didn't survive the night. I cared for him as he grew. Link's presence didn't affect others the way it did with me. I started to think differently, to long for outside the forest. Everyone else remained the same as they always had.

"When he grew older, Link hardly wondered why he changed while other people stayed the same. It was just the way things were. I spent much of my time with him, teaching him what I knew about the outside world. We were all told that leaving the forest would spell our doom, and to a certain degree, that was true. If any of the other Kokiri left the forest, their minds would have collapsed."

"Collapsed…" Nanaki repeated.

She nodded. "All the contentedness and all the years of memories fell out of balance for those who left, and they became as brain dead as stones. I, on the other hand, had gradually rejected my contentedness on my own, so I was free to leave the forest. But before any of that, Link was called by our Great Deku Tree to take up the journey that he had so many times before. He left the forest, more free than any us because he never _was_ one of us, and he defeated Ganon with help of the sages. I was one of them, so long ago."

The old wolf, not feeling so old anymore in front of this multi-centennial woman, gasped in amazement that she had been the Sage of Forest for Link as well as X.

She pursed her lips painfully. "The rest of them have since passed away. I am the only one who remains, but that was never a surprise to me. Of the previous sages, some were quite old, and none had the longevity of my species. Impa, the previous Sage of Darkness, lingered in spirit along with Zelda once she had gone to the Dark World, but as nothing more than a ghost of what she once was Impa wasn't suitable to lead, and so she passed her mark to Raven. Of course, much happened for me between Zelda's self-imprisonment and now.

"I don't think anyone is aware of this other than Mega Man X or Raven, but when the two of them came to the Temple of Time, the resting place for the Master Sword, X intended to place the sacred blade back in its pedestal after he was forced to use it for something very painful to him. By doing so, the Temple of Time and the sword transported them a hundred years into the past, not long after Link had left us. They eventually came to me, and when I saw the Triforce mark on Raven's hand I understood."

Her eyes began to redden. "I was… so innocent back then."

She hadn't acknowledged that the Sage of Fire had moved to her side, exuding body warmth that cured the chill that her sadness generated. He was very careful to keep his long, anxiously waving tail from touching and burning her. She glanced between him, her knees, and the floor while he kept his eyes on her reactions, waiting to see what she would say next. Saria sucked in a forceful breath, but Nanaki stopped her.

"Perhaps we should go somewhere more comfortable?" he gently suggested. "There's supposed to be a device on the ship that creates environments that feel real. I think it was called…"

"The holodeck," she plucked the information from her mind. "I think I'd like that."

It didn't take long; they weren't far from the holodeck in the first place, and the voice activated computer guided their way when they asked. Nanaki made sure to stay close to her side. He knew from experience that the warmth he gave off to those around him was typically uplifting.

The door seemed so plain. It was hard to believe that the realm within was essentially infinite in possibility, limited only by whatever the mind could think of. It was a mental struggle, choosing what would be most comforting. Or was comfort the goal? Saria thought that something too peaceful or familiar might cause her emotions to gush, but she didn't want a setting filled with discomfort, either. What did she want to see?

"I thought that… Midgar was very interesting. Even though Hyrule never had huge metal buildings like that, I could tell that it was in ruins. I wonder, is X's world like that, too?"

"There is only one way to find out," he smiled warmly. He asked the computer to create a city on the reploid home world, one of the largest with an incredible view, and the Dreamweaver interpreted that as the greatest living expanse on all of X's planet, Reploid City itself.

He thought for a moment more with Saria in mind. "At night, clear sky, full moon."

A few moments passed, and a small green indicator on the door lit up. It was ready.

The doors opened, lighting a carnival in their eyes the likes of which neither of them had either seen. Reploid City, different from the deeper greens of the Kokiri forest, the silvers of Midgar, and the burnt orange Cosmo Canyon, beamed it all its brilliance against the night sky, but it somehow failed to conceal the equally marvelous shimmer of night stars and the single blue moon that lit up the sky more incredibly than the morning sun, and far more soothingly.

The door vanished behind them. Saria and Red XIII marveled as they stood atop a massive cylindrical building, and they could see for miles in the distance, highlighting the aquamarine and fuchsia structures – almost every one of them circular in construction whether solid metal or glass paned – that stretched until a point in all directions, and beyond that, everything was lost in the night. The rooftop was unlike those from either of their worlds. On Gaia they were used for ventilation and were often quite ugly, but this rooftop was lined with a silver tiling that was outstandingly clean and smooth. In the center there stood a large statue made of greenish marble depicting a tall male reploid and a human female holding each other's hand, standing for a unity that had been wished for by both species for many years, but it was an existence that had never happened. Still, the hope that it instilled in their eyes fulfilled the momentary fantasy.

Saria approached the edge of the building. She rubbed her fingers along the smooth, solid fringe that rose almost to her chest, staring, watching. Many stories below, the streets were obscured by the lights and the seemingly infinite fall, but even if they were at a lower height, the many hovering vehicles that further expanded the dazzling color spectrum of the city would still have prevented them from seeing it. The forest girl studied the flying constructions of metal that the reploids… holographic ones, but real enough looking, rode on amongst the staggeringly wondrous metropolis. No, it was more than just a busy city to her. At first glance, she knew that this place was a utopia, and that it was that grandeur, peace and beauty that made it such a target for Mavericks. For everyone who wants to build paradise, there is always someone who wants to destroy it.

Nanaki had joined her bringing his amiable warmth, and he could see almost as easily as she could when he sat on his hind legs.

"So much that we can barely dream to understand," he said. When Saria turned to him, she was surprised to see him gazing upward at the stars, ignoring the city altogether.

She hadn't the slightest idea what he was referring to, but somehow she shared a similar sentiment. It had been hard to think of herself as unknowing without anyone to compare to and she laughed softly at the realization of her own ignorance. "I like to think that I'm wiser than everyone here," she admitted, running her fingers through her green waves of hair while a gentle wind did the same, "but no one is as wise as X."

He shot her a stern but caring look. "Why do you say that? You must have learned countless things in all your years."

Saria cringed, and Red XII wasn't sure what he should do, only aware that he had said the wrong thing.

"What happened to the old Hero of Time?" he suggested.

The forest woman's eyes gazed downward and she shrugged apathetically. Resuming the story was painfully difficult to recall in detail, but she felt compelled to do it. Seeing the world that X called home helped to dull the pain.

"I don't know where Link went," she began again, delving deep into the many layers of her unpleasant past as she swallowed hard to brace her emotions. "He just… vanished, like so many others had according to legend, returning the Master Sword before he did. With him gone, the Triforce of Courage was gone. With Ganon sealed away and Zelda following not long after to reinforce his prison, the Triforces of Power and Wisdom were gone, too. With all three pieces far beyond our realm of existence – not just elsewhere, but in some otherworldly dimension – Hyrule began to crumble, bit by bit. Crops slowly stopped growing well. Pestilence began to spread. The citizens of Hyrule who survived civil war migrated out of our Kingdom to some place unknown, beyond the Gerudo deserts and the great oceans. The Kokiri Forest slowly withered leaving a skeleton of nature beginning at the outside, and the death slowly crawled inward towards us. It was several years before we began to see the effects reaching deep within the forest, but we all felt it coming. The Kokiri children began to age, and those who didn't leave the forest to their deaths started to outgrow me. I didn't understand why I wasn't aging at first, but it didn't take me long to figure out. Some of the Kokiri had nothing to live for but the frivolous existence they had before, and that became meaningless, but _I_ had to wait for the Hero to return. It was the will to live that prevented us from aging. Eventually, after forty years of the long century, there were only two of us left, and Mido, bless his misguided heart, held on so long for me, lasting another twelve years past everyone else even though I had hardly aged a year in appearance and he had become an old man."

Tears openly fell down her face, splotching her pale cheeks red and stinging her eyes, but her voice remained soft and sad without trembling. The gaping hole in her chest that had grown from the horror of what was coming next forced her eyes into open streams, but the rest of the motions that go with crying – the shaking, the lip movement – were replaced by emptiness, and the apathetic urge to collapse until some outside force made the will to move real again. Her words came out without thought or emotion; Saria's eyes, more emerald than her hair, became blank.

"Mido died," she turned the conversation into ice. "He loved me, childish as it was, but he did love me as much as he could. He couldn't hold on any longer, and I'll always remember the years we spent together. His strawberry hair, sharp cheekbones, and unbelievably lanky build. I wished for so long that I could return his love, but I couldn't. Even in those very worst times I couldn't lie to myself or to him, and I think somewhere deep down he understood that, and it made him love me all the more."

The fire wolf stared intently, sorrow filling his one good eye. He carefully made a motion with his front leg and wrapped it around her shoulder like a human arm.

Saria closed her eyes for a moment. He was so warm. It hurt to continue, but her lips opened for more.

"I had to bury him alone. It was worse than any of the others."

Her voice had a sudden upward lilt. "We were sometimes lucky like that," fake optimism crept into her. "It wasn't a sudden realization as much as it was a gradual understanding that some of those who wandered off out of my empathic range weren't ever coming back, and that the animals and plants who could still tolerate a dying Hyrule had taken care of their graves."

The subtle change returned to lifelessness and a void of emotive desolation. The wolf swallowed hard and held his teeth together.

"One morning… Mido was there, within arm's reach as always, and when I saw him there, I knew. My mind felt so alone before I had even woken up, and I knew that everything was gone. I made things worse by reaching out to touch his cold body."

Nanaki tightened his grip and shut his eyes tightly, feeling her pain well up in his chest as he fought his own memories.

"The Great Deku Tree was still alive, but barely, and it wasn't the same as having the other Kokiri. I tried to talk to him; he was all I had to talk to, but he was young and it took nearly all of his effort just to keep the forest and the Kokiri surviving as long as they did. With each one who passed, his physical burden became easier, but his spirit waned in sorrow. For years the Deku Tree's roots had been rotting, and he was coming to an end, too. It was seven more years after Mido had gone that the tree finally succumbed, and I had nothing and no one left to talk to but myself."

"The sky almost never showed sun, and when it did all I saw was death. Mostly it rained, and lightning always came with it, sometimes causing trees to burst apart and catch fire, burning down sections of the skeleton forest until the same rain stopped it. I sat under the downpours for hours at a time, sometimes sitting, sometimes wandering, and sometimes laying on my back until a puddle of muddy water threatened to drown me. I thought I would get sick, and eventually, after longer than it should have taken, I did. Something instinctive took over even though I didn't care about my lungs and abdomen throbbing from coughing and sneezing or my head pulsating like an explosion waiting eagerly to happen. I holed myself in one of the old tree huts that we lived in. It was rotting like the rest of the forest, and it leaked badly, so I laid there on the cold, damp floor until I was so sick that I couldn't move.

"I hadn't eaten in days and I drank only the never ending rain. I should have died, but something wouldn't let me. I don't know if it was a tiny piece of my soul that was still inside somewhere or perhaps remnants of the forest that I had thought were dead and gone."

Nanaki had pulled her in. Every moment of this story made his heart cringe. "What saved you?" he asked in sorrow.

She shook her head, as if the moment those many decades ago was still unreal to her. "I woke up… I didn't know how long it had been, but the answer suddenly came to mind the moment I was curious enough to wonder. Over two years I had slept, stuck in a coma of my own dereliction. I wished that it was all a nightmare at first. I felt plant growth around me, so I told myself that the forest couldn't be dead. I thought it was all just a horrible, miserable nightmare that was finally over. And then I moved my arms and legs and felt something tugging on them. _Attached_ to them. The plants were moving with me. I tried to sit up, and the skin of my face and torso was being yanked at in ways so gruesome that I will never forget it. All over me, in dozens of places from head to toe, plant life had attached itself to me, burrowed through my clothes and my skin. I thought the nightmare was continuing, but it was all real. I screamed and screamed and screamed, horrified at what was happening to me, wishing that I had died instead.

"I tore one of the plants off violently, and the pain was like nothing I had ever felt," she shuddered, showing the first signs of emotion other than emptiness. "The plant roots had grown into my body, and tearing it free made blood pour out of my arm. I screamed in until my throat felt like it was bleeding too. I writhed on the ground, knowing I couldn't stand up or pull away another of the plants without spilling more of my blood. It took… I don't know how long it took for me to calm myself. Once my screaming had stopped I hyperventilated in shock for countless hours, but I eventually noticed that the terrible bleeding in my arm had stopped, too. It should have bled for a very long time, but I looked at myself and my clothes, seeing that it had not been even close to as much as it should have. I started to notice other things. Things that frightened me. My hair had grown. The voice that trickled out of me in sobs and screams and whimpering was deeper. My legs looked longer, and my feet were too big for my shoes. The rest of my clothing, mutilated by plants already, didn't fit either. I had aged about five years in just the two that I had laid lifeless in that little hut.

"I wanted to tear the rest of my saviors away. I didn't feel like a Kokiri anymore no matter how much we had been in tune with nature in the first place. I was a monstrosity. But there was nothing I could do without enduring the pain, and I didn't dare pull them from my face or my chest. All I could do was wait there for days with the rain pouring in through the ever growing hole in the ceiling."

Tears still continued to fall down her face, her neck, and her chest, causing the fringe of her green clothing to darken with the dampness. The incredible city lights and sounds seemed to be nothing but static noise at this point.

The wolf wanted desperately to end this suffering, but she had told her story to no one. He had to allow her to finish. He waited patiently, letting her know that it was alright to go on if she wished.

"A sunny day came. It actually felt good to see the sun. I moved as much as I could, trapped there by the plants that had resurrected me, so that it could shine on my face through the hole in the ceiling. To my surprise, I felt a strange sensation under the skin of my face. The roots of the plants pulled away slightly. I knew it was the only chance I would get to be free, so I started to take them off. I tried it slowly at first, like a bandage, but it wasn't enough to pull them free. I considered ripping the plants themselves, but they were more durable than I could have imagined, leaving me with only one way. I screamed with every one I tore out. The ones on my arms and legs got easier after the first few, but the ones in other places…"

She couldn't finish. Her blank eyes widened, replaying the most horrific of all her days. Tearing them from her face, her back, and from all parts of her torso would never leave her memory.

"By the time I was done, since my clothing didn't cover me anymore, my whole body was crusted with my own blood. That should have killed me as well, but my body was much stronger than it had been before, and my injuries healed more than twice as fast as they should have. I had hoped for a short while that maybe some life had returned to Hyrule, but there was nothing beyond what had been attached to me. I wandered around the forest as naked as the dead trees were. I tried to use my hair to cover myself, but eventually I saw no point in trying. The few birds, carrion feeders and other animals that had miraculously survived over sixty one years of rapidly decelerating existence didn't care whether I was naked or not.

"Some of the animals considered going after me for sustenance. They could probably smell the dry blood on me for miles away. I was worried at first, but when I got closer they backed away like I was much more of a monster than they ever could manage. I didn't blame them. I felt like one."

"I can't possibly imagine how it felt," Nanaki whispered dejectedly. All of his wisdom felt useless. Listening wasn't enough. He scoured his brain to think of something that could help while she continued.

"I returned to the hut I had been into before the next rain had come," Saria recalled. "The plants that had created that appalling symbiosis with me were already brown and withering. Seeing that caused the smallest sensations of both satisfaction and misery to battle within me, but I soon resorted back to the growing abyss in my emotions. I made my way out into the fields of Hyrule, treading through the muck and dead grass. The sunset was ugly that day, and the moon looked ugly too, but I tried to relish the sight anyway. I knew I wouldn't be seeing much of either one.

"When the rain came, it came hard, drenching my hair to my skin. I got cold, but not like I did before. My body resisted it no matter how little hope I had, and it gave me enough strength to move on and get up every time I slipped and fell. After many days I eventually wandered into the spanning Castle Town where the subjects of Zelda had once lived. For a short time, the panic that someone might still be living within the walls made me try to cover myself up again, but I quickly knew that it was impossible. Strange, undead creatures infested the streets. Again I was afraid, but not for long. I had known from old stories that they preyed on any living thing that came near them, but they made no more attempt than the animals did, even when I gathered the stupidity to reach out and touch them. I felt like a monster more than before."

Her body had become rigid in Nanaki's hold. She didn't watch the flying vehicles or the amazing sights of X's city. The wolf's mind raced, and his heart beat hard in his chest. Were the city lights helping or making it worse? Should he stop her from going on or did she need this to release? Even the old wolf felt his spirit tightly holding on the more saddening her story became.

"The buildings in Castle Town were much sturdier than our forest huts. I used one made of stone that I liked for shelter, and I found some scraps of fabric that had stayed dry and durable." She then paused. For the first time, a tiny inkling of a smile tried to stir her cheek. It made Nanaki's diaphragm rise with anticipation and hope.

"I considered just staying naked," Saria allowed some life to return to her eyes. "It was… kind of restricting to put something back on my body. It still feels a little strange, even though I only spent a handful of days awake without clothing and centuries with it. I eventually decided that I would rather be uncomfortable with scraps that didn't sit right than allow what little humanity I had left to slip away.

"I started to explore the castle where Zelda had once lived, and I occasionally visited the Temple of Time. The doors that led to the Master Sword were sealed then, so I spent considerable time meditating on the large seal that depicted the symbols of the sages I had known in the past. The familiarity helped. I found a little food to keep me strong. Some sacks of dried goods had been left behind by the people who left, and they were still good enough. I was able to learn to cook bread, something that we didn't do in Kokiri because we all ate fruits and vegetables. Occasionally I had to resort to hunting the same animals that refused to hunt me. Meat was strange at first, and the thrill of the kill, as it was called before all had left Hyrule, was hard for me. I discovered that my new body could go a few days without consuming food and still be alright, and I even grew to understand that through careful concentration and care, my touch could cause plants to grow in Hyrule's devastation, enough so that I could have more to eat. I lived on like that for almost forty years, physically aging only a few to look the way I do now. Time taught me even more, allowing me to tap into the sanctity of the Chamber of Sages and the Lifestream, as you know, but I still couldn't freely travel through time. I constantly wished that I could speed up my torture, but until the Hero of Time reappeared after a hundred years, the power of the Triforce mark that had been with me for all that time was too weak."

"That's how we saved everyone from Zero and Jenova," Red XIII realized with great respect and admiration. "If you hadn't suffered all that time, then they would all…"

"You can't attribute that to me," she turned to him, smiling, still crying. "It was the strength of all of us, together."

Nanaki shook his head next to her, face to face, smelling the sweet flower scent that came from her. "You give yourself far too little credit, Saria," he bowed, his other paw on his chest as if containing the gratitude his heart felt. "I have felt and seen many sufferings that I thought had no greater, but yours, I regret to say, surpasses them all." He bowed low, still standing on his hind legs. "I am honored to be with you in this fight, as I know X and all the other sages are."

Her lips trembled. The stone expression melted. "You're… sweet, Nanaki," she said again, and she embraced him tightly, sucking in all of the warmth of his body and his kindness. The rest of her tears fell into his deep red fur.

"Saria, I…" he began uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry, I'm making you uneasy," she apologized and swiftly pulled away.

"No, no, not in the way you think," he reassured her. Nanaki tilted his head downward, and Saria looked at his legs. She remembered with embarrassment and amusement that they bent the opposite direction that hers did.

"I can barely take any weight when I try to stand like a human, and I can't walk far, either," he grinned with his wolf smile.

The Sage of Fire then sighed heavily with muscular relief as he returned back to his normal stance.

"I've gone much too far," Saria apologized again. "I must have disturbed you very badly."

"Not at all, my dear," he said, voice suddenly smooth like silk. "While it may be incredibly painful to imagine what you endured, I think of it as a learning experience. I've discovered that civilization can stretch its limits farther than I had known before. And as for my sighing, that was merely to gather up courage."

She eyed him with concern. "Courage for what?"

He turned skyward. "Computer," he addressed the ship. "We'd like to go somewhere else. Take us to a sandy beach that stretches farther than the eye can see with clear skies and gently rolling waves."

In seconds, the night sky and the moon of X's land vanished, revealing a bright blue sky. Then, the city beneath their feet turned into sand, faster than turning the page of a picture book. The vehicles and hums of a glowing metropolis had become the soothing breeze on a warm summer day and the ever flowing tides that grazed a beach into smooth serenity.

Nanaki adapted to the change quickly. He went to the water's edge, allowing the back and forth sways of the waves to touch the tips of his paws. Cool pulses rescinded the heat that exuded him, and he stared out into the infinity of the horizon. It was remarkably authentic visually, but the stirring notion that none of it was truly real wasn't easily budged. It didn't smell quite right, either.

"What are you thinking?" Saria asked. A piece of her empathic side noticed a calm concern brewing in his mind. "Is it about your cubs?"

"Oh yes, I worry for them," he admitted, "even though they will probably be just fine. I worry more for those who volunteered to care for them. They have far too much energy."

Saria took off her plain, dark shoes and dipped her feet in the sand and water.

"After forcing you to listen to all that I've said, would you grant me one more thing?" Saria said hopefully.

"Anything," he agreed.

Saria stared at her feet as she asked. "What happened to their mother?"

Red XII bowed his head and closed his eyes, feeling the fire in his heart sink. He suspected that was what she was preparing to ask, but knowing it was coming didn't make it any easier.

"It was an accident," said the wolf. "Lanari, my mate, had traveled with a small group of villagers to survey one of the nearby rivers. It was considered a prime location because of the strong, tiered water flow that could be used for natural power. We had planned on cultivating the land if Cosmo Canyon continued to grow for the purpose of diversifying our people. Every aspect of it was perfect, soil, space, water, shelter… the preparations had been completed prematurely in the assumption that we would be beginning work in less than a week's time. But none of that ever came to fruition.

"One of the villagers had unwisely brought her child along for the survey, and they neglected to keep a close watch on him. He was playing at the edge of the river and fell in, and the currents dragged him violently away. As I had said, there were many tiers to the river, and that of course means many waterfalls. The parent of the child courageously but foolishly jumped in after him, no more able to fight the rapids than her tiny son. Lanari was much faster and an excellent swimmer, so she ran ahead of them along the river's edge, jumping into the water downstream from them, and she swam directly against the current."

Saria stroked the tresses of spiked black hair along his spine, running her fingers through them, massaging his long back. It was pointed, the way she made sure not to make eye contact and instead watch the frothy waves do what it is they always did. Averting eyes distracted some of the realism of the painful memory, but then Saria recalled that he had looked at her almost the entire time she had spoken about her nightmare. There was no way to eloquently change her gaze, so she quickly spun her head. His eyes didn't move, but somehow she knew that Red felt hers.

"What happened next has never been clear, it all occurred too fast, I was told. Miraculously, the mother of the boy and Lanari had caught up to the child, and between them they managed to throw the young one to safety, but no one was able to save them. The two of them fell over a waterfall and perished from hitting the rocks in the shallows below. If Lanari had not spent all her energy fighting the current and the cold, she might have…"

This time, it was Saria tending to his tears. His pale right eye, milky and lacking in color from the injuries that rendered it useless, still was able to cry, though his fiery wolf hair caught it almost as soon as it left. Still, Nanaki let her touch his face.

"That's the real reason you don't like to swim," she said. It was not a question, and he nodded in agreement.

The wolf rose to his feet, startling Saria by the sudden movement, and he began to walk out into the waves. His tail dipped into the water, and the burning glow on it dimmed down almost to the shade of the rest of his dense, burnt orange fur.

"Nanaki…" she awed. "Aren't you going to get… poofy?"

"Yes," he answered casually. "Join me?"

Saria couldn't help but grin widely. He had no clothing to remove, but Saria quickly unfastened the black belt buckle at her waist and pulled her forest green dress over her shoulders, and it drooped to the sand with her shoes. Underneath she wore a black tube top of ornate and laced design, only a small portion of which was visible in the V of her dress before, and a matching bottom that covered a very small portion of her thighs as well.

She ran out to the water, making Nanaki's eyes wide with amusement as he tried to leap out further ahead, bounding in and out of the water more like an antelope than a wolf. Saria dove in and under the clear waves, swimming out to their private ocean with him.


	56. Echidnopolis

**Chapter 56 – Echidnopolis**

Strange. The Sage of Light realized that things had changed in an unexpected way since his last visit. Over a decade ago, before the echidna homeland and nearly all of its people had been sucked into the alternate dimension called 'the Void,' they had begun a wide, systematic purging of most of their higher order technology, including many electronic forms of amusement, combustion and fusion based automobiles, guns and energy weapons of all kinds, and much more. Of course, greed and years of complacency with technological superiority was hard for many to give up. The people of the Floating Island were divided, and as many other stubborn defenders of opposing beliefs throughout history had done, they started a war.

Now, the extraordinarily clean silver sky scrapers and monuments of their superiority stood in glory once again (even those fighting to subdue technological acceleration did not want to discard their homes), and it looked more stunning than it had before. The sage noted the beauty of their city, how, although their tall structures were not as uniformly organized by shape as they were in his home, the sheer variety of shapes that blended together like a melting pot of architecture was contrasted and unified by harmony of color. Each one complimented the one next to it with a shade sometimes so minutely different that those Mobians unable to perceive the full spectrum of colors wouldn't notice the difference. How pitiable the colorblind were when it came to art.

The sage remembered how he was worried that the chaos emeralds might get involved with the civil squabble, and so he had remained hidden in the shadows on the island for some time, trying to prevent it from coming to that, and fortunately he never had to intervene, though at tense times he nearly had. Furthermore, a young echidna and next in line to inherit the responsibility of protecting the Master Emerald had alone managed evade being trapped in the Void, so there had been someone left to look after the Floating Island's prized possession. If no one had been available to care for the Master Emerald the island would have come crashing down, potentially spelling death to many if that event occurred over land.

He had heard through the grapevine of Mobian chatter that the war had ended, but he was not aware of whom the victor was. Soon, the Sage of Light realized that it was neither and both.

Mushroom Hill (though it was more forest than it was hill) closely bordered the city, so close in some places that it was common for tree branches big or small to have to be pruned away from buildings to prevent damage. It formed natural, concentrated coverage to conceal himself and spy on one of the denser streets used for selling organic foods on the outskirts of the metropolis, but along the way he had seen many of the dreadlocked echidnas foraging in the woods for certain varieties of mushrooms for food and medicines; that gave the area its name. At first he thought the echidnas he spotted were an indication that the citizens who rejected technology had won that war, but he had sworn that one of them had a partially cybernetic arm.

Once he had found a full, tall tree to situate in, he scanned the market area for more signs of which side had been the victor. Immediately he noticed the automobiles, scoring a point for the machine side, but there were also several people on bicycles and many more walking, evening the tally. Most appeared free of cybernetic enhancements, but the occasional person had metallic dreads, limbs, or even eyes.

He was immediately amused by what the evidence told him. Considering the possibility that a truce had actually been achieved was far more puzzling and intriguing than simply finding out who had been the victor. There was probably a pivotal someone who had been involved with that. He wondered more. Perhaps the blue hedgehog? Not alone, the sage figured, but possibly he played a hand in it. He would have been very able to stop the fighting, but the moral agreement couldn't have been achieved by an outsider. An echidna had to have been involved, but who could have been impartial enough?

The answer walked right into view, and although he was no larger than the others wandering the produce, his presence was overpowering. Never adhering to the laziness of motorized transportation unless absolutely necessary was the once solitary echidna who was often called 'Guardian.' That lone boy separated from his people when the Void swallowed the city had grown into a man, and the white ring pattern that hung at his chest, shoulders and back like a thick necklace made Knuckles the Echidna an easy target to spot. No one else but the lineage of the Guardian had those markings. Those who tattooed or wore anything similar to the white band were fined or even imprisoned.

His body was a very standard red, as if his hue was directly in the center of the span of colors that his race could be. He wore a simple, tan, hide leather vest without buttons and a short, wide brimmed hat made from similar material that gave way to his chest-length dreadlocks. At the front of the hat's crown, three small stars declared a title of some sort, the sage surmised. Sheriff, perhaps.

At his side, a pink, female echidna epitomized the resolution of their divided conflict. She, unlike Knuckles, had once embraced the machines, and probably even fought for the opposite side that he did. Several of her dreads were mechanized in connected, metal bands, and her left arm appeared to be entirely artificial, but it was impossible to tell if the white, metal segmenting was only skin deep or if it went straight to the bone. There was even a small device on her chest sticking just over the top of her pale purple, armless, ankle length dress.

The Sage assumed there was more, but it was irrelevant. The symbol they formed together may have been what unified Echidnopolis, but then why were the tides of fate resonating so absurdly strong from the city? If the people had set aside their general differences then it was unlikely that they were hiding anything extreme as he suspected, and Zero's presence alone would not have caused the unfamiliar disturbances plaguing his senses since he stepped foot in the Sandopolis Desert. What was going on here?

Alexander suddenly came to life with a gentle glow, but since Alex was merely residing within the sage's cloak instead of in his arm, the reploid couldn't grasp more than the fact that he would be irritated with whatever it was the aeon had to say. Reluctantly and with a quiet fizzle drowned out by the people at the city's edge, he reunited the red materia with his flesh.

"Thank you for wasting my time, Alexander," he whispered after a moment. "My senses are always _accurate_, they just aren't specific enough to see precisely what is coming, and furthermore, there's no clear evidence of what…"

The Sage of Light felt a pair of eyes on him.

He abruptly ended his conversation with the aeon and looked back out. Knuckles the Echidna had turned away from the produce vendor that he and his lady friend were perusing. The Guardian's eyes were aimed directly at his. Soon, the pink echidna sensed his tension and looked as well, but she wasn't as perceptive as he was.

Knuckles reared back, ready to spring, and the sage knew it was no longer an option to dematerialize. His matter stream would have been too easily spotted. Slowly and while clutching his forehead, he phased into nothingness, camouflaging not only his body but also shifting his physical reactions with the environment into a different plane, causing the branch he stood on to bend back up as if he weighed nothing. It was a convenient way of hiding oneself, in plain sight but beyond anyone's perceptions. It had made escaping the premature arrival of Shadow and Rouge rather easy.

The Guardian loosened his stance, but his eyes narrowed in the sage's general direction. The echidna slowly approached the outlying street that encircled most of the city, just at the edge of the mushroom forest. The cloaked sage (cloaked in more ways than one now) saw him say something to the woman he was with, and she retorted angrily, resulting in a brief stare down that resolved into her victory as they then _both_ neared his hiding spot.

Knuckles climbed up the short forest bank and stopped, arms crossed, showing his weapons: a pair of ultra-dense bone growths on each hand that formed massive, pointed knuckles as well as his namesake. Eventually, he sighed and looked upward, directly at the sage's eyes.

"I can see you," his authoritative, annoyed, baritone voice called.

Impossible! He was bluffing.

"No really, I can see you," he growled with another aggravated sigh. "You're still giving off a heat signature."

Knuckles turned to the pink echidna to his side who stared up, trying to see what he did.

"Julie-su, if you would," he requested.

She lifted her purple dress to her knees, and there were two large, black objects on the sides of dark green combat boots. One of them had a handle. Deftly, she pulled out both pieces, clicked and twisted the ends together, unfolded a second handle and gave a single pump to a lever on the side of the weapon. Inside the dark barrel of the rifle, a yellow glow snapped on like a light bulb with a tiny mechanical hum. An energy weapon.

"I'm just guessing," Knuckles shrugged. "Since you aren't part of the physical realm anymore, I know that a bullet isn't going to hurt you, but how about a round from a plasma rifle?"

The sage had an unnerving feeling that his molecules might be rearranged in a rather unpleasant matter, though normally he could brush off the attack with ease. As long as this Julie-su echidna matched Knuckles' eyes, her weapon would follow dangerously. The cloaked sage snarled at his limited options. These people were not a part of the sages or the Triforce. They didn't deserve to know anything about him.

It sounded as though Alexander was amused.

The Sage of Light was enraged, but it was clear there wasn't any other logical choice in the matter. Slowly, the outline of his figure appeared and grew denser until he revealed himself to Knuckles and Julie-su without a sound other than the creaks of the thick tree branch bending again to support his reploid weight. In his crouched position, the old, bloody cloak covered all of him but the small part of his face that showed beneath the hood.

"You're Terran," the pink echidna frowned angrily, keeping a firm hold of the energy rifle. "And you're trespassing."

A grin washed across the sage's face. Only the latter was correct. Then, it occurred to him unpleasantly. He would have to explain something, or else this one simple intrusion could spawn a very hostile conflict between the Islanders and the Terrans. Mobians had patched up relations with the Terrans, but Islanders were far from it, and it would be inappropriate of him to start an intercontinental incident. He internally chastised his initial reaction. Rauru, the former Sage of Light, had taught him better than that.

"I'd respond to the lady," Knuckles cracked his wrists, seeming to hope for the opposite. "She's got an itchy trigger finger."

"I'm just trying to keep the peace, Guardian" he explained.

"Uh huh," Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Now, are we going to do this the boring way or the violent way?"

"Neither," he answered. "Because the emeralds are on their way back to this island, and you could use every bit of help you can get, mine included."

Knuckles flinched as soon as 'emeralds' popped out of the sage's mouth. Julie-su was shocked as well, but she held her weapon firm. The sage glanced at it and resisted an itching desire to snap it in two.

"Talk," Knuckles instructed.

The sage ignored the weapon and grinned again, knowing that he was gaining control over the situation very quickly. The Guardian himself would be an unknowing servant to his devices in a matter of minutes. It would have been a greater accomplishment had Knuckles not been commonly known as slightly gullible for those claiming personal reform or good intentions of any kind, but it seemed that the pink echidna may have altered that trait. She seemed harder to convince, and she might have added a voice of reason and wisdom to the Guardian's impulsive compassion to seek the good in people.

"Talk _now_," Knuckles insisted. The joints in his hands creaked and popped in his gloves, though only the reploid sage heard it.

"Elsewhere," he responded to Knuckles. "We'll attract far too much attention if we stay."

The reploid didn't give them a chance to refuse. He jerked down from his perch and began to dissolve the moment he touched each of them, and they began to dissolve with him. A yelp of panic almost escaped Julie-su and Knuckles before their bodies became nothing more than streaks of color zipping through the sky, tugging at their senses nauseatingly. They couldn't see with their eyes; it was as if the two were blinded by whatever was being forced on them.

With a violent jolt to everything internal, the two echidnas found themselves smashed against cold dirt with an equally chilly breeze blasting their dreads. The blur in their vision cleared slowly, and they stared at metal red boots peeking out at the bottom of their abductor's cloak.

Knuckles launched from the ground and swung a bone-crushing fist at him, and a fraction of a second later he felt a strike in his gut like a rocket, followed by his body jerked back to the ground by the wrist. The echidna flipped up and swung his feet violently but blindly, only to have his ankles nearly crunched by a mammoth grip that hurled him with more acceleration and force than he could glide out of. A flash of pink flesh and sweet green eyes blinked past Knuckles just before he collided with Julie-su and sent her spinning to the ground.

Their sense of teamwork seamlessly transitioned into the fray. Knuckles timed his feet to press on her back and keep her from falling, sending her soaring forward. She re-pumped her rifle midair and the humming glow returned as she came to a skidding halt several feet away from the sage.

Behind the hood and visor, Julie-su was sure he was staring at the weapon with amusement. It made her grit her teeth angrily. Something about it made her body tremble. If her dreads hadn't already been blowing in the wind, they would have been shaking from an unknown panic.

"Hands behind your head, now!" she shouted.

He didn't move at all and actually laughed at her and the weapon.

"I… said hands behind your head!" the pink echidna repeated, unnerved. Knuckles was at her side, not feeling particularly confident after such a quick and thorough thrashing.

Casually, the sage shrugged and slowly raised his arms in a wide arc. "I'm going to cut that weapon into five pieces," he menacingly whispered without changing the slow, calculated way that he moved his arms to the back of his head.

"Shut up!" Julie-su held her finger tightly over the trigger, pressing just enough so that it wouldn't contract and start the almost instantaneous sequence of miniature events that would raze the very air in front of her. She gritted her teeth and tightened all of her facial muscles, squinting so that her large green eyes grew narrow for a moment as she desperately fought her unusual fright. Knuckles squeezed her shoulder gently

A long, wide blade made of pure energy erupted from behind the sage's back, and he was suddenly no longer standing where he had before. Everything happened far too quickly. Knuckles, protective of Julie-su, flung himself in front of her with his fists out, and it deterred the sage of light for enough of a fraction of a second for the pink echidna to fire.

The blast was large, blinding, emitting pulses that even the shooter could feel. Somehow, Knuckles had flown upward, out of sight and away from the plasma burst that shattered stone and dirt into sideways shockwaves. The cloaked intruder to their island didn't back down or react with surprise. His strange weapon, transparent and sword like but something far superior in reality, stuck out from one of the worn cloak's sleeves, swinging impossibly fast as he dashed forward head first, almost as horizontal as the ground itself.

No one should have had the time to react so quickly, but the large energy blast was cleaved apart with a flash of pale purple – the color of the sage's weapon.

Then, in the next moment, he was suddenly in Julie's face, breathing directly at her, not from fatigue, but from sheer entertainment. Weightlessness registered in her hands, and she made the tactically foolish move of glancing at them only to see that she held the two handles of her weapon and nothing more. Three more pieces of it lay scattered at her feet making five, just as he had said.

Knuckles fell to the ground with an unpleasant thud and quickly began to pick himself up again, but the sage held out a hand and quickly spoke.

"I'm willing to assist you, but killing you is also a viable option. I merely wished to speak in private."

The red echidna growled like an animal and spat blood from his mouth.

"I haven't harmed your lady," the Sage of Light added. "Nor do I wish do."

The echidnas both growled deeply beneath closed mouths and unpleasant glances. They were remarkably alike in combat, and it amused the sage.

"May I 'talk' as you so commanded before?" he added.

"Do we have a choice?" Julie-su said after a moment.

"As I've already indicated, I'm here to help. You're the ones who initiated the hostility, not that I entirely blame you. I did appear to be a Terran spy, when in fact I am something much different."

"You _said_," Knuckles spat out another bit of blood and saliva, "that the emeralds were coming. I took that as a way of making us lower our guard."

The sage contracted his energy blade and sat cross legged. "A clean misunderstanding," he said. "What I said regarding the emeralds is true. Mind you, I didn't specify how_ many_ are on their way."

"Now's a good time," Julie-su suggested.

He crossed his arms as well and grinned. "Feisty couple, aren't you? Yes, I think now would be a prudent time to discuss it. Six of the seven emeralds will be coming here soon, within a week. But in comparison to that… something more serious is on the verge of occurring in a very short time."

Knuckles tried to shrug off his anger and the slow bloodstream that accumulated in his mouth. Something _more_ serious than the return of things both so wonderful and so dangerous was worth listening to, if it was actually true. At that point, truth was hard to accept coming from the shabbily dressed but inhumanly powerful Terran.

Julie-su shot him a quick look of unimpressed cynicism and caution. Over the past few years, he had grown to know that look as meaning 'You've got gullible written all over you.' But they both knew that Knuckles would never completely discard his nature of willingness when it came to second chances and trust.

"What, pray tell," the red echidna continued to feign anger over the curiosity that grew beneath it, "is more serious than the emeralds returning?"

The sage immediately tightened into an irritated frown and squeezed his hands hard against his crossed arms. "I was rather hoping you might tell me."

"Do you seriously think we're that stupid?" Julie-su hooted half laughing, half raging. "Why would we tell you _anything_?"

"Allow me to explain," he silenced her with a raised palm. "I have a unique ability that very few have, much like Knuckles has his talent of seeing things that no one else can – I take it your camouflaging friend Espio the Chameleon can't hide from you either?"

"Easier even to spot than you," the Guardian responded as he sat down on a stone and brushed the dirt from his hat and vest.

"I suspected as much," the reploid nodded. "My ability is harder to describe and took years of practice to become as proficient as I am at it now. You see, wherever I go, I can sense destiny."

"Sense destiny?" Julie-su scoffed. "That sounds like a load of-"

"It's just as difficult to manage and interpret as it is to believe," he cut her short. "What I sense is the coming together of many different people of great importance, good, evil, or somewhere in between. I sense the intensity of emotions of all kinds and the buildup of things most incredible and most destructive."

"And what is it that you sense coming here?" Knuckles asked having become intrigued, much to Julie-su's frustration.

The sage ignored the pink echidna's eye-rolling. "Other than six of the emeralds, several so-called 'sages' will come here, looking for more of their kind to complete an octet plus one. They are all great in power though very different. Then, a great trove of evil will also come here, seeking to assimilate new power as well as crush the numbers of the sages."

Julie-su smashed her fist on a rock. "You can't seriously believe the garbage this man is spewing out," she shot a glare at Knuckles. Her voice still had a feminine quality despite the furious tone of it.

"I don't believe him or disbelieve him," Knuckles said, now trying to be the calming presence for her instead of the other way around. He reached out for her arm so that she would stop yanking at the purple tips of her pink hair that layered out across the tops of her thinner dreads.

"That is, not _yet_," the Guardian added, leering.

While the cloaked Terran – or whatever he was – continued, Knuckles peered around, figuring that they were somewhere in the northernmost part of the island, beyond the outer circle of Reef Mountain and not more than a handful of kilometers away from the island's edge. More isolated than even the desert. Did this cloaked man know that?

"Your belief is your choice," the reploid shrugged indifferently, "but Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat…"

Both of them snapped to their feet and snarled like wolves, drawing out an amused grin on the sage's behalf.

"…have already deduced by logic what I have perceived," he finished.

Their apparent repulsion was far too eager to be ignored, but with a common goal, the sage knew that even great enemies could become allies. After all, Knuckles and the blue hedgehog were not exactly friends, yet they had done countless acts of bravery together for this world, both on and off the Floating Island. At any rate, this was going to be an interesting clash should the two groups meet. If he manipulated this properly, the reploid was confident he could use Shadow to usurp control over the way the sages did things sooner than previously expected.

"Allow me to spell it out for you," he explained. "My senses detect something else on your island. Something foreign to me, and that in itself is an anomaly. It may be difficult for you to observe on the inside, but others on Mobius attuned to the political atmosphere have noticed a brief stagnancy in the Echidnas' dealings internally and externally. You, your lady friend and I all know that the unity between your two distinct peoples, though seemingly harmonic, has its issues. Something else has preoccupied the leaders of your nation to set those problems aside. Shadow suspects foul play, as do I. As Guardian of the Floating Island, it's your responsibility above all else to protect it from harm, is it not?"

Knuckles looked down his nose with disdain. He wasn't getting a choice in this matter and he knew it, so he nodded with a glower of contempt. The sheriff's stars on his head suddenly meant nothing if he was going to infiltrate the depths of Echidnopolis, and it made his stomach grow uneasily beneath his abdomen. He looked up, and the cloaked man still stared at him.

"Find out what your people are hiding," Knuckles was told. "It may hold consequences greater than you think."

Julie-su huffed at his side as he exhaled a bit more peacefully than her. She twisted her jaw to the side, popping it periodically in a fit of festering irritation. Truth be told, Knuckles was just as angry, but he was more practiced at holding in his temper.

"I'm merely asking that you find the source, not rectify or expose it," the sage diplomatically suggested. "If there is something of a serious nature that would put your position or your lady's in jeopardy, then Shadow and I can handle the affair. If the dark hedgehog is spotted it will look like an independent operation, even if I am discovered as well."

Knuckles pursed the edges of his mouth together to fight the pure loathing that he and Julie shared for all of this. "I don't like other people handling my affairs," he said truthfully, "especially outsiders, and even _more_ especially Shadow the Hedgehog… but for the Island's sake, I'll check."

Julie-su was livid; the kind of livid where you can't bring yourself to say anything at first because of how verbally hostile anything that comes out of your mouth would be. The sage chuckled internally at their unspoken dialogue. He sensed more panic wafting from him as a result of Julie-su's murderous expression than from learning that the emeralds were coming _and_ that his government might be plotting something catastrophic. Strange, fickle emotions.

"I'll return you to where you were before if you'd like," said the sage as he gracefully rose, and his cloaked swayed with the mountain breeze.

They were hesitant, but the long haul it would be to cross the crags of this mountain area wasn't a welcome option either.

"It isn't as nauseating if you know it's coming," he reassured them, and he held out his hands, one for each of them.

Julie-su was disgusted. Knuckles was reluctant.

"Come now," he insisted. "It's not a pleasant jaunt back, and I can have you there in seconds."

Knuckles decided with another moment's hesitation to trust this man just a little. Only when he reached out to take the foreigner's hand did Julie-su scowl and take the other.

He had been quite right. It wasn't all that nauseating when you braced your stomach and mind, and having already done it once the surprise factor didn't leave them with desire to vomit. In a tiny snippet of what their trek would have been, the two echidnas reappeared and felt the sensation of their own movement with only slight disorientation, surrounded by trees and large mushrooms.

The cloaked man, on the other hand, was gone.

"Arrogant prick," Julie-su mumbled.

"Doesn't mean he's our enemy," Knuckles pointed out as he led them back to the city's edge.

Julie-su eyed him accusingly.

"But you're right, he is a prick," the red echidna grinned.

They walked down the small hillside back into the market area, and they put on the expressional masks that belied what they whispered to each other about.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Julie-su adopted a fake smile as she continued to walk amongst the crowd.

"He's got me suspicious," Knuckles said, now appearing to be more assertive with his law-enforcing, typically blank poker face. "He's got a point, too. The government has been a little quiet lately. We're probably going to have to snoop around as discretely as we can."

"So you're actually going to trust him?" her eyes assaulted while her smile continued.

He nodded and waved at a familiar person and inconspicuously muttered back, "No, not yet, but it doesn't hurt to investigate. I don't want Shadow involved with this, but if something dangerous is going on, I don't want our snooping around to put you in danger."

"And what about _Rouge_?" her smile faded fast. "Do you want _her_ involved?"

Knuckles couldn't hold his façade. He spun Julie-su so that she faced him, eyes close to each other's. They were going to attract attention, but that last jab made him too angry to care.

"Rouge is a part of my past, Julie. You should know by now that I'm not interested in her. I'm with _you_, and you're who I care about."

"Whatever, Knux," she brushed him off harshly and strode away on her own.

"Damn it," he said a bit too loudly. Many people were staring at him. He shot them angry looks and bared his chest, and they all returned to minding their own business, but the momentary gossip would undoubtedly spread and continue throughout the night. At any rate, he knew that Julie would calm down and maybe even apologize later on. On the other hand, although being sheriff wasn't so bad, the blood title of Guardian may as well have come with a spotlight. Sneaking around the consulate was going to be a thorough challenge.

He contemplated how he would go about investigating, and at the same time he wondered where the cloaked Terran had gone to.

--

It was all but pitch black.

"Well, this can't be very good," the Sage of Light dropped his regal manner of speech for a moment. He wasn't anywhere near where he had intended to be. Someone or something had altered his path.

Two narrow, purple slits of light fizzled out of the darkness and pulsated like a heartbeat within eyes.

The sage immediately drew his energy blade and the white-red oval shield on his wrist, and the glowing slits closed in on him.


	57. Almost Home

**Chapter 57 – Almost Home**

Raven felt giddy. And that was weird. Thinking about the fact that she was giddy was even weirder.

"Seriously," X placed a hand on her shoulder, "it's ok to be excited."

She had to admit that he was right, but it was still weird. Since she had been with X, she had experienced passion, anger, joy, frustration, jealousy and togetherness like she had never felt before, but giddy hadn't been among her mental list of acceptable and mature emotions for longer than she could remember, if it had ever been. It was surprising that her own self-awareness couldn't subdue how jubilated Raven was to see her friends once again.

In a matter of minutes, X had said, the Dreamweaver would be able to open a long-distance connection from three hours away to her home, with Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, and even Beast Boy there to greet her. They hadn't entered Earth's solar system, but soon they could see and hear each other again, and that made her more energized and animated than she could ever remember being. She wore only her long-sleeve, dark blue leotard and sat on her ankles in the large, black, ergonomic computer chair in front the communication display in X's room. As she waited for the moment when the ship's systems managed to connect to Earth, the sorceress bounced anxiously in her seat.

Then she stopped. Giddy was ok, bouncing wasn't.

"Nothing wrong with it," X picked her mind again. He was pacing back and forth between shelves and closets, carrying things while he did. "It's cute, actually."

"You get out of my head!" she shouted playfully and balled up her robe with telekinetic energy, and the next time he passed by she launched it at his head.

"What _are_ you doing anyway?" Raven spun in her seat and watched him carrying random objects.

"Mostly a bit of reorganization," he answered. "When you live on your own and have more space than you need, the places where you keep all the extra stuff tend to get cluttered. I just don't want to be searching for something and end up buried in a landslide of junk with the other sages watching."

Raven smiled at him and slid away from the computer screen on the wheeled chair so she could see what he was up to better.

"So what you're really saying is… you have roomies now."

X stopped, cocked his head and considered that with interest. "Yeah," he said happily. "Yeah, I guess I do."

Raven waited impatiently at the monitor, and her brain recalled intolerable little sayings to the effect of: 'A watched pot never boils,' so she tried to focus on X who was passing beyond the human beds and stasis capsules with another crate full of objects. He teased her with a short, amused laugh.

"I was also making sure the souvenirs you got your friends are all together."

Raven scrunched up her brow and opened her mouth, but she lost the words to answer X's confusing claim.

"What are you talking about?" she eventually asked after watching him pace more with a sizeable amount of confidence exuding from his face. "I didn't get them any... oh... right. That would have been polite of me. How on Azarath did you find the time or the sanity to pick up presents?"

"I kept an eye out for things in Cosmo Canyon and at Midgar during the repairs," he answered simply and then added, "Of course, one of us had to do it, and since you're the only woman in the galaxy who doesn't like shopping..."

Raven pounced on his back and nearly knocked him off balance, but X recovered effortlessly and continued reorganizing as if she weighed nothing. She peered over his shoulder as he marched out of the room, and the beige, plastic crate he carried was full of different metal components that didn't look particularly special to her.

"Don't make me fight back," Raven taunted, still attached with arms and legs wrapped around the reploid, but he just turned his head with a wry grin.

"We'd both enjoy that far too much for it to be a good threat," he joked.

Raven shrugged with a smile. "Suit yourself."

They met each other's eyes for a moment, unable to help sighing contently at each other.

"So what did you... I mean _we_ get everyone?"

He didn't answer immediately, making Raven realize that it was one of those 'I'm going to show you' sort of moments, and as they entered X's workshop she could see how busy he had been in the past several days of space travel. The pale white walls and floor were a bit more visible and much less cluttered. Piles of excess parts were boxed and organized on one of the larger work tables, and various spills, stains, dirt, metal shavings and other mess had been thoroughly cleaned. Even the various metal-working machines (Raven had no idea what most of them did) had been polished and dusted to give off a professional, good-as-new sheen.

A large, black object parked on the far side of one of X's broken hover cycles quickly caught her eye. As X walked closer to it, Raven immediately recognized that its sense of style clashed with the many metallic hues of X's home and culture. Black as a color didn't properly explain the depth of starless night hues that this machine permeated, and the way it blended with chrome silver exhaust pipes and many other components that Raven didn't have a name for effectively dulled out all her senses but sight. The only two coherent words Raven could utter in her trance to describe this massive, beastly, motorcycle of motorcycles were: 'Bad' and 'Ass.' It was longer than a car and had two large wheels in the back instead of one. Engraved in the tires were not the normal pattern treads of a commonly made vehicle, but raging flame tessellations in the center with designs of long broadswords on the outer edges. Then, when X pulled two small levers, one on either side of the machine near the front tire, twin compartments ejected in the back above the dual rear wheels, and the design contained many narrow slots that appeared capable of holding multiple swords or other weapons and cargo.

"This," Mega Man indicated with a grand gesture of his arm, "is for Cyborg."

The dark woman hopped down from his back with her mouth gaping from the extravagance. She approached it slowly as if it might bite, and then she hesitantly felt the smooth grip of the tires and how cool they were underneath her fingertips as she traced the blaze imprints. There was a smooth, glass plate arcing up over the inverted handlebars that teased her skin with its silk-like texture. She touched the black leather seat; the motorcycle was well cushioned and suited for someone small or large, though the dark sorceress didn't know how she would reach the handles.

X followed her eyes and sensed her train of thought, so he took a seat on the massive bike (not without some delight of his own) and pressed the ends of the handlebars with his thumbs. Then he pulled back and the handles followed him so that he could sit back comfortably into the small crook where the leather turned up and made a support for the lower back.

"Completely adjustable," he said. "The foot rests and pedals are, too," X then demonstrated. The reploid pressed the handle buttons again, but this time he pressed on the pedals, and they came loose, allowing him to easily kick them back with his heel. After that, he leaned forward and pushed the handlebars deep underneath the glass shield. X's whole body pressed against the seat, but it didn't quite accommodate to his robotic chest because of the octagonal diamond embedded in his new armor. The plate glass protected his face in that pose, and the dark sorceress knew that Cyborg would love it for its manly appearance and practicality.

"Where did you get this, X?" Raven asked him. She assessed the extravagant appearance of the bike for a prolonged time.

"Tifa," Mega Man quickly answered, and Raven noticed his face turn stone-like. It took a tiny pause for her to become completely embarrassed at the thoughts in his head when he mentioned her name. When someone thought of death, it was as if it had a taste in the mind, and it was distinctly sour and unpalatable.

"It had belonged to Cloud, her husband," X continued.

"He led them all against Sephiroth," Raven remembered and understood.

Mega Man nodded and set down the care of things he was carrying on one of the human mattresses. "She had a motorcycle of her own already, so when Cloud died hunting down the Ultima Weapon about a year ago, the extra one wasn't much use to her. She tried to just give it to me, but I made sure to pay her well for it. I couldn't leave her with nothing for it now that Gaia is suffering so much."

"We'll leave out those parts of the story for Cyborg's sake," she suggested.

He attempted a meager smile. "Of course."

"What did you… I mean what did _we_ get the others?"

Mega Man was thankful for the distraction. He led her to one of the machines that she thought she remembered from their previous travels as a 'laser chisel,' and in its tight, arm-like clamps was a long, horizontally situated staff designed with dark outlines of different animals: the monkey, the crane, the serpent, and others. Raven's quick wisdom recalled that the animals represented martial arts styles, many of which Robin knew and practiced. More intriguing was the material composing it that resembled wood at first, but in thin, vein-like patterns that spiraled and snaked throughout it was solid, blackish stone. When she touched it, Raven was sure that it was distinctively two materials underneath her gentle press. She faced X, who was already waiting with an explanation.

"It's made from a rare type of tree on Gaia. When the tree grows during spring and summer, it secrets a compound from its bark that can soften certain types of rock so the tree can push them aside and create more space to grow. Sometimes it can slowly envelop entire rocks into the trunk, softening and stretching them until it makes the stone like a human circulatory system within it. In the winter it gets too cold for the tree to make the secretion, and ones mixed with a lot of stone like this one can become harder than steel. It's very expensive, and the more integrated the rock becomes, the higher the price climbs."

"So it must be rare," Raven acknowledged.

"It is," X answered, "but that's not the only reason. If it's cut when it's softer in the spring or summer then it usually loses shape, so it has to be cut in the winter when it's incredibly solid. The saws they use are typically made with shards of diamond."

Raven imagined a huge, old-fashioned hand saw being tugged back and forth by sweaty lumberjacks, all the while seeing the sparkle of diamonds glittering in their faces. A huge temptation, she imagined.

"Yes, it is," X picked her mind, though it didn't bother her. "It's a bit of a liability, and having to replace or repair one of those is very costly."

She nodded, figuring that it would cost a fortune. The dark sorceress then looked up at him, careful to hide her thoughts, and she slowly moved in, pressing against him with an embarrassing question that she didn't quite understand why she wanted to ask. "So… I know it's not important," she made sure to premise the question, "but are you, um… rich?"

X laughed and rubbed the back of his head, not sure really how to answer that one. Personal wealth and greed weren't something that had gone out of control on his world for quite a while, and as he thought about it, he considered that his definition of wealth seldom included money.

"I guess… I kinda am," he admitted. "I've never had to do it, or really given much thought to it, but if I wanted I could perfectly counterfeit money from different worlds, and no one would ever know the difference because I could make it identical to the real thing. What happens to me is people saying they owe me favors, and unless I think something is too extravagant or unaffordable to the people giving it to me, I don't turn away gifts. I know that I shouldn't take presents doing my duty, but I enjoy collecting artifacts of all kinds, and I usually feel rude turning down hospitality from people who truly won't suffer from the loss."

She grinned and kissed his cheek. "Boy scout."

"'Til the end of time," he said back.

"What about Beast Boy and Starfire?" she changed the subject. Something technological made sense for Cyborg, and Robin was accepting of anything, but rare items that were also practical made perfect gifts for the Boy Wonder. She knew that the Titan leader would probably spend far too many hours working far too hard to see if it would be a logical weapon to master for combat and defending the city. Beast Boy and Starfire were always a bit harder. The Tamaranian had strange interests, Beast Boy was a video game nerd, and Raven couldn't see X getting something like that for anybody. Too lazy a present in her opinion and X's.

"Beast Boy was easy once I thought of it," the reploid stated with confidence that Raven thought might be a bit premature. "Starfire, though…" he admitted, "she was tough."

Neither of their presents were in X's lab, but X refused to spoil the secrets as they headed elsewhere in the ship. Raven became extremely curious as they approached his hidden memoriam, and even more so when he glanced up at the third floor where the most dangerous relics were kept.

There was no romance this time, though it crossed both of their minds.

Raven gracefully hovered to the top, and X made an astounding leap from the very bottom, tapping the ceiling with his fingers before he touched down. There had been no sound of the boosters on the bottom of his reploid boots.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"This armor," he used his hands to indicate himself, "was modified from my Shadow Armor, something I obtained a while back during the war with Sigma. It was designed for intense agility, speed, and stealth. It's also very powerful offensively, but it lacks in the defensive department. Most of my modifications altered the structure to resemble something more… Hylian."

X became busy inputting the code to retract the dense glass case protecting his materia.

Raven was getting uncomfortable as his fingers tapped the keypad at inhuman speeds. Her eyes, his, and Zelda's had all turned shades of green from exposure to the Mako in the Lifestream, the chaos emeralds, and materia. What was he thinking?

"Don't worry," he reassured her. "What I'm giving to Beast Boy is a special green materia, one that has such low toxicity levels that it's never infected anybody. I'll still warn him of the dangers of overuse, and I'll be sure to take a blood sample to make sure that it doesn't affect his chemistry differently from others."

"And it's not awkward at all to give a present that requires a blood test," Raven frowned.

"I know, it's a bit odd, but it can expand his powers a lot. This is called 'transform' materia. He can use it on himself to morph into animals from Gaia, some of which have special powers he could probably use."

"Such as?"

"There's a special type of frog on Gaia that, in addition to being a small, inconspicuous swimmer, can stand on its hind legs and emit sound waves that cause people and animals to lose consciousness. Essentially, it puts things to sleep."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Could be useful, but knowing Beast Boy it'll likely end up as a disastrous prank."

"It can do a lot more," X chuckled, "but that's for another time. It won't be long before we get there, and I need a woman's eye for Starfire's gift."

Raven heard that and quickly lost interest in the materia, brimming with curiosity about the comment that could not have been intended to mean her. A woman's eye? Was he raving mad?

"Come on," X flattered her. "Just because you look gorgeous without makeup and have an intoxicatingly unique sense of style doesn't mean you don't have that feminine touch."

Mega Man witnessed the reddening signal rising in her cheeks. He smiled, and she smiled back.

She never liked admitting it, but on the rare occasions when Raven had been dragged on shopping sprees with Starfire (the memories of her awkwardly wading through the underwear sections were agonizing), she had been the sole reason that the Tamaranian hadn't made a complete fool of herself. In fact, the high level of scrutiny that the sorceress knew she had was probably a girl friend's best trait when shopping for clothes.

Raven shrugged and sighed. At least it wouldn't be in public.

But then she smiled heartily. All of X's technology and knowledge of different worlds and everything in them sometimes made her feel a bit small even though X was careful in his tone to never be too commanding or arrogant. The simple fact of the matter still raised a prevailing inferiority when she contemplated it too much.

They headed back for X's room. A small closet near the far corner adjacent to the storage space he had been working in was designed to hold clothes for when humans were on board, which in X's case was a scarce treat. The many racks of clothing from different worlds that Mega Man had collected apparently didn't all fit in the space where Zelda had found her new outfit. Amidst a collection of garments both unusual and vibrant, several dresses and other articles appeared to match well color-wise with Starfire's likes. Raven wondered if he actually needed help or if it was just a way to spend time together, though she was flattered either way.

The first dress was pale purple, a few shades lighter than Starfire's miniskirt and top. It was sleeveless and had a shallow V-neck, and around the waist hung an unfastened, violet, fabric belt with a silver buckle in the back. As Raven noticed its ankle-length and subtle waviness from the hips down, she slid her fingers along the fabric, and it was exceptionally soft. The material was thick and a bit weighty, probably more suitable for early fall weather, not that it mattered for Starfire's alien strength. It wasn't incredibly special like she had expected it might be, but it was nice and simple, good for those shopping trips.

"It might be a little big," she mentioned.

"No problem. Shrinks in the wash… err… right?"

"It looks a bit glossy," she explained, now becoming the teacher instead of the student. It felt wonderful, and she wanted to bask in it, so she waited for his expression to turn confused before she finished. "I have no idea what it's made out of if you got it from another planet, but if it's synthetic like polyester or acetate then it probably won't shrink much at all. Natural fibers tend to shrink while artificial ones usually don't. But if it's a fifty-fifty mix, it should still shrink some, and that's fairly common on Earth. So which is it?"

X looked at the dress, touched the fabric, stared for a moment at Raven with his mouth agape… and then he slumped in defeat.

"You have no idea, do you?" Raven grinned. "Should I write this moment down? The first time that the all-knowing Mega Man X is stumped, and by a piece of pretty fabric, no less?"

"Quit it," he laughed.

Raven took his hand and wished he could blush. His embarrassed expression and inability to look at her or the dress was priceless enough for the time.

Mega Man showed her other foreign outfits that he was planning on giving Starfire. Some were casual, like the first, but a few were semi-formal. It was difficult to picture some of the outfits on the Titans' resident alien because they weren't all simple one or two-piece outfits like those on Earth. Others contained multiple parts, like leggings, free sleeves, skirts and half skirts. Raven liked the half-skirt and shorts combo, though it wasn't something she had considered wearing herself. Yuna's white-blue one from Gaia's future looked different, but very good, and Zelda's white-pink lace and pleated layers on her half skirt was very flattering with her figure and her long, slender legs.

They found a few winners, including the first one, a summer yellow dress (Raven wasn't so sure the shade on it would work, but X argued that goldenrod would look lovely on Starfire as long as she didn't start flinging neon green star bolts), a silk-like orange fleece with dark denim jeans (the denim wasn't of Earth, though he assured her that it was much stronger), and a green and white half skirt, though they hadn't found anything to go with it just yet.

"Maybe I should just let her rummage through everything and have her take what she likes?"

"_No_," Raven implored. "Don't _ever_ let Starfire have free reign on clothing. That would be like letting a bunch of ten-year-olds run an amusement park by themselves."

"Alright, alright!" X chuckled, feigning defeat and defensiveness.

His head suddenly ticked to the side, and he backed away from the closet.

"The connection is ready," he said, void of emotion for a moment. Then he smiled warmly and placed a hand on Raven's shoulder with a loving squeeze against him. "You can talk to your friends whenever you want."

At first she froze. Her insides clenched up in the shock of the moment. She had never been away from the Titans for so long – almost a month – and when the moment came that she could finally speak with them again, she was filled with anxiety. Her bond with X was much different, and it was excruciating to be apart from him even though they had known each other for such a short time in comparison to the several years she had been with Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, and even Beast Boy. The feeling of almost being home was different. Less agonizing, but more fear-filled, as if she would somehow return to them a complete alien. The urge to speak to the Titans was so strong, but she no longer knew what to say.

"Do you want to be alone for this?" X asked.

Raven hadn't realized that she was already sitting, staring at the monitor and the 'connected' message that it displayed.

"I… no," she turned to him and said. "I want you here with me."

X watched her face carefully. He perceived hesitance.

"Raven, our relationship is important, but the Titans have been a part of your life much longer than I have. The two of us together can have a friendship with the Titans, but it's important that we make and maintain our own _individual_ friendships as well. As much as it's said, I don't believe that two people make one."

"I understand," she answered. "And I feel the same way. After having bad experiences in the past, I know that two people should make three, not one. Each individual, _and_ the relationship they have as a… a couple."

That last word still sounded a bit odd to her.

"But right now, I want all of them to see us together. There will be plenty of time to catch up individually."

"That's alright with me," he kissed her forehead softly. X tapped on the screen, bringing up a series of numbers and symbols that didn't make much sense to her. It might have been a coordinate chart, because it narrowed onto the green, white and blue ball in the eternal sky of space.

"Just a moment now," X whispered, and then he pulled up a seat next to her.

The screen splashed blurry gray fuzz, and after a few seconds a familiar face with spiky black hair and a thin-strip mask over his eyes beamed happily.

"Raven!" shouted the Boy Wonder, and the dark sorceress couldn't hold back tears.

"Robin…" she smiled, pursing her lips as her eyes dripped of joy.

Muffled voices came from the background on Robin's end. The deep, enthusiastic bellow of Cyborg was on its way.

"Gangway!" it shouted, startling Robin as his face darted to one side, and even the mighty pounding of the half-machine's feet became audible over the long-distance connection.

Cyborg crashed through the room and tackled Robin accidentally, plowing past the screen and giving a rhino-morphed Beast Boy a chance to take front-and-center. Starfire was next, pushing the green changeling past the screen with a forceful shove. Cyborg plowed both BB and Starfire back, making a display that forced laughs out of both X and Raven.

Robin's head peeked sideways, dominating the whole screen with his panicked expression.

"As you can see, we're all really excited too-WAAH!"

Raven's palm went to her face in embarrassment, and she wiped off some of her tears. They were still battling for space, and her leader at home was now somewhere in the vicinity of the next room.

"Best friend Raven!" exclaimed the redheaded Tamaranian. "It is most glorious to see you again!"

But that conversation didn't last either.

X raised an eyebrow. "How did Cyborg just… _fall_ from the ceiling?"

"Guys, come on!" Raven said, wiping away the rest of the tears.

They all stopped.

Raven sighed. "That's better."

"Sorry 'bout that," Cyborg shrugged as he peeled himself off Beast Boy, who looked rather flattened as a chimp. It was hard to tell when _that_ transformation occurred.

"We are all so happy to see you!" Starfire beamed with more restraint.

"It's good to hear from all of you, too," she breathed serenely with relief.

Beast Boy waved past Raven and said, "Hey X! Nice digs!"

"Thanks," Mega Man nodded to the little changeling, glad that he approved of the Hylian reploid armor. He couldn't help but grin at how enthusiastically youthful Beast Boy remained. "It's good to see all of you as well, and we have a bit of a surprise."

The Titans were all crowded around the monitor now, listening intently. Robin sat in the seat facing X and Raven through their distant connection, while Beast Boy and Cyborg took up the sides, leaving the space behind Robin free for Starfire to occupy. BB held his fists in excitement for what they all hoped was coming.

X pretended to look at a watch on his wrist. "In about... three hours, seven minutes and forty-two seconds from now, I believe we'll be making a gentle landing on Titan's Island."

And the Titans all froze. Raven found her lungs stunned and deprived of any air as she awaited their response. Her heart beat faster and faster, but the air she breathed remained put as if waiting for permission. Were they happy to have her home?

In a burst of volume that brought Raven's hands to her ears, they were all cheering, hooting, and screaming in their own animated ways. It was deafening and joyous, and the dark sorceress felt so warm and so wonderful inside even though her of temples were ringing.

A flash of grey and purple blurred the screen and shut down the connection in an startling instant.

The two of them were stuck in startled positions.

"Was that…?"

"I think so," Raven squinted, trying to replay the last few seconds in her head. "Beast Boy was doing some sort of rock star kick, and I think that was his boot."

X chuckled. "Guess they'll have to wait, then."

"Mmhm," she answered, still staring at the screen. Then the sorceress shook her head happily and with relief. "I'm glad to see they haven't changed. I hope I haven't… or at least, not too much."

"They'll accept you either way, you know," he answered her, squeezing gently at her shoulders, feeling tense areas form as she worried.

"Have I?" Raven spun and asked him. "Have I changed that much?"

X contemplated the worry in her face, and then Mega Man stepped back, seriously considering if she had changed drastically. It didn't take him long to come up with a pleasant and honest answer.

"Longer hair," he pointed out as he touched the soft, wavy locks that hung to her collarbone, making her blush. "Beautiful, though. Then there's the new red robe from those… Al Bhed, from the future. Of course, that's superficial, and you have extra blue robes here as well as at home. The one thing they will notice more is that you can express _all_ of your feelings more easily. But I think they'll like that. They've always wanted to get to know you better."

"Really?" Raven asked, slightly disbelieving. "How do you know that? No, wait… you _didn't_."

"You're exactly right, I didn't. Beast Boy and Starfire told me all on their own, no mind prodding necessary. They've always been content and happy with you the way you were, but anything that let's them get closer will make them happy, of course."

X turned away to take care of more cleaning and organization of his tools and trinkets, but then he turned back for a quick moment. "Don't make it easy for them, though. There's something attractive about a mystery."

Raven spun in her seat to watch him leave. It was incredible how his simple words of compassion and wisdom could make her feel so secure in herself, and in such little time.

The dark sorceress leaned back in the seat and stared at the screen displaying 'connection lost,' and she though about what amazing story she would share with them first.


	58. Home

**Chapter 58 – Home**

The air was crisp and fresh and the sky was laden with just the perfect number of white, slowly flying clouds, enough to make a panoramic scene of beauty while still letting the sun do its work. The breeze was as gentle as could be, brushing off any excess warmth without causing a shudder or a chill, and the purity of the salty bay filled every nose stepping from the Dreamweaver with a tranquil sensation that traversed into a calm and relaxed stride. Perfection was created by the four smiling, waiting, barley-able-to-contain-themselves faces that greeted Raven, Mega Man X, and all the newcomers to Titan's Island.

The dark sorceress stopped just beyond the stairs leading to the ground, excited more than she could express, and as they were about to experience, more than they had ever seen from her.

Raven leapt to Robin first, astonishing all of them with her warm smile, tight embrace, long, wavy hair, and eyes dripping joyous tears of relief at the sanctuary she had returned to. To her home.

Robin was still so stunned that it took him a moment to collect his thoughts and return the hug, which he did so tightly around her, fighting tears himself.

"Starfire…" the sorceress moved next to the Tamaranian girl, who quickly adjusted to the bubbly change in her friend. She squeezed Raven so tight that the dark girl had to use her telekinetic powers to hug back as fiercely.

"I've missed you," Raven eventually fought her way from Starfire to Cyborg.

"Well, I've missed you too," he said back kindly, holding her close, but gently with his massive body. He, unlike Starfire, knew when it was comfortable for them to separate.

Lastly, Beast Boy was standing off slightly to the side, still his small, green, awkward self, rocking his feet back and forth with a small blush on his face.

"So, um… welcome back!" he smiled oddly.

Raven wore a blank expression for a quick second, but she quickly turned it into a devious grin. "Oh, c'mere Gar!" she reached out and sucked him in, squeezing Beast Boy tightly until he started gasping for breath. Her eyes became even damper, laughing as she cried until her grip released the green titan.

"It's so great to be back," Raven said to them all, still with a hand on BB. "I have so many stories to tell you all."

"And guests," Robin added with a welcoming facial gesture towards the quartet of newcomers adjacent to X, who nodded as he stepped forward.

"I think some introductions are in order," said Mega Man. "May I introduce Princess Zelda Hyrule?"

Zelda blushed at the mention of her title. It was something she had been fighting to put behind her, so she wondered why X made mention of it to these youths. Then, to her surprise, the tall girl wearing small purple garments with orange hair bowed very deeply, and Robin, their leader, did the same while taking her hand courteously.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, and something instinctive made her curtsey gracefully at him with a hand raising her half skirt as if it were a full one.

"This is Saria," X took her gentlemanly by the hand and led her forward. Her reaction was more reserved, which they all noted in their own ways, but she gave them a polite nod.

"Hey, she has pointy ears like me!" Beast Boy blurted out, and Saria shot him an angry glare. "Oop!" the changeling clamped his mouth shut.

"I'm very sorry," Robin scratched his head. "He gets a little excited."

When Saria still said nothing, he added nervously, "I hope we haven't offended you."

X observed the next moment carefully, focusing on Saria's reaction in particular. He thought that nothing could surprise him at this point in his life, but he was proven wrong – possibly due to the fact that Saria may have been probing his mind – a mere instant later. The forest girl turned an eye to X, winked at him plainly, then took a step towards Beast Boy.

"It's quite alright," she said. Even at her average height, she was taller than the green Titan, and Beast Boy smiled timidly like the embarrassed teen that he was when she looked at him sternly. Saria knelt down, forcing a subtle twitch out of the changeling as though he were going to run away, but her pale eyes took hold of his, coercing him to stay put. Her palm pressed against the dirt and grass, and all of the Titans watched her, Robin with interest, Cyborg with skepticism, Starfire with the utmost curiosity, and Beast Boy remained moderately frozen in a conglomeration of some unpleasant emotions he probably couldn't spell, let alone articulate

Saria's hand resonated with a pale, white light. Her bright green hair fell in front of her face, shielding the curious act, and only X and Raven noticed the internal wince she expressed as her arm shivered minutely. When she pulled back for all to see, a small green sprout was rising from the dirt, reaching mid-shin level in a short matter of seconds, flowing delicately as her hands guided the plant, balancing it. Then, as the growing slowed and came to a halt, a small bulb expanded at its peak, which expanded into a thick tuft of chartreuse flower petals. Saria brushed her palm past the base of the flower using the tip of the nature blade within her body to slice it off at the proper angle, and then she gave it to Beast Boy, forcing his olive tinted skin to blend darkly with the blood rising in his face. "It's the color of my hair," she said to him. "And it's very close to yours. Something else we have in common."

The young changeling turned pinkish around the cheeks. When Saria turned back to X and the sages, Cyborg nudged his green friend humorously with a wink from his one organic eye. Saria didn't have to see that she had left an impression, and she stared straight into X's eyes with a look of contemptuousness.

The old wolf stepped forward next, wise and experienced enough to introduce himself with a confident stride and a firm look at all of them.

"I am named many things, including Nanaki, Red XIII, or just Red. However," he spread his legs into a wide stance, "in this company I am also known as the Sage of Fire."

The air near him became hot and try, and the tresses of spiked fur along his spine morphed into dancing wisps of fire. He inflamed for a brief second, singing the ground he stood on while radiating waves of heat. The wolf-fire ceased with a focused thought, slowly reducing to nothing like a candle run out of wick.

"Impressive," Robin commented.

The old wolf bowed courteously to the Titan leader. As he stepped to the side, wisps of smoke came up from the burnt grass and dirt beneath his paws.

Tidus was last. He had hoped not to have such a grandiose series of introductions, but Saria successfully destroyed that wish, and the old wolf had made a point not to be treated like the animal he appeared to be with his display of pyrotechnics. The Sage of Water felt stupid for missing the opportunity to slip his name in after Zelda's humble induction, but it was too late at that point.

The princess's hand met the exposed, tan skin of his forearm, and he sighed behind everyone else. Awkwardly and uncomfortably, a clearing was formed for him, opening a presentational cone of vision for all to see. He didn't understand why, but he couldn't seem to stand the green one looking at him. It was like a reaper of guilt hovering over him, but he knew nothing about the one they called Beast Boy.

"I'm, uh… Tidus," he smiled stupidly, turning red.

"Don't be shy, man!" Cyborg waved at the blonde. "We're happy to have ya!"

Tidus turned redder, but it was slightly comforting.

"Why don't you all come inside?" Robin gestured towards their giant 'T' home (Tidus breathed a sigh of relief). "We should give you the tour of the place if you're going to be staying for the night, and I'm sure we have a lot to talk about, serious and fun."

Several of the newcomers to Raven's home hadn't noticed the last few things he had said once Robin gestured to their home. Saria and Zelda in particular were in a bit of a state of awe. The princess shared a castle roughly the size of this island with dozens of royal guards and servants, many other royal family members, and often several workers or visitors from other nations of Hyrule like the Zoras, the Gorons, or even the Gerudo. But for five young children to live in such an extravagant domicile by _themselves_... simply put, neither of the natives to Hyrule truly knew what to expect. Red XIII was not unfamiliar to such conditions, and it made him think primarily of Rufus Shinra and others like him. He subdued his reservations; this was a world unlike his, and he knew he ought not to make such premature assessments.

Tidus looked at the giant 'T' and thought to himself with a simple smile: "_Cool!"_

Led by the Titans to their home, Zelda, Tidus and Red XIII mixed in quickly and socially. Saria followed closely behind, and X kept an eye on her, though it was hard not to notice how each of the other Titans squeezed in on Raven, giving her the heartfelt welcome she deserved. Her smile was so strong.

* * *

X was glad that the state of the Titan home wasn't the disaster he suspected it might be. Raven was not the primary cleaner, but she was chiefly responsible for enforcing the responsibility of cleaning up one's own messes. Strangely enough it was near spotless, but the emerald reploid grinned as he remembered his younger days and the last minute panic that willed him to clean so that the few reploid ladies he had grown close to would not be put off. Since then, though, he had refined his habits of tidiness. There were still messes now and then, but they were properly contained and isolated, and he always knew where to find what he was looking for.

The red carpeting of the main room and window walls facing the oceanfront from their high vantage point were vacuumed and polished respectively (the windows were a quick job inside and out for their flying Tamaranian Princess), and no trace of random clothing or fuzzy blue food was visible. X sucked in a deep breath. It smelled as though some sort of freshening agent had been sprayed, a classic maneuver. He was tempted to check the fridge. No one remembers to clean that under duress.

They were trivial observations, really. At least to him. He felt a sense of comfort and belonging in this place, clean or not. Despite the dangers and hesitance when they first met upon the eve of Raven's resurrection from the brink of death and mental collapse, the Titans had practically welcomed him with open arms. X remembered the time when Starfire came to him on the beach and comforted him, even though it was the first time they had met. Robin and he had hunted the Mavericks and searched for their criminal purposes together. Cyborg… he held a much more intense set of memories. They hardly got along. X tried not to wonder how much of Cy's frustration and anger towards him was genuine, and how much of it was the virus taking over his system. What was most important to Mega Man about the machine Titan was the undying dedication to his friends, especially Raven. They would always have that in common. Well, that and a taste for fine home cooking. The reploid laughed as he recalled how many pancakes that man could devour in such a short time. Then, there was of course Beast Boy. He and X hadn't spent much time together, but it was always pleasant when they did. Mega Man made a mental note to try and engage the little green changeling while he stayed on Earth.

The sages and Zelda were in the process of getting the grand tour and being shown where they could stay if they didn't wish to remain on the Dreamweaver for the evening. Starfire and Beast Boy would be too excited to break away from the group, and Raven was the bridge between the foreigners from other worlds and her closest friends. So the first to separate and tend to other things would be either Cyborg or…

"For a friendly reunion you look like you've got a lot on your mind."

The reploid smiled before he turned his head, amused to practically have the name plucked from his brain by fate as the Titan leader engaged him. Robin wore a positive expression, but he was as stern as always despite it and inquisitive no matter what the pleasantries of the situation were.

"I'm happy to be back," X answered, returning to the bright sky view out to the bay.

Just as X knew that Robin could never pacify his detective spirit, Robin knew that X was the same way, or at least similar enough that he rarely took the time for pure leisure.

"Things have been getting hectic around here," the Titan explained. He stood parallel with X and the towering windows that calmed and relaxed both of them. "I don't mean to be a downer, but the strange reactions and energy readings have been expanding in frequency and radius from the origin, and something needs to be done about them."

"I know," X said simply, though he wasn't exactly sure what to do about it. He was sure that the strange happenings Robin had mentioned now and when they spoke several weeks ago via the Dreamweaver's communication systems were a result of the seventh and last chaos emerald. It was also more than that. X just had a feeling that the white emerald lay somewhere in the depths of the ocean on this planet.

"Gizmo has been helping us catalog all the energy readings. It helped us pinpoint where the epicenter of the activity is."

"Gizmo?" X didn't imagine that went over well. The tiny, squinty eyed technical wizard was all but friendly with the Titans, he remembered, but as criminals went, he was much milder than most of those that Robin dealt with.

"Yeah. He's only here part time, now. Most of us can't stand him, and he isn't very fond of us, but luckily he's just as curious about this as we are, and willing to cooperate if it mean learning more about these disturbances. You think maybe it was what the Mavericks were looking for when they first showed up?" Robin questioned, and X nodded hesitantly.

"I wouldn't be surprised, honestly," the reploid exhaled with disdain.

He meant to continue, but X found no words suitable to express the struggle inside him, one that questioned his moral judgment much more than the interference with other worlds that he was seldom granted conscious self-permission for. As a machine so incredibly advanced, he should never have shown himself to these young humanoids, and yet he broke that rule. Now, with the matter of the last emerald at hand, no inner monologue presented itself. No spiritual or intellectual guide existed to exert an opinion one way or the other.

"I've made a point of keeping some things secret for a long time, but I feel like I can trust you, Robin," Mega Man confided. It was not without discomfort that he spoke on. "The chaos emeralds are the only thing I know that could cause the emotionally linked incidents you've been keeping a lid on. There are seven emeralds in existence. I hold six. The problem is, by collecting the seventh and final one…"

"Which we're pretty sure is underneath the ocean at the empty Maverick base…" Robin added.

"Yes," X agreed. "But by getting that last one, I'll have completed the collection, and I risk allowing those seven to fall into a single pair of hands in one fell swoop. You don't want to know what would happen if those hands belonged to Zero. And at the same time, I can't allow its effects to spread everywhere across your planet. Eventually one of these incidents could devastate a vast number of people and cause irreparable damage. We can't afford to leave it as is, either."

X paused for a moment, then recalled something important. "Robin, do you remember when we were at Terra's cave, and that green, floating essence appeared?"

Robin nodded and said he did. The image in his imagination of the bright lights illuminating Terra's cave overlapped the blue sky and midday sun that he stared at.

"The chaos emerald is partially responsible for that, and there will be other drastic changes like that if it stays here, more than just inhuman strength and unusual powers. Change can be a remarkable thing, but it'll happen too fast. People fueled by greed will assume power like never before, ruling in absolute ways. And even if they don't succeed, they'll bring many poor souls down with them in trying."

"So that means that we _are_ going to get the emerald?" Robin pressed.

X shrugged helplessly. "We're in a terrible position either way, but I guess I'll have to take my chances and protect it as best I can. It would be good if you could tolerate it a bit longer. I realize that that's asking a lot, but we need to free Terra and take care of Zero before putting all seven emeralds in one place, if we can. I'm planning on leaving a couple of the sages here to help keep things calm, if that's alright with you."

"That'll be helpful, and don't worry, we've got plenty of space," Robin reassured Mega Man. "And what about Terra? We both want her back. As soon as Beast Boy gets over the newness of having guests from other worlds, he's gonna start asking."

X backed up and took a seat in the wide, red leather couch that faced the windows as well as the television and surveillance monitors when they descended from their hidden spots in the ceiling. Robin hung his head, perceiving the worst from X's reaction. He plunked down a few feet away from X, sinking with an unsteady, sulking breath, but the reploid made like he was going to explain and caught Robin's mood from collapsing.

With his fist resting on his face, X realized he hadn't found a solution or even a possible one for Terra's condition. The huge materia was resting peacefully in his memoriam, and he was positive that it was the key to restoring her body. Apparently her spirit within the Lifestream had said so to Raven, Zelda, and Tidus, but she hadn't given any clues as to how exactly they were supposed to do that.

Robin was clearly trying not to stare at him; the Boy Wonder was eager to save Terra even if he didn't understand how important she was as the Sage of Earth. For him the young stone-wielder was a friend, and despite how important the safety of the galaxy was, Terra as a friend somehow seemed more important than Terra as a fighter. It didn't make that much sense, but it felt right, so X fought even harder to diffuse Robin's awkward desire to ask what the problem was.

The truth was a good place to start, he decided.

"The short version is that we have what we need to bring her back, but we can't use it because it'll almost definitely kill anyone who tries."

Robin's eyes bulged a bit beneath his black strip mask. X might've laughed if it wasn't so grim.

"Basically, we have to use an energy source that draws from our bodies – it's the same source that allowed me to crunch Cinderblock in earth way back, remember? – but using it too much can… hurt us."

"I remember," Robin rubbed his chin. "But what you're saying is that the one we're using on Terra is too powerful to handle? And a person needs to use it… could all of us use it at the same time?"

X grimly denied it tried not to think about the intense green color of his own eyes. It had been over five years since he had obtained those emerald irises from Mako poisoning, and since then the cancer had spread to people close to him, Raven and Zelda. He knew that Robin had noticed the change in Raven's eyes but was too polite to pry. X pursed his lips. He was ashamed. What would Robin think of him if he knew that he was responsible for the shortening of her life? His thoughts turned to his particularly accelerated condition at the same time. After having summoned the Phoenix, it was likely that another episode of seizures was coming soon.

"It's about 330 times the power of the ones I used to use, and Raven, Zelda and I can't use it safely," he said quickly, then continued on without hesitation. "Problems with our body chemistry. Cyborg will probably have similar issues. That leaves three Titans and three sages, and I don't know if it will react well with any of you. Assuming it's safe, we're still talking about a force that's 55 times normal. You'd probably all slip into a coma at best. To make it worse, no more than a single person can use it at once if it's anything like the smaller versions. You could find ways to draw strength from other people, but it would still be too much to handle."

"So she's stuck that way?" Robin fumed.

"I didn't say that," X defended. "We just need to find a way to protect somebody from the effects of it, or maybe some way to simulate a human being using a machine, and… and quite frankly, I don't want to talk about this anymore. That's where the issue stands. I'll keep you informed of any progress."

"Alright," the Titan huffed.

He clearly wasn't thrilled, though X expected that. Still, the reploid felt bad for bringing it up. He turned out to be the one who ruined the mood.

"Wait," X said as Robin got up to leave. "I almost forgot. We – Raven and I – picked up each of you something."

His eyes remained inquisitive, stifling the excitement of presents, if he had any. X figured that even someone as consistent a workaholic as Robin could spare a few moments for that, especially with the stress of the city's chaos and the depressing news about his fellow Titan's condition.

X stood and paced to the center of the room, and he surveyed his position in relation to everything else in the room, making small adjustments to one side or the other. Robin cocked his head with his lips pursed outward, like he was going to try to explain to himself what X was doing, but he stopped himself and just chose to wait.

A few lights arranged in a rectangular manner appeared on X's left arm, and he tapped two of them, causing tiny blips of recognition in response. Then Mega Man held out his hand with a pleasant smile. One second later, a long object sparkled into existence, but it didn't appear where X had wanted. Instead, it struck him solidly in the head, and he embarrassingly managed to catch it, half tripping to the ground. Robin clutched his sides and couldn't help but launch a volley of shotgun spit as he laughed, and X, after a discomfited moment, joined in.

"Damn," X shook his head. "I need to make sure I don't do that with Cyborg's present. That would hurt a whole lot more."

Robin picked up the unusual composite staff, inspecting it the way his eyes scanned anything – with the utmost precision. He noted the animals representing martial arts styles he knew along the shaft and a stylized 'R' around the center. He tipped it horizontally and balanced it on two fingers at the center, and he nodded side to side while it slowly tilted to one direction, but apparently slow enough for it to be evenly dense. It was heavy but solid, and Robin twirled it around his hand and swung it, considering the way it felt in his palms.

"You have no idea how many pieces of this stuff I had to test to find something with appropriate balance. It's a completely organic composite, so the density functions of any given slab of this stuff are a hundred percent random. Simply put, it was a bitch."

"Sounds that way," Robin grinned. "Thanks a lot for this. It's a bit bulky, but it may come in handy, and it looks cool, too. And what was that you said about Cyborg's present? Is it something large?"

Excited conversation started to come their way, and X decided to give each of the other Titans their gifts. The sages and the Titans made their comments about Robin's staff, and both Beast Boy and Starfire were ecstatic for their gifts. Fortunately for X's sake, the transportation coordinates were a bit more exact this time. A half dozen dresses and other sets of ladies clothing fell into X's arms, and Starfire squealed with her fists shaking excitedly near her face. She immediately took them to her room so that she could model her new outfits. Beast Boy was also eager but a bit confused by the tiny green orb that X handed to him. When Mega Man explained that it improved some of his own powers, Beast Boy unleashed a screeching excitement that was even higher pitched than Starfire's.

"I'll show you how it works," said X with a wondrous idea brewing, "…if Saria would be willing to help me demonstrate."

At the calling of her name, Saria focused her attention on the Hero's smirk. "Of course," she said, though it sounded a bit more like 'I'm going to kill you later.'

X merged the 'transform' materia into his arm as the Kokiri woman stepped forward. With a voice in X's head acting like a new organ, a circular rune of energy appeared at his feet, and he aimed his palm at Saria. The green haired woman sighed and rolled her eyes, knowing what was coming before it happened, but she was left little choice but to be polite in front of the total strangers that the Titans were. In contrast to X's small and entertaining light show, she was a very unpleasant assistant.

A trail of little green sparks inconspicuously shot from his hand to her torso, and her body turned whitish with emerald streaks of the Lifestream swirling around her. The Titans stepped back as the glowing Saria began shrinking down in size until she stood no taller than Robin's knee. The whitish outline of the Kokiri woman began changing too until she was short and stocky.

Everyone gasped. The aura around her faded, and Saria had been replaced by a foot-and-a-half tall, shiny green frog!

"Dude," Beast Boy waved his hands in excitement. "That's so _awesome_!"

"Agreed," Red XIII approached Saria. "And a nice look for you I must say."

The frog stood up on its hind legs and stuck its front flippers on its hips, bouncing angrily. Nanaki would later regret his hearty chuckle. Saria opened her mouth, and strange, high pitched sounds waves reverberated into the hollows of the wolf's ears. With a sluggish flop to the floor, Red XIII was sound asleep, snoring and spreading dog drool on the clean carpets.

"Multi-purpose," X explained. "You can change other people into animals from the planet Gaia, where this came from, but in some cases it may even be useful to turn yourself into one of them, as you can clearly see."

X performed the motions of his spell casting again, and Saria slowly turned back into her Kokiri form.

"Thank you, X," she bowed courteously, looking at Nanaki sound asleep out of the corner of her eye. "That was much more fun than I thought it would be."

Saria nudged at the wolf with her foot. Several forceful shoves finally shook him from his hypnotic nap, and he yawned with a canine whine.

"Morning dear," Saria teased. "Your beauty sleep needs a bit of work."

Drool still dripped from his maw, and the wolf quickly wiped his face with his paws, feeling a multitude of eyes on him. Even more to his embarrassment, he noticed the wet stain beneath his mouth on the floor.

"I'll, uh… I'll clean that up," he excused himself.

The Titans and sages alike enjoyed the moment of laughter, and X released the materia from his titanium flesh and tossed it to Beast Boy, who immediately gave himself a bit of space to try it out.

"Don't worry about the mess," Cy smiled, "we got it."

X reached out to him with delighted anticipation, knowing that Cyborg hadn't expected anything from him. "Don't you want to see what I got you?" he asked, luring the metal man with a wittingly innocent snare in his voice.

"You… got me somethin'?" Cyborg questioned awkwardly at the smile forming on X's lips. The half machine turned to see Raven grinning like she never had before, full of mischief and anticipation of something huge. It forced his curiosity to swell in spite of the uncomfortable relationship between him and the other mechanical member of their group, a decision he hadn't and still didn't agree with. But still, what did X get that made Raven so eager, he wondered?

"Just a second, I really have to make sure I get the coordinates right on this one," X tapped the illuminating touchpad on his arm again. He waited for a few seconds, soaking in everybody's wonder, then said confidently, "It's outside. Come and see for yourself."

While Robin and Starfire continued the tour for the sages and Beast Boy began trying to decode his new toy (X kept a close eye on his use of the materia), he led Cyborg down the stairwells to the garage. Raven knew he might be a bit reluctant, so she hovered up to rub his bald head and then followed closely behind X, and it did the trick nicely.

Sitting front and center was X's motorcycle, now Cyborg's, and the metal Titan's jaw twisted and dropped so profoundly that it needed some sort of exaggerative sound effect, like a carnival bell. He _did_ look like a little kid at his first one.

"Shall I leave you two alone?" Mega Man grinned.

Cyborg never totally shut his mouth as he mumbled an incomprehensible "habba haa… whaha… gee?"

"Err, Cy," Raven tried to bring him back. "You've got a bit of, uh… stuff on your chin."

X bellowed a huge laugh as Cyborg slurped up his spit. It was wonderful to be home.

* * *

The air at the beach where the Titans often trained was always cooler than the city they protected. Breeze or not, the eternal ocean currents brought fresh and temperate flows that were ideal during the warmer months, and when it snowed during Winter, they had suitable enough indoor facilities. Beast Boy hadn't wanted to be a bother to any of the new guests or his friends while he played with the materia – his new toy – so he retreated to this place.

As BB sensed the mystic powers and the voices deep inside him, much deeper than his own inner thoughts, he used the materia over and over again, trying to transform into things he had never turned into before. He tried the frog, which was easy since he had already seen it, but he had also discovered how to transform into a large lizard that stood and walked much like a dog, and he was able to spray a thick acid from in the cheeks of the animal. Most of his mutations ended up with him reverting back to his normal shape, but once he managed to turn into something amazing, though it only lasted a few moments. From his reflection in a still pool of water enclosed by stone, he had massive, spanning wings with claws on the end, and his slim chest was covered in plated scales. It wasn't the coolest variety he had ever seen, but he was a dragon! Then again, the fact that almost all of his morphs where green, like him, made his choice of colors rather limited and thus less interesting.

On the ledge above, sitting with an amused grin on a stone with a comfortable, bottom fitting curve, Saria watched the changeling and his youthful joy. She had asked if she could join him, and as she anticipated Beast Boy was far too eager to agree. Even though his fellow friend was supposed to be freed from petrification hopefully within days, he couldn't resist the enticement of another woman's interest. What would he say if she told her that she was hundreds of years older, and infinitely wiser? Worse yet, what would he think of Terra's relationship with Tidus? The Sage of Water's age was indeterminate, and Terra's time in the Lifestream made her physical age a poor comparison to the lengths that she had bounded ahead spiritually and mentally.

Saria felt a twinge of pity for the little Titan as he failed several times to change into a strangely green version of the night wyverns from Gaia. She had remembered that one from her studies through X's computer while they were in space, and she considered telling him that it might work better if he tried at night. Even though he was himself in any shape, the instinctual pull of his animal form could still have enough influence to prevent the shift from going the way he wanted in adverse conditions.

It didn't take long for her to change her mind. He was having too much fun with the materia for it to be worth ruining.

Solid footsteps trailed along the thin, dirt footpath from the Titan's Tower to where she sat.

"What can I do for you, Hero of Time?" she asked curtly.

"Please, don't call me that," he accosted. "Would you like me to call you Sage of Forest all the time?"

"Wouldn't hurt," she frowned. "I think I deserve some respect."

"For _what_?" X bit at her. "For the snide and disrespectful glares and comments that you give every member of this team? Red XIII being the one exception which I suppose you _do_ deserve some respect for. You weren't like this when we first met, and you weren't like this when we met you a hundred years later. If you're that angry, why not ask us for help rather than use us as punching bags?"

"You know nothing," her face turned downward, dark and harsh like a cold snap.

X countered the spiteful glare with serenity. "Then tell me. I _want_ to know. If it's about your past, then tell me. If it's about Zero, tell me. I'll listen to you. If it's something completely different, I honestly want to know. I'd take anything other than the horrible, pain struck faces you hide almost every moment of every day."

"Wh-what?" Saria was taken aback, but not in the angry, confrontational way she had expected it go. She hesitated, then asked again.

"What… do you mean by that?" she insisted, becoming upset. She stood and glared up at him, being a half foot short of his perfectly built reploid height. He stared softly, and Saria stabbed back with fury.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she fumed.

"Come on, Saria, you aren't stupid. I've been surrounded by telepaths for two months now. I've become so good at it that I have trouble getting all the voices and emotions from other people to shut up long enough for me to think. You think I can't hear how much you hurt?"

"Shut up," she wavered uncomfortably. It felt like the inside of her stomach was being punched.

"No, I want to help."

"You can't help me," she said quietly. She indicated Beast Boy, who had stopped his experimentation and noticed the tension, but true to his word X was aware of her thoughts and Beast Boy's before she could even gesture to him. It irritated the Sage of Forest. He senses were widespread and accurate, but Saria knew that didn't necessarily mean that his range of telepathic abilities surpassed her own.

"I think you should talk to him anyway," she frowned and crossed her arms. "There's no Mako in his system. And I mean none. Not a trace."

X's face expanded in disbelief. He stared from her to the changeling and back to her again as she paced back to the Dreamweaver at its place at the end of the small peninsula. X realized that she had won the discussion, though he hadn't wanted it to be a contest. If what she said was true, then Beast Boy might be the key to resurrecting Terra. Mega Man had no clue _how_ Saria knew he was free, but it wasn't important at the time. He had to be sure.

"Beast Boy!" he called out, though the changeling was already paying attention. "I need a sample of your blood!"


	59. Earth Rave

**Chapter 59 – Earth Rave**

"Remarkable," Red XIII said, studying the images under the microscope that he stood so humanly and so awkward at. He was the only other person qualified to make the judgment alongside X. His legs bent in the opposite direction as the rest of everyone, just as any canine's did, and all the others – sages and Titans – found it hard not to look.

He fluidly retreated to all fours, though still at waist height or above on all the acquaintances there.

"There's no doubt about it," he stared at Beast Boy. "Our little green friend has no Mako in his system whatsoever."

BB found himself in a bit of an unusual position as the resident guinea pig whom everyone regarded as some kind of medical miracle. He was smart enough to recognize all the medical terms that he _didn't_ know the definition of, but he was sure that Mako wasn't one of the many things he had heard on television crime and surgery shows. He felt a little betrayed, too, wondering if X knew that the materia was dangerous when he gave it as a present.

Robin was rubbing his chin firmly, and then came to a hopeful realization. "Does that mean he can save Terra?"

At the simple utterance of the name, Beast Boy's annoyance and frustration melted away in a heart-pounding jolt of intense emotion. He began bouncing excitedly, looking at all the faces paying attention to Robin, X, Red, and himself. Saria was smiling warmly in his direction.

"Not necessarily," X said. "Just because it's not there doesn't mean he's immune to it. It's possible that it could enter his system, then get processed and destroyed shortly after that. A massive influx from the huge materia could still cause serious damage or worse…"

"I have to try," Beast Boy hopped off the medical bench he was sitting on. "If I've got the best chance of using the huge materia to save Terra, then I _have_ to."

Raven shook her head at his side, placing a cautious and friendly hand on his shoulder to settle him. "We can look into other options, safer options first. We're not going to just risk you like that."

"I think he can do it," Saria blurted out. She rolled her eyes at all the critical glances that aimed at her like pistols, especially from X and Raven. "What?" she asked. "With the emeralds in play influencing people for miles and miles, I think he'll manage the physical strain of using such powerful materia just fine, and if wants he can morph into a larger animal that he's comfortable with to dilute the concentration of Mako while he processes it. That's of course assuming that he's susceptible in the first place."

X leaned back against the silver workbench next to the microscope, and he sighed at it and the tiny slide with Beast Boy's blood underneath the high powered lenses that spelled Terra's freedom. They would also be only three sages short after that, needing only Light, Spirit, and Wind.

Only home for a day, and he was subjecting one of the Titans to potential death. He and all his power and knowledge knew no way to cure the cancer that ate at him, his Raven, his princess, and countless others.

Saria took a step forward and whispered into his mind. "_If it would set your mind at ease_, _I'll help the little one._"

"Absolutely not!" X bellowed, startling everyone who missed the first half of the conversation. Zelda and Raven had caught it, while Beast Boy thought it was directed at him and cowered away.

"Why not?" Saria fought, bitterness rising in her voice instead of the sarcasm and pseudo-harshness of her usual demeanor. Now she was outright vicious. "You arrogant, self centered machine!" she cursed him. "You're infinitely more powerful than Link or Ganondorf were, but you can't make the hard decisions. You can't seem to actually take the risk that's needed, and you're too focused on taking all the effort on yourself when you have all the rest of us here to help you!"

"It's still too dangerous," he suddenly seemed to tower over her full green waves of hair and snarling but perfectly symmetrical facial features.

It was like staring into a maddened angel, X thought for a moment, and Raven twitched uncomfortably sensing the thought. Saria felt the thought too, and she faltered, not knowing how to react. It was an observation, the female telepaths understood, but why he made it in the first place was unclear, and where his intellect was going was even more obscured.

X hid his thoughts. Saria was beautiful when you took away her harsh attitude. Not in the same way that Raven was. No, the wondrous look in Raven's eyes and the deep intellect, along with the amazing sensation when their lips met; it was the touch of a dark angel. Saria was similar, and yet different. A _fallen_ angel, perhaps? Mega Man wondered and hoped. Was it something he could mend?

"You're resilient to materia, I can hear you thinking it," X probed, and Saria still leaned away from him, unsure of what to do or say. "If you're sure that you can do this…"

"No one can be sure of this," she stated plainly. "No one's ever physically tried to use materia this strong, X, and no one knows if it's as strong as or even stronger than the estimates of people like Rufus. I'm just asking you to trust me."

The look in her eyes was stripped of its callousness, if only for a moment. Sincerity was very becoming for her, and he could see it in her eyes, the determination expressing that she truly wished to do this regardless of X's feelings.

"Alright," X caved. "I trust you with this."

"Good," she smiled. "You sound more like the Hero of Time should already."

Saria nabbed Beast Boy by the arm without explanation, and she began dragging him off to where the huge materia was safely kept on the Dreamweaver. The reason for her speed was not for Terra's sake, but so that she could escape the range of X's mind.

The next hour seemed to pass with too much anticipation for words. The Titans were ecstatic and confused, wondering if there was actually a cure that would bring Terra back, asking themselves if the moment was about to occur. None of them had time to understand the depths of the Lifestream and the condensed Mako orbs it sometimes created (though the huge version was jagged and more like a natural stone in shape). Robin was especially hopeful, remembering when Terra had moved very subtly after X used materia in a failed attempt almost two months ago. The 'esuna' materia was tiny, but when Robin saw the massive materia hunk – easily the size of his torso – he became even more confident.

Leading the Titans meant that Robin had to keep his hopes at a safe minimum just as X had to do with the sages; similar to protecting the expectations of children, their leadership took precedence over the anxious anticipation of what only _might_ succeed.

Beast Boy had been unusually calm, or so it appeared. When Saria took him to see the materia before the others got a chance to respond, he had no words to describe how he felt. The little changeling was weak in all his limbs and clumsy enough that the Kokiri pulling him along had eventually jerked him with the force and dexterity to propel him onto her shoulders. It did give the tremblingly nervous changeling enough freedom to allow memories of Terra to flood back in that both excited and tortured him to the brink of many emotions.

When they first met on a dusty plateau outside the city, that was the first memory. It was a hot day, the sun burning down through a cloudless atmosphere, and the wind all but dead despite the efforts of the ocean. Terra was being chased, or so the Titans thought at the time. She was leading an oversized scorpion to a place where stones were hanging over the deep, dried up riverbed. With a swift downward gesture of her hands and a cocky grin that Beast Boy could only describe as the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, Terra had crushed the scorpion's carapace, leaving it in a lifeless heap. It was a wonderful memory in its simplistic detail.

Beast Boy's mind switched topics for just a moment. He had never understood why he found Terra's power attractive while he found Raven's scary. Then again, he never had pictured Raven in a serious relationship before X, so he supposed that anything was possible. Beast Boy forced his mind to cease deterring and returned to thoughts of the blonde Titan, not paying any attention to the repetitious cream halls of the Dreamweaver that Saria continued to carry him through.

Many of the memories were painful. That night when she first left the Titans after losing control of her powers and nearly killing more than one other Titan in the process. Beast Boy tried to fight off tears as he remembered the hall of mirrors that he and Terra had been lost in on the _most_ painful of nights. They had come so close to that first kiss, that pristine few seconds in which time practically halted and every sensation tripled. Her lips had been a perfect shade of pale pink, not too rosy and not too flat. He remembered being nervous and seeing in her big, wonderful blue eyes that she was too. Their hands had long since become an entanglement of warmth, and their eyes shut, letting only their sense of touch and the sound of each other's frightened but determined breathing lead.

Then Slade took her away.

Beast Boy shook his head hard and growled, grabbing his own hair and pulling at it as he tried to delegate where the blame truly belonged. Slade, the bastard, was only mostly responsible. No matter how much the little changeling wanted not to believe it, he was partially responsible for not having the faith in her that she deserved and defending her no matter what Slade had said to coerce her to his side.

He imagined transforming into the T-Rex that he was so fond of, and ripping Slade limb from limb, very slowly, so that the monster could watch his own arms and legs being chewed to pieces until he bled to death. Giving him the benefit of violent decapitation was too swift a death.

BB's jaw cramped and he sucked in a quick breath, realizing how tight he had been holding his teeth.

"Are you alright?" Saria had asked him.

"Yeah," he answered. "_Not really_," he thought.

Time passed unsteadily.

That had been an hour ago, and Beast Boy had already seen the huge materia himself. Now he sat atop the tower alone, legs dangling over the height of many stories with the breeze at his back. He wished desperately that no one would come to see him even though there were more than twice as many people as normal who might happen to want some fresh air or a nice view, or who were cocky enough to think that they could actually help. His head hung and tears eventually dropped from the deadly height, vanishing from his sight before they could shatter against the ground far below.

He wondered what it was he was feeling. Anger? Fear? Desire?

"All of the above and then some" he said aloud.

Watching the water move below suddenly made him purely angry, and he leaned back with a quick, unsettling breath.

Beast Boy's pointed ears, just like Saria's, perked up as he heard someone already coming from the roof entrance, and he cursed under his breath that he had been given so little free time to think.

"I'm very sorry to interrupt," said a refined and feminine voice. Beast Boy grimaced when he realized it wasn't Saria, the one person he might be able to tolerate at the moment.

Princess Zelda chose not to tempt fate by hanging over the edge like the little green one did. She leaned against the chest-high platform, quite comfortable to look outward instead of downward.

"I really just wanna be alone, so I can think," Beast Boy said, and Zelda was quite sure that it took tremendous effort not to be rude. From what she had learned from X, the changeling was quite enamored with Terra, but the details of their relationship had been very rocky leading up to her petrification.

"I know. I'm sorry," Zelda apologized again. "But we need to bring her back as soon as possible. Are you not excited to see her?"

"Of course I am!" Beast Boy almost snapped at her. Zelda watched him quickly turn his face in the other direction, and his hands rose up to rub at his eyes.

"You're worried it won't go well after such a long time?" she pressed, not giving him the chance to sulk.

Immediately she felt guilty even for asking. She pursed her lips while he remained turned away, and when he turned back she attempted to casually and naturally run her fingers through her long, blonde curls. She regrettably knew that Tidus had a claim on the Sage of Earth that was much more recent than the little green boy's. It _obviously_ would not go well.

Beast Boy had nodded. He didn't know exactly why he felt a sense of dread, and Zelda could not think of any possible way to prepare him, as much as she wished she could. In reality she wished she could do so much more for him. Perhaps prevent the whole relationship from happening. It was odd. She barely knew him. Was he just naturally lovable, the strange changeling with Hylian ears and green skin, or was it something different about her? Perhaps some need to care for others.

"You will never know until you release her, and from what I understand, you seem to be the only one truly capable. If she isn't the same person that you remember from before, then perhaps you will need to get to know her again, but is that so much to ask for a friend?"

Did he stare downward out of shame? Zelda wanted to pry into his mind; it would be so much easier to understand his feelings and easier still to help after that if she could only hear what was going on inside. She knew it would be a huge disrespect without his permission or even the knowledge that she was a telepath, so she discreetly sighed and relied solely on what her eyes could tell her.

The expression on his face changed, became sharper and less hidden, and the resulting features exposed the pain he felt and the panic that would stay with him should Terra reject him, which Zelda knew was likely. It was impossible for his face to be much further away from the older, pale skinned, wisdom weathered, sharp cheekbones and feminine features of the princess's, but the pain that sat in his features might as well have been a mirror to a feeling that Zelda had suffered for years.

Pure, hope-crushing loneliness and the dread of it continuing on.

The Dark World had tortured Princess Zelda Hyrule with loneliness that Impa couldn't quite satiate.

"I promise," she began.

Beast Boy looked up at her, watching the evening sun turn her face into a bright, golden reflection of kindness. "You promise?"

"I promise that if things don't work with Terra, I will help you to move on. I know the pain of loss. If there is anything I can do to ease that suffering, I would want nothing more than to help, as a friend, if you wish."

The princess stared in wonder at his speechlessness. "Come now, all will work out somehow. For now, we must rescue your friend."

"But…"

"No buts," she said with smile. "X works hard to find the other sages, and even though we might have disagreements between each other, our freedom and our happiness come first to him, as though we were all friends to him. If Terra is truly your friend, then her happiness should come first to you as well."

A weak grin slipped in amongst Beast Boy's glum.

"Whatever you were just thinking," Zelda seized his attention, "don't let that go. A smile can sustain you through the hardest times. Now come with me and let us save Terra."

The grin on the changeling's face widened at Zelda's outstretched arm and the encouraging expression of warmth that she exuded. He stared for a moment more and then sucked in a deep breath.

Beast Boy resolved things in his head. Terra might not like him. Terra might not even want to be near the Titans. Worse, she might somehow have met someone else in that place she was in, the 'Lifestream.' Would she be completely different, or mostly the same? He didn't know any of these things. He knew nothing aside from the knowledge that without him, she would stay in stone, and they all needed to stop Zero. Maybe for that reason he could manage it, to turn back the clock to a time when Terra was still flesh.

Zelda's hand was still outstretched. Beast Boy took it.

* * *

"Stand back, everyone," X ordered. "Stay near the exit; we have no idea what's going to happen."

Saria passed by him with the huge materia in her arms, and it was so large that she could barely peek over it, and yet she carried it comfortably. Mega Man admitted that the Kokiri woman was not that tall, but she did stand at about 5'7", roughly two inches taller than Raven did. It was an odd observation to make at such a dangerous moment, but it helped put the materia's size and ability to intimidate into perspective. It was unlikely that Raven's telekinesis would work on the insanely dense hunk of solidified Mako since it housed so much unstable power, and if she tried to carry the shining emerald rock it would tower over her.

X sensed the Mako emanating from the thing, stinging his eyes and filling his limbs with a crippling weakness as it passed, but it subsided slowly when Saria moved beyond him and towards the stone statue in the center of the cave. The huge materia was undoubtedly infecting Saria as she touched it, but the urge to pull it away from her was silenced by the strangely effective glare she shot him on her way past. For a humanoid, it was a rather frightful look.

Beast Boy followed her hesitantly. So much for chivalry, allowing the slight looking girl with beauteous green hair and pointed ears like him to carry the heavy object. Had he not been so nervous at the sight of Terra when he came in, he would have explained that he had tried to lift it, and that it was too heavy. Wait. No, he most certainly did _not_ want to mention that. Stating the obvious fact that Saria had inhuman strength would only sound like an excuse. She didn't even seem to be having trouble with it.

The other four Titans were, as X instructed, on one side the exit of the dim, hollowed out cavern while the sages stood on the other. Robin and Cyborg practically had to hold Starfire back from her giddy anxiety, but Raven pressed forward without restraint and joined X's side a few feet further in the direction of the apogee in the center. Her fingers slipped into his and she gently squeezed, feeling the sting of her infliction as he had. When she glanced back in Zelda's direction, X felt her concern permeate up through his arm.

X gently cocked his head in the direction of the princess, and she too was looking ill at ease and weak. Unsettling worry flooded from X's mind, making Raven hold on to him tighter and eventually tug on him to back away. With reluctance and an ominous sense of stomach churning foreboding he retreated to where the other Titans and sages kept a safe distance.

Terra was still frozen in place since her last movement, fiercely poised with her fist appearing to prepare to deliver an unpleasant uppercut. The faint outline of her Triforce mark remained in the stone. She was a single, brownish grey color in the stone, but the huge materia reflected the delicate crevasses of rock, highlighting her brilliant green like the stone itself.

"We're ready," Saria said, shaking most of the onlookers from their reveries. Beast Boy kept his eyes focused on Terra's, one hand still on the materia.

X nodded with a frown. "I'd like to say one last time that I think this is a horrible idea. If either of you get hurt…"

"Then you'll get to say a very smug 'I told you so,'" Saria played.

How could she joke at a time like this? The materia could kill her in seconds, and Beast Boy too if they couldn't handle the incredible amounts of Mako. Perhaps even worse, they could end up as catatonic vegetables, and from then on that would constantly remind everyone of the foolish and hasty decision made this day.

Raven held his arm. "Stop, X," she whispered. "Trust her."

"_Unconditional trust isn't something I do easily,_" he whispered through his thoughts. "_We both know she's still hiding something important_."

"_Then we deal with it when the time comes,_" Raven spoke back with confidence in her wisdom. "_Our unwavering trust in her won't do any more harm than being suspicious. If she wants to betray us or follow her own interests that badly, then she'll do it no matter how much we trust her, but I'd rather Saria know that she has friends in us._"

As if it was that easy? The insightfulness was undeniable, and even though X smiled at Raven words while glancing at Saria and Beast Boy for what they were about to do, it didn't seem as though it could ever be so simple to give such blind faith.

The Kokiri woman had her hand balancing the materia on the ground while she whispered something in the changeling's ear only a few feet away from Terra.

A moment later, X saw it first, or at least he suspected that he did. Tiny wisps of green, thread-like and almost invisible even to his eyes, bobbed and hovered around the circumference of the cave. Raven sensed his awe and focused hard to see what he saw, using their bond to look through his eyes. It was remarkable in its organic movement and slowly growing in intensity. The simple presence of the huge materia drew out the Lifestream in this place, and it was slowly becoming visible to everyone.

Saria grinned. She could sense the swell of emotions and personalities of the stream's consciousness prickling her skin sooner than X saw it, and her heart began beating from the excitement.

"This is going to work, I know it," she said to Beast Boy. "Are you ready?"

The light of the huge materia resonated slowly, reflecting the changeling's face back into his eyes.

"Yeah, I think I'm ok," Beast Boy admitted sheepishly. He didn't sound convincing even to himself.

"Place both of your hands on the materia," Saria led him with dulcet guidance.

He did so, and he felt suddenly light, not dizzy, but strangely euphoric and physically weightless. Saria placed her hands on it as well, showing little noticeable reaction compared to him. The swirling streaks of neon light were very visible now, and all Titans and Sages became unsettled by their acceleration.

"Focus, Beast Boy. Do you hear all the commands inside of it?"

His eyes wouldn't work right. All he saw was blurring shades of green between himself, the huge materia, and Saria's deep emerald hair and clothes.

"Stay with me," BB heard her call out. There was wind now, brushing past their hair and faces.

"I'm ok," he said louder. "What am I supposed to do? There's too many voices, too many things all at once!"

"Don't think about any of those!" Saria was suddenly shouting over the bursts of air that were unsettling his balance. Beast Boy could only hear her now, his vision reduced to thick, indistinct blurs.

"Focus only on the release of the energy. Remember the feeling at that brief second between preparing and casting your transformations from the smaller materia. The release of strength. The symbiosis between you. Let it flow through your veins!"

Beast Boy had no idea how he was doing what he was doing. He felt an insane power like the rush of transforming from a flea to a tyrannosaurus, but it touched every one of his organs, breathed through him, digested and pumped through his heart. It took over completely, and the green blurs turned into a bright white figure that sounded like it was screaming in front of him.

The winds of a tornado demanded that they be uprooted. Cyborg squinted his one human eye as he used his weight to anchor Starfire and Robin while Mega Man X did the same for Raven. Red XIII roared as he held onto a small stalagmite with his tail, using it as a shield. Zelda held on right next to him, still trying to watch as the Lifestream filled every corner and cavity of the cave.

The princess stared with eyes wide and mouth unable to shut. The Lifestream was so alive, flying like wild birds in dense streaks of jade, and they all took their turns piercing the stone prison that held the petite Sage of Earth. At the same time, Zelda found herself reeling from terrible pain in her head and stomach. Weakness squeezed her muscles, and she could barely hold on.

Even X's eyes were almost overloaded by the sensations of the Lifestream. He desperately tried to see what was happening beyond the glowing white-gold aura surrounding Terra. He saw Beast Boy and Saria still standing, but the whirlpool of Mako consumed the cavern and kept him from seeing clearly.

Then, every obstruction of sight and movement imploded to where Terra stood, bathing her in an aura that clung tightly to her from head to toe.

Everyone saw the blonde hair of the young girl sway, not sealed in stone, not unmoving, but that was not all. Somehow, in the chaos of everything that happened, Tidus had made his way up to the apogee, and was directly in front of the Sage of Earth.

Six people collapsed an instant later.

Terra was the luckiest. Her tiny frame collapsed into Tidus's arms.

X and Raven were fortunate enough to half catch each other, but they began coughing and wheezing violently. Not far from the two of them, Zelda began doing the same, and her eyes leaked thick green tears.

Beast Boy collapsed backwards, falling unconscious next to the now inert materia.

Red XIII searched. One was missing.

"Saria?" he called out. The lack of answer made his eyes jerk from one place to another, looking for some sort of sign. He looked to the inevitable conclusion, the dark precipice that encircled much of the spot where Terra stood.

"Saria!" the wolf bellowed, face frightened, bolting to the thin crevasse. When he saw the dim reflection of her green hair Nanaki found that his lungs would not work out of relief or shock or something else he didn't understand. She held on to her nature blade, one end stuck into the side of the cliff only a few feet down.

"Grab on!" he commanded lowering his tail within her reach.

Without a response, the Sage of Forest took his tail and was hoisted up as she returned the weapon to her flesh.

When she hit solid ground again, Saria vomited, and to Red's horror, the color of it was bright Mako green. His moment of reprieve swapped for a new fear.

"I knew it was going to happen," the Kokiri woman explained. "Beast Boy couldn't have handled it all on his own, and I'm the most resistant person here other than him. Still, I knew the risk of contracting the disease, so don't you lecture me."

Red merely shook his head with his eyes carefully looking over her. She fell asleep on his shoulder.

X tended to Raven and Zelda, making sure they were ok despite the fact that he was the one who could not stop coughing.

His sight was blurry too, and he couldn't see what was going on. Had it worked? As he turned to the center of the cave where all the Titans had converged, he saw the jumble of colors from too many people, some sounding concerned, others excited. Joyous squeals? His grin went wide, knowing that sound from Starfire.

Star could not contain her excitement, and she was hollering at the top of her lungs while crying tears of happiness.

Terra was back, held carefully in Tidus's arms.

However, one person was less alright than the others. X was amazed at the strength and discipline that Beast Boy suddenly showed when he woke up from his momentary daze. He was more ecstatic than anyone to see Terra's blonde hair, fair skin and big blue eyes. At the same time his intent when he thought of Tidus was so violent, almost murderous. All four telepaths felt it with ease despite all of them being nauseated by Mako sickness that would hopefully soon pass.

With one great victory, another battle had arisen in secret within the mind of the changeling Titan.


	60. The Emerald's Influence

**Chapter 60 – The Emerald's Influence**

With Raven's cloak, a half dozen blankets and a cup of hot cocoa that spilled over the sides from the tremors that were her arms, Terra was alive and shivering in the living room of Titan's Tower. Cyborg and X had quickly one-armed each side of the couch with Terra on it, moving it in front of the windows and into the sun, to which she mumbled mixtures of relaxation and complaints of the brightness.

On either side, Tidus and Beast Boy were trying to comfort her hiding their foul glares at each other behind her head. Terra was awkwardly unaware of their unspoken competition, but Raven could not help but be pained by the incoming explosion between her two allegiances. She hid back, leaning in a shadowed corner and waiting for the inevitable calamity, and a small part of her wished that she hadn't contributed her cloak so that she could hide better. A simple calling of X's name in her thoughts got his attention, and he pursed his lips from in front of Terra.

"Can we get you anything?" Robin knelt down. "Any more blankets? A space heater? Food?" (Starfire and Cyborg ran off to get everything coming from Robin's mouth).

X smiled and chuckled lightly.

"From what you've all told me about what happened before she turned to stone, she probably needs intensive medical treatment."

Beast Boy scratched his head for a moment and then snapped upright. "Of course! All the energy she used to stop the eruption."

"Mmhm," X nodded. "She practically emaciated, lacking nutrition, muscles and mind nearly collapsed from the battle that she fought a year ago."

The reploid made contact with Terra's eyes, which could barely focus back at his.

"She's exhausted, too. We should get her to the Dreamweaver."

Two voices jumped at the opportunity. Beast Boy and Tidus both volunteered, and they immediately spun to each other, falling speechless.

"_I_ will take her," X said. It was not a suggestion or a request. "Besides, her body can barely heat itself right now, and I can increase the temperature enough in mine to help in the meantime.

Raven smiled from afar. "_Is there anything you can't do?_"

X grinned back at her from across the room as he carefully slipped his arms under Terra's legs, taking Raven's robe and the topmost blanket with them, but he made sure to only allow the dark blue cloak between the increasing heat wafting from his armor and her cold skin. The Sage of Earth shivered against the sudden warmth. She embraced it and quickly fell asleep against him.

* * *

When Terra woke, she still felt groggy and as though her brain was utterly fried, but she was at least a bit more coherent than before. She also didn't feel the urge to vomit the nothing that she had in her stomach.

Her vision stared to clear. She wasn't anywhere in Titan's Tower, unless it had been blown apart recently like parts of it occasionally were as a result of their crime fighting hazards. The former Titan laughed weakly, wondering if she would ever be welcome as a part of that again. For a year, though it seemed like a short eternity in the Lifestream, she had missed so much, and her eyes teared up even though the memories were mostly happy. She laughed again when her watery eyes returned her to being half blind.

"It's good to hear that you're feeling better," X said to her.

Terra went to rub her vision free. It still ached to move, and there was something in the way. She quickly blushed when she realized with an awkward panic that she was wearing nothing.

X made a soft sound of amusement to let her know that his smile was there. "Don't worry," he said calmly and reassuring. "Raven handled that part. I didn't see anything. Though I did have to do something equivalent to what you would call an x-ray. I hope you don't mind."

She shook her head, breathing deeply and reminding herself that she did need the medical attention that X had mentioned. Unless it was a dream. Everything was so hard to distinguish as either illusion or reality. The Lifestream had been much more abstract than this purely physical plane, and she had understood that, so she nodded to herself that it was probably just the uncomfortable transition and the terrible state of the body she had returned to. Either way, the cushioned surface she lay on was warm and welcoming, and the solid object that made her envision lying down underneath a very short table did shout a sci-fi sort of hospital area. It wasn't really a table, either. More of an island, since the underside was solid.

Sci-fi. She had loved watching it with Beast Boy.

Her heart suddenly felt like it had turned into a hunk of metal that plunged from gravity's pull.

"Terra?" she heard X's baritone voice. "Terra, please try to calm down. Your heart rate is accelerating."

A small, feminine but rough hand caressed her cheek, and an unexpected voice followed.

"Focus on here and on now, Terra. It's Raven. You're safe. Everything is fine."

Terra squeezed her eyes shut and shook herself. A swift beep from across the room mimicking her heart's pounding began to slow down. She opened her eyes and saw Raven… smiling at her?

"It's not a dream," Raven said, indeed smiling in a subtle, caring way. "Everyone's fine. We're just keeping them out while we get you patched up the rest of the way."

She tried to open her mouth. The scratchy sound that came out made her wince.

"Don't try, not just yet," Raven stroked her hair. "We'll try to explain everything we can."

"Right," X nodded. He appeared to be loading a syringe with a pale purple liquid, but the slight blue tint to the room's dim lights (a courtesy to her sensitive eyes) might have changed it.

"This is an inoculation," Mega Man explained. "Normally I'd put it into a flash infuser – a device that painlessly injects drugs into the system, but the substance is a bit too thick, so I have to do it the old fashioned way."

He held it near her shoulder, made eye contact with her, and she nodded confidently.

Terra held her breath as the needle went into her arm, but the sting was almost unnoticeable.

"What it'll do is protect your from a particular type of radiation that we need to use on your neural implants."

Terra opened her mouth to ask, but only a scratchy, garbled version of 'what?' came out.

"The ones that Slade put in you," Raven painfully reminded the blonde girl. "They're malfunctioning since Slade is gone, and X says your motor skills won't work right until we get rid of them."

"I've got extensive medical training," the reploid added, "but I don't feel confident enough as a surgeon to try to remove something so tiny. What we're going to do instead is blast the little suckers with a mild radiation, and then your body's own defenses will take care of them once they deactivate. Sound good?"

The Sage of Earth (it was odd thinking of herself like that) sighed and nodded.

X continued like a very polite medical practitioner. Raven and Terra could both tell that he had done this sort of thing before from his perfectly crafted tone, positive, caring, and with a touch of humor.

"You'll experience a bit of nausea for the next couple of hours, and you might have some muscle spasms when we deactivate the implants. But don't worry," he winked. "That thing is pretty well padded. Other than that, there should be no problem. We'll keep you here for the next several hours and then see if you're up to some physical therapy to get those limbs working right again."

Terra swallowed hard and braced her sense of patience. The last thing she wanted was to be treated like a cripple, but reality and her reploid doctor could easily explain that she was one. She didn't need the lecture; Terra clearly knew she was in no shape to do much of anything, but after all the freedom in the Lifestream it was frustrating to think of how long she would have to remain still and how much the other Titans would be able to move and train freely while she would be bedridden.

A pinprick of heat touched her lower leg.

She stared down the tiny gap between the cushioned slab hanging over her and her unclothed body, and a tiny red laser was zapping spots on her leg. Subtle twitches made her let out a voiceless gasp, but Terra reminded herself that her implants were probably causing the jolts as they were shut down.

X finished on her left leg after a few minutes. "Feeling alright so far?" he questioned, smiling. She nodded and gave him a simple rise of the corners of her mouth, so he continued with the other leg.

Seeing such a pleasant expression on Raven still felt peculiar to Terra. She couldn't get over it and tried very hard not to stare at the caring looking being given to her. She tried to remember something that matched the happy looking sorceress from their brief exchange in the future when they defeated Sigma, but the heat of battle wasn't a good time to look for anything like that.

Sharply, she spun her head the other way. She had utterly failed to not stare at her.

Raven's expression expanded into a grin of two pearly white rows. "You can thank X for it," she said, and Mega Man briefly eyed them with amusement out of the corner of his eye.

"We have a telepathic bond," the sorceress beamed. "Ever since then I've been able to release my emotions. Not to mention having gone on some of the most amazing adventures I've ever experienced. He truly makes me happy."

"And the feelings are mutual," X glanced affectionately at her. "Though I seldom feel I deserve someone so wonderful."

"Ha!" Raven shot back. "An amazing, life saving, self-sacrificing hero doesn't deserve a pasty, mentally damaged, anger management issues woman? That sounds pretty accurate, actually."

X allowed his hands to pull away from the control device on the side of the medical table. He touched her cheek with the back of his hand, and she leaned into it lovingly.

"I'd call it _fair_ skin. And I happen to enjoy fair skin quite a lot. It suits your long hair, too."

Two sharp rings from Terra's medical table made X's eyes scan the readout and his patient at inhuman speeds. Expanding cheeks, squinted eyes and the lurching motion that she tried to fight back made the diagnosis obvious enough.

Mega Man kicked the side of the med table, and a tall, thin section ejected a cylindrical shape; a trash bin.

"This way Terra," he called.

There wasn't much, but the Sage of Earth threw up what little stomach contents she had along with a foul tasting, acidic batch of bile. She spat and coughed for several minutes afterward, missing the container on several occasions. Raven hadn't even witnessed when or where X had gotten the circular wipes that he was tending to her face with.

Her coughing slowed, and the panicked indicator on her medical display calmed down as X placed his palm on her forehead.

"You're warm. And clammy. Enough with the radiation treatment for now. You need rest and hydration among other things."

Pitiful moans gurgled out of her as she tried to escape the unpalatable sensation layering her whole mouth, but Raven was next to her with a silver container and a simple straw before X could even turn around, and the emerald reploid was dumbfounded. That was the reaction Raven had hoped for, and she smiled at him with wide, playful eyes.

"How did you…?"

"I read your mind before you got a chance to do what you were thinking. It was fun."

He had to restrain the laughter for Terra's sake. She was sipping from the cup, but not happily. Apparently she didn't like the taste.

"Perhaps you should go for now. I'll get her set to sleep."

"Alright," she kissed him. "Sleep well, Terra. I'm sure you're aware of the burden that all the sages have. We want you to get as healthy as possible before you have to face any of that."

"No pressure," X added, rolling his eyes, and Raven shoved him for it.

Terra watched as her fellow Titan left, phasing through the floor in a dark purple mist instead of simply using the door. That made for a brief amount of alone time with the Hero. There was so much on her mind. The chaos emeralds, Zero, the Triforce. She had little idea how much X or the others knew. She knew even more that Tidus did.

Thinking of Tidus made her think of Beast Boy, and her head began spinning again. Ugh.

X was quickly there with the metal container to catch the hydrating compounds as they came back up from her stomach.

"I'll put it straight into your bloodstream for now," he said. "Don't worry. Even if I'm gone, there will be someone nearby always, and your vitals are linked directly to my head. If I lose the connection or anything unusual or dangerous happens, I'll be here in flash. Any questions?"

Terra opened her mouth once again, the emptiness of her voice worse having thrown up twice, and she grumbled unhappily about it as she worked one of her arms out from underneath the slab. From it there were golden rays, ones that X had recognized many times now. She showed her Triforce mark openly to X, and he in turn showed her his.

"It can wait," he said.

She tried to protest with small growls of insistence. Terra took his hand and brought it near her face with what little strength she could manage.

"It _can_ wait," X repeated firmly. "You're not in any shape for me to do a thorough mind reading, if that's what you're asking for. Whatever information you have to tell me isn't as important as you getting better, so please – get some rest. With the sages and the Titans together, there's nothing we can't take care of, and besides, I'm about to knock you out with some really nice drugs. Shame they don't work on me."

Terra would have objected if she had any energy left, not that it mattered when she felt a gentle hiss against her neck. She was asleep soon after, peaceful and silent.

X's eyes narrowed. One of the sages had made themselves very clearly known outside the medical wing, emanating anger and impatience in a very immature way. Lucky for Terra that she was not telepathic; even the most pitiful of empaths could sense it. Tidus was waiting outside.

X took care of a few other simple things with Terra and made sure that the connection between her stats was properly entwined with his systems before leaving her to sleep in peace. He hesitated just before the scope of the sliding door's automatic range of activation. Violence wasn't a choice he enjoyed making in terms of discipline, and he sighed at the possibility that it might be needed if Tidus insisted on coming in.

Whirs and high pitched hums quickly subsided after the moment it took to retract his hand into an X-Buster. The more Tidus's frustration grew, the greater X had in his confidence to seal the automatic functions of the door from the outside. Foolishness. His motives were so blinded by desire that he hadn't stopped to consider what she truly needed, and he had obviously discovered Beast Boy's former relationship with Terra at this point.

Turning once more back to look at the peacefully sleeping Terra, he was determined to give her the time she needed. The reploid's sighs were heavy as he neared the door, and the young Sage of Water attempted to push past him without acknowledging X at all, a mistake to say the least.

"Hold it," X pushed him back, enough for the doors to lock Tidus out again.

"Let me by!" he demanded, fury on his face. "What are you trying to do by keeping her from me?"

Tidus, wearing a scowl of misguided determination against X, tried to shove the reploid out of the way only to find his arm twisted back nearly to the breaking point, and the burning, almost tearing sensation in the joints of shoulder and elbow made him wince with fiercely gritted teeth. He felt himself spinning as he crashed into a wall and then to the floor on his back. Instinctively, he quickly leapt up and drew the Brotherhood from his waist, and the blade frothed like ocean waves striking the beach, but far more viciously.

X's face was very plain as he regarded Tidus.

"I hate to use my title as a weapon, but I have to ask, do you seriously intend to try to hurt the Hero of Time?"

"Let me see her," he seethed.

"She doesn't want to see you right now."

"That's a lie!"

X cocked his head. "She needs rest more than anything right now, and she doesn't need you there when she wakes up."

"You don't know her, and you don't know me either!" he continued to shout.

"Didn't you know about Beast Boy? Didn't she tell you?" X said coolly.

Tidus faltered for a moment. "He… he doesn't matter!"

"Just like Yuna doesn't matter?"

The Brotherhood came raining down at X, literally spreading water drops from its sea foam blade towards his shoulder – a non-vital area. He had to fight the natural instinct to strike back, and even more to restrain his urge to simply dodge.

A splash of cold, stinging water sprayed his face and gushed into the superficial wound. His shoulder guards, square and slightly raised but close to his true robotic flesh, were one of the few areas on his body that were completely defensive and with no sensory receptors. He felt nothing; X could only see the deep slice that Tidus's blade had made in his pure titanium armor. He ignored the blonde for a moment, studying the unusually resonant presence that the sword had, not entirely dissimilar to the Master Sword.

Wide-eyed chagrin had struck Tidus harder than Mega Man could have hit him, and the reploid clearly saw how mortified his Sage of Water was. Becoming irritatingly damp, X pulled the blade from its deep crevasse and let it loose, slightly surprised to watch it slump to the ground and out of its owner's hand. Free of Tidus's grip, the flow of water ceased and it became as lifeless as the spirit reflected in his blue eyes.

"I need to repair this," X said simply to him. "In the meantime perhaps you should reevaluate where you stand in your life."

X passed him at a leisurely pace, inspecting the damage to his shoulder, debating whether the part was salvageable as he scowled at the deep crevasse.

The proximity to Tidus had produced no emotional or verbal response in X's telepathic senses, and he pursed his lips at the seriousness of the damage that he had helped cause. As if there weren't enough problems already.

X wanted desperately to focus on someone else's problems for a while. He had to remind himself that their relationship issues weren't petty, though they did seem like it in the face of what Zero had done to Gaia. So what else could be done? Terra was sleeping, her vitals fine according to the constant stream of information flying by in the back of his thoughts.

Despite the misery of this little imperfection, it was difficult to ignore some of the excellent turns of events that had happened. The Titans were all getting along with the sages quite well aside from Beast Boy and Tidus. Red XIII and Robin were busy philosophizing over various topics, and Saria was strangely amused by Beast Boy while also keen to learn the mechanics of just about anything Cyborg was willing to show her. Zelda had strained the limits of her patience at first with Starfire, and a smile stretched at the corners of X's mouth as he recalled the unusual mental threshold that the princess had crossed from feeling annoyance to absolute thrill. X thought – from the mental whispers that were ever present from those around him – that it had something to do with hairstyling.

His head twitched slightly to the side with sudden acknowledgment. X stopped for a moment, intrigued at how thinking of particular people seemed to tune his telepathy to them. Zelda was now aboard the Dreamweaver, and the unmistakable aura attached to her was magnificent and intense, a tornado of pulsing emotions that X recognized with enough anxiety to put hesitance in his step.

He changed course, forming ideas to rectify the issue with Tidus, Terra and Beast Boy, and he laughed at himself along the way.

_Mega Man X, matchmaker. That's a new one._

X passed through the false wall to his memoriam and waited patiently. When he focused, he could feel the attempts of the princess to break through the barrier that the emeralds posed, but each time she made an attempt the force field generated by her own emotions, however subtle they were, shocked her back. With discipline that rivaled the reploid's, she eventually realized that the more she failed to break through the more difficult it became, so she gave up for the time being.

Her mind then shifted to the clothing she had removed that was tainted with her emotions, and Mega Man had to quickly turn off his prying mind so that he would not see Zelda unclothed through her own eyes. He hesitated, embarrassed at it before sternly pursing his lips and shutting down his telepathy.

The grinding sound of his teeth helped block out the invasive disrespect he had just done, and he panicked that she might have realized. It was hard to focus on the incredible clarity that he had just experienced under the discomfiture of what he had just done to Zelda's privacy, that he had not merely heard her intentions and emotions, but actually seen the emeralds, the world, and the clothes the princess had removed through her eyes as if they were his.

Zelda appeared, as expected, from the hidden area where the emeralds were kept. Her face hovered in the holographic wall, noticing X immediately. It made her freeze in place, locking her face onto his until her limbs would move again.

Carefully sliding over the case of the materia was a challenge, and it caused her to stumble a bit in her over-compensation to look perfectly calm. Anything but calm described her insides. His green eyes, narrow and fierce, even many meters away as he leaned next to the entrance of the memoriam, were painfully strong.

The princess had used the lift to take her to the top, so she began riding it down to the bottom, and she watched his unmoving expression, blinking not once. She wondered if he needed to blink at all. It made the weakness in her joints and muscles intensify, turning frailty into dead weight and cold skin. He was battling with something in his head, and the waves of telepathic energy that he had begun exuding since she had left the emeralds unsettled her. Zelda suddenly felt as though she might vomit.

_No, no_, she told herself. _I've done nothing wrong_.

"Any luck?" Mega Man asked without looking up at her eyes.

"N-no," Zelda stammered. "It's very hard."

"I know," he said. "It took me a very long time to be able to do it. And don't be embarrassed. You aren't the only person on board who's made an attempt at it in the nude."

How could she not be embarrassed? How could _he_ not be embarrassed? The very mention of nudity was stupid, and X chastised himself.

"Have I offended somehow?" she asked.

X quickly shook his head, but his displeasure remained. "The 7th and last chaos emerald is here, I'm sure of it," he stated grimly, changing the subject in his head.

The lungs of the princess felt cold as her inhalation of breath stopped dead. She held her hands together at her chest and looked downward, trying to comprehend everything that his simple sentence meant. The completion of the emeralds and the nearing of an end to their journey came with only a few sages more, and she still knew of one whom X did not.

"I want you to know that this isn't an order, nor a request, but an observation," the reploid spoke gravely and kept unwavering eye contact with the princess. "There's a possibility that a Maverick presence still exists here. With Sigma gone, I'm not sure what that even means. They may be following Zero, or the link of the reploid virus may be too far away for them to even realize that Sigma is gone. At any rate, the danger in this place has grown, and it looks as if the chaos emerald may be under Maverick control, or at least guarded by automatic defenses. With Terra's connection to the Lifestream opening up eyes for Zero in the Deathflow at the same time on this planet, he likely already knows and is merely waiting for the right time to snatch the emerald if he hasn't already. So what I need is for a few people to stay behind to help the other Titans while we search for the last of the sages, and whoever elects to stay is fine. But…"

X's sternness changed abruptly, and Zelda was inclined to reach out to him, but she resisted, staying still. Something aggravating and upsetting was nested in his thoughts. But when Zelda focused her mind, she sensed more care for someone else than those surrounding his mental plight. She realized that he was doing this for someone else's worry and not his own.

"Zelda, you've gotten along best with Tidus since we met him, and Tidus and Terra, well…"

"I think I understand," she said. "You're worried about the little green one, Beast Boy?"

"Yes, of course," he answered, "but I can't help but worry about the sages as a whole, too. Beast Boy is important to Raven, and I can't have her, Terra and Tidus holding any animosity against each other. We all need to be together, and Zelda… I think you have a better chance of keeping us together than anyone else."

Her heart seemed to trampoline into her throat then rappel too far down into her stomach. She couldn't speak, as if her voice had been caught along with her heart when it fell from her airways.

"You needn't be so shocked, Princess," he reassured her. "You were the leader of a nation for several years, keeping the peace, and quite well from what I know. You gave yourself to the Dark World and lost the company of all your citizens just to keep them safe. I would trust no other person with this as much as I do with you, and I'm also suggesting it for _your_ benefit."

Zelda gaped at him incredulously. Her vocal chords were empty. She felt more silenced than she had in the same Dark World he reminded her of. What did he mean when he said that he was doing it for her, and why did he go to such great lengths for her?

"They'll take some time to get used to, the Titans," he said expressionlessly. "And as soon as we get back from Mobius, you can decide what you want to do from then."

The princess faltered over her own tongue. "I… I don't understand what you mean."

X tried to approach the topic with calmness and caring, still feeling a bit embarrassed about intruding her sight when she was unclothed, but he forced himself to explain for her sake.

"You don't have a home," he slowly articulated. "When all of this is done, most of us have places to go. I'm not sure about Tidus, but he has options, and Nanaki, Terra and Raven all have places that they call home. I'm worried about you, and about Saria, too. Hyrule isn't a place where anyone can live anymore, and I don't think that the two of you can resurrect it alone."

Zelda's head had hung low long below X had finished his explanation, and the overwhelming sadness that prevailed brought tears to her eyes. Her chest felt like an empty hollow. He was right, of course. A mere two people, no matter how strong or determined, could not bring life back to the pitiful and desolate Hyrule. At the same time, the kindness that X bestowed upon her, attempting to look for a place for she and Saria to fit in, her face became confused with contradicting emotions. Her jaw shook, her lips trembled, and her eyes narrowed to fight the tears and be strong. She felt flashes of cold and warmth, and she held her own arms tight against her body to fight the changes.

Vulnerability had been something she was nearly foreign to before she had met X. How much things had changed…

Zelda barely noticed X moving to embrace her until his warmth spread across her body. He was only slightly taller, but the princess felt as though his arms were long enough to comfort every part of her. A gentle rub against her back, friendly, distinct from the way he held Raven, was welcoming in a way that Zelda appreciated, and she happily found herself without a single harbored glint of jealousy for that difference.

She moved her palm up to his shoulder.

"AH!" Zelda shouted in surprised and pain.

X carefully took her hand, seeing a pool of blood beginning to dribble over her cupped palm.

"I'm sorry!" he apologized, but Zelda was fixated on how she had received the wound, not the amount of blood pouring from it. While X was busy mending the damage with his materia-learned abilities, the princess stared in awe and concern at the deep slice in his shoulder guard.

"Tidus did this?" she said, and X's face went slightly wide when the sudden anger coming from her sunk in.

"Hold still," X said, and she reluctantly held her hand in place. "And yes, Tidus did this, but it wasn't just him. The last emerald brought out his emotions, making him do something he wouldn't normally."

A few moments later, a green aura lit up from X's feet, and a cool, breeze-like sensation rippled across her skin. With a slight wince, Zelda watched the slice in her hand shrink. The smell of copper rust pulled her focus away from X's injury for a moment, but it wasn't long before she felt a need to hunt Tidus down and thoroughly scream at him.

"The emerald is affecting everyone in both good ways and bad. Are you sure you're up to this?" X asked after prying her thoughts. "I feel like a heel," he added. "You're getting into something so dangerous, but I want _you_ to be the leader. Can you do that, even if it means disciplining the sages and fighting the emerald's influences?"

Her breath stopped for a moment. A leader? After so long, leading again…

"I think so," she exhaled what little was held in.

The reploid led her along towards the infirmary, an arm briefly around her shoulder. He worried more about the emeralds, glancing back at the third floor of his memoriam just before his face passed through the hologram.

It may not have been on her mind then, but X knew that Zelda also wondered what role the emeralds played in this war of the Triforce. X knew that one place, the planet Mobius, might hold the answers, and that was where they were going next. While he, Raven, Red XIII and Saria sought more sages on that planet, another of X's former homes, Zelda would be given the chance to mediate between those who needed it, and perhaps she would even find a place to call home herself.

One last question was tucked deep in X's thoughts were Zelda couldn't get at them no matter how hard she tried: who was the man in the dirty brown cloak that she hid from him?

He tried to ignore it. It wasn't his business, and Mega Man trusted Zelda.


	61. Treason

**Chapter 61 – Treason**

Knuckles the Echidna was one of the few people who lived on the outskirts of Echidnopolis. He and Julie-su had decided to get a space of their own away from the business and politics of the city. It had initially been a compromise because if Knuckles had his way, he would have lived far enough away that no one would have wanted to visit. Being relatively alone for half his life made Knuckles xenophobic against his own people, but Julie-su, on the other hand, had always been around a large number of people. Inside the Void where all the Islanders had existed except for Knuckles and a few others, Julie-su had constantly been with her people, the echidna faction holding on to technology, so she refused to live in the boonies like Knuckles had wanted. Since then, their compromise of living merely a mile away from the city's edge had worked well for both. Knuckles got used to having visitors on occasion and being a part of his culture, and Julie-su adapted just fine to the short walk into the busy city and the novelty of having a front lawn.

Now, their medium sized, cozy home amongst a light backing of forest made an awkwardly effective place to plan treason on the Floating Island.

Julie-su had prepared tea for them all to uphold the image of a social gathering. They were all far too well known for it to look normal without something to indicate friendliness, and it was the best they could manage with Shadow refusing to partake in a full meal, feeling that it was a ridiculous gesture. Reluctantly, however, he did drink the hot, pale mint tea along with the others.

"You're sure you weren't seen?" Knuckles questioned Rouge angrily in the echidnas' mauve colored living room.

"Come on, Knux, you know Shadow and I better than that," the white bat woman scoffed. "And besides, the surveillance in the desert was already destroyed."

The two echidnas narrowed their eyes each in their own way.

"You meet that guy in the cloak, too?" Julie-su asked eventually.

"The jackass?" Rouge put her hands on her hips impatiently when she thought of the Sage of Light.

"We were thinking prick," Knuckles answered back. They shared a brief, conniving smirk.

Shadow the Hedgehog growled from near the door. His arms were firmly crossed, and he only looked at them from the corner of his eye while he kept most of his vision calmly focused out one window or another.

"We don't have time to waste on chit-chat," Shadow sneered, speaking in the dark, deep tones of his young but slightly rasped voice. "We have to find out what the echidna council is hiding."

"My father's on the echidna council," Knuckles rose from the master chair and bared his chest with clenched fists. "Are you saying he has something to do with this?"

"I'm not blaming anyone," Shadow responded unpleasantly, but without the same volatile temper that Knuckles was so susceptible to using. "The prime suspects are the members of the high council, and you know that. They've kept dangerous things under wraps before, and they're the only group of people who don't have someone watching over their shoulders since they're normally doing all the spying."

Knuckles exhaled with a pointed scowl, and he plunked back in to the comfort of his leather chair. The echidna rubbed his eyelids, and Julie-su squeezed his shoulder tightly, and it seemed to help a little. Knuckles shook his head at how unpleasantly this was going already, and the massaging efforts behind him weren't helping as much as he wanted them to.

"If it makes you feel any better," Shadow said with extra emphasis on 'better' as if it were hard for him to say, "it's also unlikely that the entire council is involved. There would be too many chances to spill information, and I doubt that certain members would associate with a treasonous uprising, particularly your father Locke."

The two echidnas were slightly surprised. Compassion coming from Shadow the Hedgehog? Knuckles eyed Rouge for a second, wondering if perhaps she had something to do with it.

"At any rate," Shadow scowled at their lack of attentiveness to the more imperative situation, "it's likely a small faction of the council, and it is even possible that the echidna leaders have nothing to do with this, but that would mean that someone has managed to evade the eyes of everyone who would stop them on the Floating Island, and I doubt that."

"Could it be a single person?" Julie-su asked. "That would make it much harder to notice."

"True," Shadow answered the pink echidna, "but that one person would have to be able to manipulate all aspects of whatever is being planned, and that's not an easy task for any plan of grand design."

A short chuckle with layers of sarcasm burst from Knuckles as he almost dropped his tea. "Tell that to Eggman," he started to raise his voice. "He's single-handedly been a pain in the ass for years. There's no reason why someone else couldn't manage the same thing. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one causing problems."

For the first time since the four of them had gathered, they shared a union of frustrated expressions and exhales.

"I sincerely hope not!" Rouge huffed.

"Agreed," Julie-su said, slouched with annoyance at the mention of the name.

"I'd make such a dent in his fat face..." Knuckles grumbled.

The black hedgehog, on the other hand, stared off into aggravated contemplation as he drank his tea. "I hate to suggest it, but we can't count the good doctor out of this. Prisons have a history of being rather useless against the entire Robotnik family."

Knuckles threw up his arms in exasperation, and Julie-su frowned at him.

"You want to say something?" Rouge asked the red echidna.

"Well, I was joking about Eggman, but so much for that," he complained. "Is there anyone else we can add to the growing list of suspects?"

The three of them thought a moment while Shadow eyed each person. His patience was running thin, but at least the tea was good.

Julie-su inhaled with a suggestion, making all but the black hedgehog look. "If it's the council, then maybe they don't realize that it's dangerous."

"Then they wouldn't need to keep it secret," Shadow quickly crushed the idea. He finished the last of his tea and stated simply, "I know one more person."

There was a long pause.

"Hmph," he snorted. Rouge tolerated how condescending Shadow behaved. The echidnas both narrowed their eyes in sync.

"Doesn't anyone suspect the Sage of Light?" he said when none of them figured it out.

No one answered at first. For the echidnas, their effortless loss to the cloaked terran was embarrassing.

"Taking that kind of beating doesn't exactly instill confidence," Julie-su said eventually.

Shadow looked up. "You fought him?" His heartbeat accelerated and his voice was excited. "How powerful was he?"

Knuckles growled and became immediately irritated, and he gritted his teeth while glaring at Shadow. It hadn't been the first time that the echidna or others had known the black hedgehog to show a lustful desire for a powerful opponent, and Knuckles knew that no good would come of it. His experience and insights told him that those involved or innocent were at risk if Shadow decided to challenge the Sage of Light, especially if what the cloaked man had shown was just a fraction of his strength. It made him worry when he turned to glance at Julie-su.

"Hmph," Shadow grunted. "I'll take your silence as meaning that he's extremely strong. Good."

"Don't do anything brash," Julie-su quickly reprimanded his cockiness. "We need to focus on the task at hand, not your personal vendetta."

The black hedgehog crossed his arms and legs and shut his eyes as he leaned back against the sofa. It was his well-known signal for conveying that he didn't give a shit what was being said unless it was in direct relation to what he wanted, and what he wanted was to test the strength of their mysterious visitor.

Rouge bit her lip for a moment and resisted the boiling urge to scream at him. Even in mixed company she barely maintained the facade of unconditional support for Shadow when he became so selfish. It was the one thing she simply could not tolerate from him.

"Anyway, what's the plan?" Rouge said much too quickly, and their hosts suddenly seemed to have eyes that could drill holes through her chest. The white bat tried especially hard not to look at Knuckles. Whatever it was he wanted to say with his eyes was worse than Julie-su's judgment; the holes he could create were much deeper. The front windows saved her the disgrace of losing composure worse than she already had, and she pretended to assure that the four of them were not being watched by someone outside. She considered how for her, the same destructive and obsessive habits that made Shadow a difficult person to get close to tended to attract the spies and intelligence agencies of any nation aware of his ominously forceful presence. Eventually Rouge turned her excuse to pull away from the others a legitimate purpose that relaxed the stress of their meeting.

Knuckles initiated the conversation next. "I know that Julie-su and I can infiltrate the council. With my ties to the conservative party and hers with the technologists, there isn't anyone we can't pry at least a little. Shadow," he firmly addressed the black hedgehog, who aggressively opened his eyes but maintained his uninterested pose, "you'll obviously want to do the opposite of what I'm going to say, but you should lay low until we get a lead. If word gets around that you're here, then whoever is hiding secrets could vanish. So unless you have a better idea..."

"I do have a better idea," he interjected and leaned forward. "In fact, if the government is our target, I may be able to make them come straight to us."

Rouge curiously pivoted in his direction, and the two echidnas managed to subdue their frustrated skepticism long enough to grant him the benefit of the doubt and allow him to continue.

Surprisingly, especially to Rouge, Shadow wore a small grin that was only mildly devious as he sat at the edge of his sofa seat. "Since neither Rouge nor I are well trusted, I propose that the two of us pose as a couple on vacation. If someone is watching us right now at a distance - which I suspect is true - then this little tea party will help prove our cover. Whoever is associated with the secrets we're seeking will send their lackeys or possibly confront us on their own. They'll ask us to leave the island in fear of being discovered."

Knuckles exhaled sharply and furrowed his brow, contemplating the idea. "And if it isn't the government's plot?"

The white bat returned and placed a hand on Shadow's shoulder before he could respond. To her surprise, he calmly allowed her to take the lead with a slight nod and a glance from the corner of his eye.

"I see where he's going with this," she spoke with confidence again. "We can do all the sight seeing we want if we're pretending to be on vacation. Better yet, since there are lots of places neither of us have been to on the island, the act will be even easier to pull off."

A small growl escaped the Guardian's lips. "I don't like it," he said.

"Of course you don't like it," Rouge teasingly responded as she leaned over the back of the sofa where Shadow sat. With a deep sigh, her facial features tightened and became serious. "There isn't any way to enjoy plotting treason."

The word had an oxygen-stealing quality about it, as if it were a sponge of breath and sanity. Knuckles fumbled over his tongue and stared at his feet for a different reason. "You know it's not just that," he stared only at Rouge, and his white-gloved hands squeezed against his knees with uncomfortable angst. He also had a feeling that Julie-su was considering not speaking to him for a while.

It was difficult for Rouge to not look at him sweetly when she realized how angry the heart felt comment was hurting the pink echidna behind him. "Don't you worry," she tried to reassure Knuckles the Echidna. "It'll be a cinch."

He nodded. "I hope so." Just behind his head, Knuckles heard Julie-su's fingers digging sharply into the leather upholstery. He tried to ignore it for the moment while planning how he would make it up to her. "If any of us get caught without getting the proof we need to implicate a member of the government, we could be sentenced to death."

Shadow snorted. He was amused.

"Now listen you arrogant creep!" Julie-su practically burst. "Just because you have chaos powers and speed to escape with doesn't mean you can jeopardize the rest of our lives!"

Rouge huffed in complete exasperation: "Well, I never! Even if we did get caught, we'd lie and say we used you to get the information we needed. I can't believe you think we'd rat you out just to save our own hides!"

"It's not you we're worried about," the red echidna said more calmly than Julie was capable of with her inner swell of conflicting feelings, and he shifted his gaze and the accusation to Shadow the Hedgehog, where he earned nothing but silence. It was several minutes before Shadow dignified the three stares with a response that sounded nothing but selfish.

"Why would I want them to go after you? It might actually be interesting to have the whole of the Floating Island after my head. I'm sure I could cause enough destruction to get the rest of you off the hook, but if they split their forces between even two of us, it would be an effortless nuisance to me at best."

The silence after he finished was remarkably more absolute than the previous one.

Julie-su and Knuckles had gone wide-eyed well before he had finished what they felt was a short, ego-inflated tirade. The way the Guardian's hands tightened over his knees again narrowly kept him from exploding in one way or another. Shadow's responses were, as a fact known to most who had encountered him and still lived, outrageous to the point of being impossibly unpredictable, but the echidnas and Rouge had at least grown to expect the unexpected.

Rouge, unlike their hosts and all others Shadow knew, had always felt a hidden motive for his callousness. Most people, the bat woman had decided, were too intolerant to realize that the cold of his forthright statements and rigid demeanor concealed warmth that could rival any openly kind person. She massaged the nape of his neck to show her appreciation, firm, the way he preferred it, and he allowed it to happen without objection by mouth or gesture, which she had gradually learned was his way of expressing appreciation for her, too. Sometimes she wondered as she watched the various looks of distaste and offense on Knuckles and Julie-su why so many people acted that way to Shadow. Didn't people wait for years to create the best wines and cheeses? Why couldn't anyone else reach through the thorns to find the Shadow inside? Rouge saw selfishness in others, not in him, for refusing to give the black hedgehog the chance he deserved to show the real him, callousness, caring, troubled past and righteous will included.

The white bat nearly jumped when she felt a strong hand grasp her own. She realized it was Shadow's, and she carefully retracted from the massage she was giving him, but an even greater shock rippled up the hairs on her arm and through her spine when he refused to let go. His palm slid into hers and gripped it with power and care for a mere second, and then he let it go as he rose to his feet. The sensation bubbled excitedly in Rouge's chest for much longer. The entire interaction was so subtle that the echidnas, still rather in awe and anger from Shadow's comment, hadn't noticed.

"She'll need a dress," Shadow stated. After another moment of brief silence in which the pink echidna stared at him incredulously, he grumbled and added: "She's wearing plate armor on her chest and boots lined with titanium. She's _supposed_ to look like she's on vacation."

Julie-su's face fell into her palm in embarrassment of the late comprehension. "Of course – come on," she waved at Rouge to follow her.

Reluctantly, Julie-su led the other woman into the next room and out of sight, and the men both listened to the gentle taps of the two heading up a set of stairs to the rooms above. Shadow and Knuckles remained eye-locked the entire time.

"I know what you're thinking," Shadow inevitably broke the interpersonal silence he despised, though his words were as cool and calm as morning frost.

"That so?" Knuckles shot back sarcastically.

Shadow narrowed his glare. "Yes, it is. I'm not going to carelessly let her get hurt."

"Oh really?" added the Guardian with a sharpened tongue but half the volume. "You mean like last time?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Shadow burned from the spark of hostility, but he also matched the snapping whispers of the echidna.

It became uncomfortably aggressive between the two staring eyes and exaggerated breaths. With anxiousness that he couldn't place a knowing finger on, Shadow the Hedgehog watched what might have been the loathing, most hateful countenance that Knuckles had ever shown him.

"If you have to _ask_," the echidna spat, "then you _don't_ deserve to know."

It caused Shadow to fume internally. His jaw tightened unnervingly, and yet the sound that escaped his throat was still identical in every way. Externally, however, his muscles were becoming so tense that the arms of the chair he resided in emitted a tiny squeak from his crushing grip. "You _will_ tell me," he threatened Knuckles in a low voice, careful to exclude the two women upstairs from hearing.

"Or what?" the Guardian growled. "I know what you could do, but any way you hurt me will only hurt her in the end."

Shadow crossed the threshold to a new level of anger. "What the hell do you want from me?" he hissed.

Serenity blanketed the anger in Knuckles in transference; the more Shadow lost control, the more the red echidna gained it. He leaned in, unwilling to let himself be rattled as he came near the face of his 'guest.'

"I want to hear you say that Rouge is too special for you to lose her, that she means more than your own life, and that you would gladly give it if it meant saving her."

The hard oak underneath the soft, weave covering on the arms of Shadow's chairs creaked, the crunched. As the arms of the furniture lost shape and collapsed, Knuckles opened into a wide-eyed stare and a nervous sweat.

"Say it," he demanded, his brain forcing the demand out automatically.

All the colors of Shadow's piercing globes – crimson irises, ultimate black pupils and pearl whites – washed into blood. The long spines flaring from his head and back began waving slowly, but in erratic directions as though an isolated breeze encircled them in multiple directions, and his very flesh threatened to resonate with the same fiery glow. He slowly stood, leaving the crumpled chair arms behind him, and Knuckles matched the rising motion hesitantly.

A flash of light a quiet, high pitched energy discharge brought Knuckles nose-to-nose with Shadow, whose eyes still boiled red.

"Rouge… means more to me than you could ever understand," Shadow seethed. "I will _never_ hurt her deliberately."

It was then that Knuckles attempted to take a small breath and realized that his throat was tight and that what little air he could grasp was feeble and insufficient.

Shadow released the echidna's neck and threw him against his chair, which skidded several inches and nearly tipped over before coming to a halt. Knuckles coughed for air, his lungs deprived, and then he glared at Shadow's turned back. The black hedgehog had retreated to the front window and refused to look at him any longer. For what reason other than arrogance and interpersonal ineptitude, Knuckles didn't know, but he knew there was another motivation. A labored sigh escaped him as he reminded himself that Shadow's behavior wasn't logical.

A few seconds passed, and footsteps were head coming from the upper floor.

Julie-su was cautious as she entered. The mood settled over her like falling ice, not granting the accommodation or acknowledgement from either of the two boys. When she noticed the demolished state of the arm rests where Shadow had been, she swallowed hard and her mouth seemed to dehydrate instantly.

"Is everything alright?" she asked skittishly. Whatever illusion of pleasantries had existed between them was dissolved like a sand sculpture in the wind. _No_, Julie-su realized with another hard, dry gulp that it was more effectively comparable to a sand sculpture meeting a tidal wave.

Rouge poked her head around the corner. "You boys need a minute?" she asked carefully.

"No," Shadow declared. "We're fine. Are you ready to go?"

The bat smiled. "I sure am," she said seductively as she stepped into full view.

The dress she posed in was strapless and sun-fire red, and its soft looking fabric draped comfortably against her body to ankle length. Tiger Lilies decorated it, starting at the center of her chest, curving around her breast and down her left side to where the dress had an open slit that revealed her thigh, which she proudly showed off. She spun delicately in place with her arms out, showing off a simple pair of one-inch, ruby heels and a series of red and orange ties on the back that kept the dress secure and showed the white of her back in a narrow V. To match, she had washed off her purple eye shadow and replaced it with a pale, reddish-peach.

She watched Knuckles' angry expression melt, much to her delight. When Rouge faced Shadow and waved the dress at him, he turned to look, blinked a few times, stared a bit longer, then slowly returned to the bright day outside.

"You don't like it?" she as she pursed her lips downward in disappointment.

"No, it's fine, it's just…" Shadow took a deep breath and held it. "It looks… very nice on you."

Her excitement bubbled up again. It was almost too much to contain her reaction to even a meager sounding compliment like that. "Why, thank you, Shadow," she managed to respond casually with her hand clasped over her chest to slow the rapid pumping inside.

"Shall we go?" the black hedgehog suggested.

"Nothing would make me happier!" beamed Rouge and she slung a small, black purse over her shoulder.

Shadow turned to Knuckles and Julie-su. "We'll report back at the end of each day to discuss what we've found. That way we'll be able to keep up the charade of a social vacation."

"Sounds good," nodded the Guardian as if nothing had happened between them. "If we see you in the city, we'll make a point to stop as well."

Shadow looked off to the side and crossed his arms in thought about that. "That'll draw a lot of attention," he commented, "but it will look much more suspicious if we ignore each other."

"Alright then," Rouge eagerly headed for the door with a hand on Shadow's arm. "We're off! Good luck you two!" And she yanked him out of the echidna home before he got the chance to argue.

There was an awkward pause in the echidna household, followed by the Julie inspecting the collapsed chair arms on what was to her an antique piece of family furniture. She hoped it could be repaired without being too intrusive. The pink echidna then noticed Knuckles in silent contemplation or something far removed from broken remnants of the past. She cocked her head and tried to garner his attention, but he only rubbed his chin harder as he tightened his focus on the anonymous thoughts.

"Knuckles!" she waved directly in his face, and he shot upright.

"I remember now!" he exclaimed. "I bought you that dress for your birthday last year. How come you've never worn it?"

For a moment, Julie-su had a response, but her lips closed quickly. A number of sharp hand gestures also failed to articulate what she wanted to say, so it came out rather pointedly as: "You couldn't coordinate colors with a detailed guide for dummies!"

"I can too," Knuckles argued, but she didn't agree.

"Do you see what color these are?" she lifted her dreads nearly into his face. "Pink does _not_ go well with burnt orange."

"I think it would have looked very nice on you," he stated simply, a fact that was not only true in his mind, but also a swift way of reaching a compromise.

Julie-su sighed hard and her frown reverted to neutrality. She rubbed her eyes, and then knelt down next to where Knuckles sat, glancing at his face and the ignorance of hues in his expression. "I appreciate the effort," she said, "but next time ask another woman for help, or even bring a picture of me to show somebody. Normally I'd wear most anything you got me, but that color was just too outrageous to go with the rest of me. And after all," she added with a kiss against his forehead, "the girlfriend of the Guardian of The Floating Island has a big reputation too."

Knuckles smiled warmly at that and pecked her on the cheek. "On to treason then?"

She nodded. "Treason it is."

* * *

Being arm in arm with Shadow the Hedgehog was like a small sliver of a dream come true. The nagging feeling that he was only playing along to maintain a false image was a bit disheartening, but for Rouge it was still a wonderful feeling, even if she had to pretend a little. No rush, no fighting, just a little bit of espionage, and shopping – it was going to be a wonderful time for as a long as it was willing to last, and she knew it would be all too easy to keep up their façade on her end.

And what of Shadow? She glanced at him with a gentle arc of her head, and he retracted a look of his own.

"That's the third time you've done that in just a couple of minutes," she commented. "And you were looking at my dress. Do you really like it that much?"

He hesitated. "It's… very nice."

Rouge smiled at his honesty. "Thank you. But what's really on your mind?"

Then he hesitated more. "How did…" Shadow began, but he swiftly shut his mouth and growled at his own uneasiness.

"You can say anything," the white bat assured him. Her fingers moved as if they had a mind of their own, navigating into the spaces between his, and it promptly brought back the pumping in her chest. Weakness fell from her stomach to her knees after the resistance she expected from Shadow never occurred. Their hands pressed together.

Rouge came to a halt, as did he. She turned to him and took his other hand. "I promise I won't get angry," she said.

Shadow nodded. "Alright." His red irises were nervous, an emotion he had little experience with, but he forced out what would not leave his conscious thought. "Rouge… how did you get those scars?"

The white bat woman quickly released one of his hands and rubbed her finger against the one scar that barely avoided the cover of Julie-su's dress. So that's what he had been so fixated on.

Her lungs puffed up, breathing in the oxygen that allowed her to keep her sworn word, but no fresh air on Mobius, not even the clean, orbital wash of the Floating Island's ever-moving path in the sky could subdue the sour ache and the nightmares of memories held in that simple question. Rouge remembered the sensations and sights of that day whenever the scars were pressed against, the caress of her own fingers included, and for the small handful of seconds constituting the fateful event and the torturous weeks that followed, there was a single person that she had blamed for all her misery. At times she had felt hatred for him, the man now holding her hand. Her eyes stung and she tried not to let the old hate back in. There was justification for her anger, she told herself, but not for that.

"I'm sorry," she looked away, anywhere but his face. "I'm not ready to tell you about that. It's too hard."

"Alright," Shadow replied, firm and simple. The unhappiness he felt exuding from her was enough to keep him from pressing further.

As they drew near the city, its visually growing expanse covered up much of the sunny blue sky, and the thin path of gravel leading from Knuckles' house up to a simple playground before the silver skyscrapers crunched under their feet. They still shared a hand for warmth, for affection, and unfortunately for Rouge, for their ruse as well. It tainted the other two reasons, nullifying some of the stability in her emotions while she worked on burying her unpleasant memories.

The city over took the sky, and the sound of people and children playing in the small park area with swings and slides suppressed nature's gentle therapy for the unpredictability of a social environment. Most of those at play and their parents were echidna, but there was also a small, purple chameleon child playing on the jungle gym and another who appeared to be the mother or maybe and older sister. Either way, the spirit of her posture and wrinkle-free face conveyed that she was very young.

It was time for them to turn up the façade a few notches. The need to be convincing was vital.

Shadow and Rouge passed by those at play and into the high maze of Echidnopolis' structures, unaware of what they might encounter. Many eyes from the playground followed their backs, and Shadow knew that it wouldn't take long until the welcome mat was pulled out by the echidna government.


	62. Mind War, Part I

**Chapter 62 – Mind War, Part I**

Trapped and unaware, the Sage of Light remained eye to eye with the creature that had altered his path of transport. His initial instinct was that it had been Zero since the crimson reploid had done this once before, but he quickly realized that it was someone or something else, possibly an agent of Zero but in no way Zero himself.

Whatever this strange creature was, one thing was fatefully clear: it had telepathic abilities that no other being had ever had in the Sage of Light's lifetime. They were so strong that as soon as the creature gripped his face with three large, rounded fingers on either side, his body went rigid and he lost control of his limbs. They didn't move against his will. On the contrary, they didn't move at all. The sage was frozen in place with his energy blade close enough to light what would have been the belly of a normal human, but all he saw was something purplish (though since his energy blade was that color anyway, it was impossibly difficult to be sure) that resembled a kangaroo's pouch, and it appeared to extend downward into some sort of tail. Above that the color was lighter and possibly whitish. Beyond those pitifully incomplete descriptions and the bright magenta eyes of this creature, the sage knew nothing of his assailant, nor could he move to tell.

It was utterly dark and disturbingly silent. The two of them each generated a light source between his blade and the being's eyes, but the reploid sage could not hear the telepath breathing. The sonar or infrared vision in his visor would have painted a clear picture of his surroundings, but as hard as he tried to make the semi-autonomous device activate, he could break the hold on his body.

Alexander seemed to be screaming within him, but the messages were nothing more than incomprehensible garble. For a moment the sage was truly panicked. The hold on his mind was strong enough to reach and silence the power of a mighty aeon, and the sage knew nothing capable of it. Yet for some reason, he was not being physically or mentally harmed to his knowledge. What was the reason for this, then? Detainment?

At least he could still think, and his mind was fixated chiefly on resuming his swing to cut the enemy in half. The arm, seemingly foreign, didn't budge, shake or even twitch, and that renewed his fear the longer he failed to function. If his internal systems shut down as well, then he would become a lifeless hunk of titanium and wires, but as the sluggish minutes passed, that didn't seem to be the case. Detainment was illogical; shutting him down would be the best way to hold him, and this creature was more than capable. Killing him was even less likely. Someone else would have already done it while this creature held him if that was the case.

The Sage of Light felt a burst of emotion that made his insides shiver. At least, that's what he thought he felt. He still couldn't tell if his insides were performing normally, but the emotion was unmistakable. It hadn't come from Alexander or Bahamut. His own thoughts were generating the chilling, nostalgic sensation that coursed through him. He was being bombarded with memories, many at once. Worse yet, he recognized and felt familiarity with each passing collection of images, thoughts, feelings, and learned or autonomous reactions that his brain was cycling through at nearly its maximum speed.

It continued for several minutes, scrutinizing and recalling every little detail, things that, although his reploid brain was capable, he would normally never summon up. Each moment, either indiscernibly insignificant or exceptionally rare, was playing backwards like a video rewinding _very _fast.

"_Memories_? _Is this creature looking for something?_"

He had already long since passed the recent events of his interactions with Shadow and Rouge; and Knuckles and Julie-su. The time he spent on Gaia, hunting down those fools digging for materia, and the extra nudge of energy he gave X to save all those from the eruption at Wutai, all the recollections important and insignificant zipped past and continued on at an accelerated rate. It became an unsettling sensation, and something within the recesses of his body pulsed discomfort and panic through him.

"_At least I know my automated systems are working,_" he thought with a small amount of relief.

His body still refused to respond to the slightest degree. The memories and images of past began to move by more quickly, and the more time he wasted trying to struggle, the more likely that this being was going to find what it needed. The Sage of Light relaxed his thoughts and his body, and refused to fight the physical hold.

Strange. The sensation was peaceful, and the sage fell to a hard and solid ground that he couldn't see. The slits of glowing eyes followed him down, and they reacted with a moment of surprise. Hidden in the dark, a smile graced the sage. He vowed to defeat this assault on his consciousness, this violation of his most haunted and most private events of the past.

Vision turned to emptiness, and darkness swirled around him, letting the purple glow of his combatant's eyes fizzle away as other colors filled in the thoughts of his memories.

The Sage of Light began falling. His feet pointed the way as his arms hung above him in the atmosphere of the deep recesses hidden within. A glare of illumination highlighted his descent, swirling all manner of soft and warm colors, greens, reds, and oranges, yet his visor showed nothing but the plain, human-like vision his eyes received. It was now only in his mind, all the details and functions of his reploid body, but the visor was pointless in this internal universe of the mind. His cloak remained, but with a simple blinking motion, the visor lifted and tucked beneath his bloodstained, brown hood.

No living being had seen his eyes for many years. This violator would soon know how serious his intrusion was, for The Sage of Light's milky white irises resonated with the power of the Triforce, shooting rays from his bright globes that tore through the other feeble lights and seared the darkness.

In a snap of color, vision and sound, the tunnel blipped out of existence, and he stood on a mucky surface deep with rain, mud, and dead plant matter. The clouds above were ominous and unending in all directions. Amongst the circle of the horizon, a dead forest existed in one direction, while in the other there lay a vast, unending plain of desolation.

The Land of Hyrule.

Everything felt very real; the raindrops slowly soaking through his cloak and the mush underneath his reploid feet were extremely realistic if they were illusions of his own mind. Lightning strikes and thunderous rumbling across the sky rippled in the hollows of his heightened sense of aural perception. Part of the problem with his ability to manipulate the Lifestream in tandem with his mastery of reploid teleportation was that illusions like one he stared at could very well have been real. If he wanted, the Sage knew he could transport to Hyrule in a matter of hours from Mobius, half way across the galaxy, assuming that he was still _on_ Mobius. Again, part of the problem was that there was no longer any way of knowing his location without first breaking free of the creature's psychic hold, and the memories still flickered faster than a burning candle under the breeze despite his white eyes seeing nothing but the desperately clinging Hyrule fields.

"What are you _searching_ for?" he asked rhetorically.

A tiny whisper startled him. It was nearly silent, muffled by the storm, but it seemed as if it had come from the clouds themselves. '_Name_' he thought he heard subtly.

"My name?" he wondered. The sage's white eyes tightened and shook. "I think _not_, Zero, little brother, wherever you are hiding. I don't intend to give you the satisfaction!"

He took a stance and held his arm up to the sky. A glistening bow appeared in his grip, pure white and shimmering bright like his eyes. It was weightless in his mind, but it was also weightless in reality, as was the arrow of pure energy that materialized in his fingertips. The sage pulled tightly, and his sleeve slid down, revealing the Triforce mark on his hand and the golden glow it gave off. The bow and arrow sparkled fervently as he pulled it beyond the breaking point of even some of the best bows made on his former home world, and the streaking bullet of light zipped to the clouds and ripped the illusion apart. The sky and all the images around him bled white and red ooze that sizzled into a small, contained space.

The sensations around him now matched the dozens of thoughts, moments and feelings that he witnessed. Suspended in the center of some massive, spherical dome, were times of the past where he had actually been, scenes as recorded by his very own eyes. For the moment, all of them were _actually_ in Hyrule. All of the memories surrounding the sage were entrancing, so difficult to ignore now that they were being shown to him by someone else rather than painfully recalled. He began reliving that time several decades ago when he stumbled across the sensation of the Triforce on the dying world.

* * *

It was a place he had visited on many occasions, the illustrious and mystery-ridden hollows that were the Temple of Time. The legendary blade, the Master Sword, had been missing for over fifty years, yet no one lived to say whom or precisely when it might have disappeared to. Yes, Hyrule – though it was once peaceful and flourishing granted the fact that inferior humanoids resided there – was in steadily crumbling ruins. Few plants still lived, and only those animals who could subsist on the widest variety of nourishment or those who required very little sustenance persisted in living.

That, of course, was not counting the zombies that inhabited former domiciles and streets. They did not look remotely human, and they were practically featureless aside from hollow eye sockets, long limbs, and maws that occasionally oozed dark, slimy substances. Their speed was sloth-like, but their hunting was more efficient than one would ever suspect. Once, the Sage of Light watched a canine-like animal wander into Hyrule's Castle Town Market, not paying any heed to the immobile, darkly colored 'ReDeads' as they were called in Hylian lore.

As soon as the doomed animal came close enough, the zombie tilted its head with such fluidity that that the reploid sage himself could barely replicate, and a gaze so hideous ignited like burning red rubies from inside the hollow sockets. Both fight and flight were paralyzed in the small mammal, and it simply could not take its eyes away from the predator that closed in on it at a snail's pace. That animal instinct to flee or to attack was all that most little creatures had, and to have both disabled must have been horrifying in ways that no animal could experience otherwise. Yes, the sage could _feel_ the immense terror torturing the animal's beating heart, and it shook there, unable to lift a paw even as the zombie's oozing mouth and razor teeth were bared.

In an unexpected movement of considerable speed and agility, the ReDead wrapped its long, fleshy arms and legs around the mutt and began sucking directly on the top of its skull, making strange moaning and sucking sounds. Blood seeped out, and the prey flailed and jerked in a useless attempt to break free. Another unexpected trait was how strong the ReDeads were. Its long limbs remained tightly locked, not allowing for the slightest dislodging of its meal, and in a handful of seconds, the little animal's eyes rolled back into its head, and it stopped moving.

That was the first time that the Sage of Light decided to bother with these creatures.

He hopped off the stone chimney that was his perch and crunched the nicely laid stone that still fought the passage of time, just a few feet from where the ReDead was feeding.

Slowly, just as it had ominously moved to catch the mutt, it stood and turned to the Sage of Light. The sage drew his energy blade from beneath the concealment of his cloak, and he sliced at the monster's neck forcefully. It moaned in pain, but to his surprise, it twisted back and came at him as if he had tickled it.

Then, the bright glow of its eyes crackled and beamed at the sage's eyes through the visor. He was not paralyzed, just as he had expected, but when he went to swing the blade again the Sage of Light realized that he had swung it incredibly slow, smacking the creature in the side of the face with the flat of energy pulse. Starting to panic, he had to pull with all his might to achieve an appropriately strong swing, batting the creature to the side. He swung again and again, and as he knocked the creature to the ground its gaze faded, releasing the Sage of Light who collapsed to the ground, disoriented.

Dirt and sullied ground water splashed into his mouth. He bit his lip in fury and popped to his feet, retracting his energy blade into a reploid Buster, and he began firing at the creature again and again, ten times, twenty, thirty. Each blast made a miniature explosion and a small flash of light, and the creature moaned and squirmed as the plasma was absorbed into the undead flesh. So many rounds were released into it that the ReDead burst into flame, and only when it completely stopped moving did the sage cease.

The rain quickly doused the fire.

He breathed heavily, uneasy and on edge. The zombie was completely charred and many of its limbs were reduced to bone fragments and ashes. Deformed ribs were exposed on the back.

It twitched. No, did it twitch? It could not have.

It shook pitifully. How could that be?

The sage pulled up his other sleeve, and the small, oval, white gauntlet with red trim began expanding into his tower shield. At the edge of the shield, blades extended, and he quickly proceeded to cut off what was left of the creature's head. With that and a final slice that severed its spine in the middle of the back, the ReDead lay completely still.

For a moment, he watched it as he breathed deeply, making sure it did not move again. Time passed. It still lay there, very dead.

At that moment, the Sage of Light began a hunt for every remaining creature within the town and the castle. He learned quickly to guard his eyes with one hand while slicing them apart with his shield on the other wrist. They fell quickly to his inhuman strength, and the sage was taught for the first time in his many decades of living that the energy weapons he wielded, the energy sword and buster in particular, were designed to cause much less harm to organic beings. The ReDeads were much more durable than most flesh and blood beings, making them candidates of extremely high resistance to reploid armaments, but against an ordinary blade in the hands of a superior being like himself, they posed much less of a threat.

He had scoured the city and the royal chambers of Hyrule Castle, killing a few dozen of them, and he headed for the city's front gate triumphantly. But it simply was not that easy. It never was.

Waiting at the gate was a creature that was nothing like the others. It was taller, black with red pattern markings up its legs and arms, and it crawled along while whipping a head full of tendrils around it. It had no recognizable feature that could be called a face. Squeals of malice broke through the rain, and it charged at the sage. He lowered his stance and held up his shield, readying his energy blade.

A gentle hum and a bright golden light came from his hand just before it retracted into his arm. The creature stopped dead, and when it saw the light of the Triforce mark, it fled into the darkness of the eternally overcast Hyrule Fields.

His mark… it hadn't responded in a very long time. Why now?

And he also smiled mildly. Perhaps sometimes it _was_ that easy.

He felt a voice calling, and his hand resonated with the Triforce when he held it out to the abyss of rain. It was too compelling to ignore, so he left the dead Hyrule market without a thought and began walking out into the lost plains.

The trip took many hours, but the time was meaningless to him. He wandered into the forest, a place where Rauru, a good teacher and former light sage despite being human, had warned him to stay away from many times. It wasn't enough to convince him to avoid the Lost Woods despite the confirmed disappearances and lack of corpses that Rauru and most other Hylians warned of. The fact that he also had never found any of the dead with heightened reploid sensors at a distance was odd, but there were many phenomenons that could not yet be explained by his knowledge of science, and he accepted that.

The trees themselves were the ReDeads of the forest, hollow and lifeless, sucking every last bit of meager nutrition from the ground before expiring and only fixed in their positions by dense roots and gravity's hold. The Lost Woods was a dark and dense place less than a half minute's walk into it. The trees grew, or at least _had_ grown close to each other, leaving in many places no discernable way to pass through, but the forceful call resounding within the sage began to grow stronger with every step, allowing him no choice but to take the most direct route possible. It was icy cold and damp, but the thick, dead branches provided some shelter from the constant storm. Aerial cartwheels granted him passage between tight gaps. Instinctually he would have crushed them or simply gone around. For some reason, the former of the two ideas caused him pain if he thought about it. It made the cold sting more at his face.

The Sage of Light found his legs moving faster than he commanded them to. He began sprinting, diving through open gaps, careful not to snap off the ghost branches of the towering dead trees. No leaves and no plant life shrouded out the dim light that fought to break the clouds, yet the Lost Woods had become remarkably dark.

He stopped. It caused his insides to burn, but his eyes caught something so intriguing through the mist that no force could have moved him against his will.

A bridge. Half collapsed, rotting with moss, but more than obviously manmade. His mind was expanding and brilliant, heightened with the best of reploid technology. This settlement, whether still alive or as dead as everything else, somehow evaded all of that. Now, the Triforce, a mystical energy that he hardly believed in, was guiding him where all his technology fell pitifully short.

He snorted then resumed his path, flying over the massive gap with an effortless leap. The trees formed a line so thick for as long as he could see through the fog on either side. Their height even stretched upward beyond sight, and he contemplated that he truly would have to destroy the wall to get through.

However, the call in his mind instructed otherwise. He paced forward hesitantly, fighting the sting in his chest as it spread to his limbs. The Sage narrowed his eyes, and thought he saw a circular hollow.

Something did not feel right. There was something odd tickling his senses, like butterflies in the head instead of the stomach. Tiny whispers of something incoherent and pained haunted him, weakening his knees in an infuriatingly human way. ReDeads? Certainly not. They were mindless zombies. This voice itself sounded full of fear, tortured beyond sanity when he listened longer, but still with intelligence.

Eventually the strain of the calling burned his face and his eyes, forcing him forward again. A massive tree holed out and rotted like the others but indomitable enough in strength survived as a dark, unlit tunnel into a dead village where the fog was lifted and the rain was lighter. The clouds, however, were as dark and miserable as ever, and the poison of the Triforce's absence had reached these lands just as it had spread to the Hylians in the castle and everywhere around it.

Still, his feet moved along mechanically without thought, guiding him to one of the little tree huts. It was no more descript or special than any of the others, save that it appeared to possibly be a bit more resilient and less damaged than the many that had caved in, revealing hand-carved furniture, most of which was also vacant of use for many years.

The Sage of Light's visor blipped to life without warning, changing to infrared detection, and the sage froze into a statue of shock. There was someone – or something – alive in the surviving home of these forest people. He did not know what to think, only how to act. His boots jettisoned white flame and the muck sprayed backward as the hut arrived within arm's reach in a half second. The Sage of Light gasped, not believing at first what he saw inside.

A small, young woman with brilliant green hair lay in a puddle on the damp dirt floor of the hut, and small vines seemed to be growing all around her, protecting her from harm. Rain dripped rapidly from a narrow hole the ceiling, its unforgiving collapse splattering nature's harshness across her chest where the fabric of her clothes seemed to be giving way. The Sage stepped closer, then in horror he backed away and fell through the hut's entrance when he saw her face more clearly.

The plants were not simply protecting her. They grew _through_ her body, attached in dozens of places from top to bottom including her youthful face, now more aptly described as mutated. They seemed to be sucking the life out of her, yet sustaining her at the same time. The sage wondered if it was some sort of strange symbiosis as he drew nearer, just within the hut's meager shelter from the rain.

"What the hell are you?" he said aloud.

At gentle touch, a weak heat was wafting away from her. Almost indiscernible breaths puffed visibly from her nose and mouth, dissipating amongst the cold air in less than a second until the white wisps were no longer visible.

She moved.

The rain, it… it bothered her. Her stirring was less than subconscious. Anxious emotions surrounded him, and he thought that it was the plants that might have moved. He had no idea what to do.

A hunk of wood fell directly over her, and in an instant the sage's shield deflected it.

He looked down as he ignored the patter of rain tapping at his shield. She remained unmoved and seemingly undisturbed by the event, but the gap had widened for the merciless downpour to torture this poor creature even more.

A feeble shiver escaped the young woman.

Waking her was not an option. Revealing himself to this woman in any way was not an option. His secrecy as the Sage of Light was of the utmost importance, and he could not reveal it to anyone.

He stared at her, not understanding his own desire to be compassionate, nor why he was so compelled to come to her in the first place. Perhaps, he thought, he could at least do her some manner of kindness. Other than the rain, she didn't seem to be immediately bothered by anything as she slept. _If_ she was sleeping. Not even reploids enjoyed resting in the rain, so he set out to find something suitable to fix the dying canopy over this one living girl.

"Kokiri," he whispered to himself. "That's what you're called, your people."

He remembered when Rauru had mentioned the people of this forest once in passing. They were supposedly in tune with nature, which set his mind slightly more at ease about the plant life she cultivated in her flesh. That was not one of the aspects of their culture told to him, but they had not discussed much of the Kokiri while he learned to replace the former Light Sage.

With a simple goal in mind, he left the hut and surveyed his surroundings, as far as the fog would let him see. His infrared vision and vibration sight were almost useless in the icy downpour, revealing nothing but a consistently chilling landscape with too many aural disruptions to find anything. Wandering was the simple choice, and he traveled from hut to hut, examining what was left of them. Most were heaps of wooden debris, nothing useful or sturdy, and the search quickly frustrated him. The sage clenched his fists, kicking a large hunk of wood that splintered and exploded into pieces that sailed off out of sight.

Then, there it was. His metal boot had torn off a chunk of a dresser of some sort, and its craftsmanship along with a little luck from all the collapsed debris that had fallen and protected it left it in tact. He pulled out the drawers slowly and carefully, victoriously narrowing his eyes at partial wooden frames that were solid and stiff, made of extremely sturdy wood. Better yet, parts of them were dry. Then, as if his luck wasn't good enough already, the bottom drawer contained a thick, green, cotton-like blanket that probably was the same material as the poor girl's clothing, which was tattered and torn at best, partially because of the greenery that punctured her skin and her garments along with it.

The sage gathered the dry fragments of cloth and wood, severing necessary pieces with his energy sword. He carefully took all that he found and carried it back to the poor Kokiri girl's resting place. Plugging the holes as he hovered with his boosters without causing more damage to the roof was a delicate task. He painstakingly covered the top of the tree-home with a layer of the absorbent fabric, placed the solid pieces of wood he found on top of that, well spread out, and finished it with another layer of fabric on top.

He stood back and observed his handiwork.

It sucked.

But it was better than nothing and unobtrusive enough that after a short time of weathering, no one would suspect that it was put there by him, and his footprints would be erased within the hour by the elements.

He ducked into the hut again, and it was delightfully less noisy. The dripping had stopped for the time being, and it would be eternally slower as long as the rest of the roof didn't completely cave in.

She seemed somehow more peaceful as the sage watched her breath slowly, in and out, in and out. He scanned his mind for medical details, and if she was anything like a standard humanoid, her snail-like breathing indicated a coma. But what of the plants? They seemed normal enough to the touch, aside from swollen veins of red (absorbing her blood?) where they melded with her.

A spot on one end of the hut was relatively dry. The reploid sat down quietly with his knees tucked up under his cloak, closely to him.

For a short time, the vision of the sleeping woman in green was very relaxing.

He tipped his head back against the tree wall and shut his eyes.

Peace. A foreign sensation since Hyrule's slow decay into nothingness. He savored it, still not knowing why he was drawn to this woman, and too serene to attempt answering.

A voice called him again. A different voice, but it sounded like a young woman asking his name. He was immediately at attention, snapped up from his moment of tranquility. And yet, his body didn't move. He focused on moving his limbs, trying as hard as possible, yet he stayed relaxed, leaning casually against the inner trunk with the Kokiri girl.

Unmoving limbs.

It was a trick.

* * *

He snarled, then roared, amplifying his voice through the medium of his own mindscape. The memory had been real up until that last moment when the voice had asked his name. It had been so lifelike, a perfect forgery in almost every way, and he shut his eyes tightly for a moment to fight off the imprisonment that the strange creature placed him in.

The Sage of Light opened his real eyes. Still in the darkness. His energy blade had long since retracted, so he was subject to only the ever-glowing horizontal slits of his enemy, whomever or whatever it was. The psychic power had made him relive a sensitive memory for the sole purpose of trying to steal the identity of his name, and the incarceration was agonizing. The sage raged internally, unable to fight or even defend himself.

The creature remained fixated, unchanging, several globe-like fingers attached to the sage's face. There was no telling how it would attempt to unravel the sage's mind next, and he panicked at the thought of being revealed to this being or Zero. It was not time, and as he sat there, helpless, he knew that if he could not rip this monster from him, his name could cause everything that X and the sages had been fighting for to crash down in flames.

His Triforce mark began to glow.

Near his face, on the hand of the telepathic creature, a second Triforce symbol resonated.


	63. Suspects

**Chapter 63 – Suspects**

The afternoon was perfect. Birds were chirping on the protected trees amidst the tall, silver buildings, the breeze was faint and nice for the reddish dress, and the sun was simply exquisite on Rouge's short white fur. Shadow seemed to be comfortable enough, she observed, enjoying the act that he put on to be slightly more sociable, and she hoped that his black and red spines and hair didn't absorb too much light. The sunlight did bring out that cute little tuft of white fur that spanned the top of his chest. It was delicious looking.

"Are you enjoying the food?" Shadow asked, and Rouge jumped in her seat.

"What?" she quickly responded and looked at his face, hoping she had not been staring too intently at his body.

"The caviar, how is it?" he repeated with a touch of amusement. It might have been real, but she changed her mind and figured that it was probably not.

"Oh, yes, it's very good," she said, wiping her lips with her napkin. "And your shrimp with garlic sauce?"

"Not bad," he responded simply.

"That's all?" she firmly placed down her fork in defense of the restaurant. "For the amount it cost I think you should be enjoying a small orgasm in your mouth."

"It may be good, but it's still just food."

"No, it is _not_ just food," Rouge insisted. "This is food at _Le Coeur de Délicatesse_, and you are destroying the mood."

He shrugged. "Sorry. Food doesn't get me off. Nor do fancy places."

"Come on," she pouted, becoming frustrated with him. "On the whopping three occasions in which human ambassadors have come here since Echidnopolis came back from the Void, every time they ate at Le Coeur."

"Which – contrary to the reason you mentioned – is the real reason this food is so expensive."

She smiled. Shadow raised an eye, curious.

"Of course, being the gentleman that you are you'll pay for it, won't you?"

The sound that escaped him was somewhere between a grunt and a laugh, though it had little of the emotion of the latter action, leaving Rouge wondering what he was thinking once again. Wondering if he actually found the comment amusing, if he was angry, or if he simply didn't care like the ass he could so often be.

"You're the one with the G.U.N. Special Ops salary."

She frowned, swallowing the thick taste of frustration on her tongue. She had hoped that he might act like a gentleman, and his retort was only somewhat playful.

Rouge loosened her shoulders and forced slow, silent breaths with unnecessary depth to alleviate the muscle knots that were forming almost instantly all over her body. Maybe perfect behavior was too much to ask of someone like him.

"If I remember right, you used to be on the same salary," she reminded him.

"I get paid more doing less on the ARK, making sure it stays in working order and supervising the shipment transfers," he replied simply, much to Rouge's distaste, and he continue to eat his meal without paying much attention to their conversation.

She was beginning to get frustrated with him again, and the fact that he didn't notice or didn't care only exacerbated the tightening in her jaw. A small pop came from it, and Shadow's body froze. He slowly set down his utensils, wiped his lips with his napkin and pushed his plate well out of the way.

"What?" he said coolly, but it was also a demand to Rouge's ears. He was growing annoyed as well, but his body was absent of the tension and rage that usually followed shortly after. On the contrary, as he leaned towards her with his elbows on the table and his hands firmly interlocked, he appeared almost diplomatic, desiring unusually for a peaceful resolution rather than a callous discard of the situation altogether.

Somehow the effort had the opposite effect from the intended one; if Rouge's blood matched her temper it would be sizzling out her ears in smoky red plumes.

"You don't make any damn sense," Rouge added a bite to her voice as she lowered it, though she also sat back in her chair away from him.

He shrugged mechanically as if the slate of his emotions was as blank as the echoes of footprints swept away on a sandy beach. Natural and consistent like the ocean's tides, what little emotion or caring the black hedgehog showed was always swept away in a flicker of time.

Fighting the anger was becoming a challenge. Rouge reminded herself that it was just his way, but sometimes it hurt so much.

"Sorry," he eventually said.

"Sure you are," the white bat replied bitterly, and it sounded more like 'drop dead.'

People occasionally stared at the two. Rouge was secretive in both her government profession and her occasional exalts with Shadow and the others, but she was still receiving attention and murmurs for simply being together with the black hedgehog who was something of a celebrity. It was perfect, really, because all the notoriety would spread like a silent flame to whoever feared their presence.

Shadow focused on that knowledge, suspecting that it would be soon, perhaps before they even left their seats. Wondering who it might be was pointless; speculation was unnecessary when the answer would likely present itself soon, but that didn't extinguish his curiosity.

Rouge held the same knowledge he did, that they were waiting for the approach of their suspects, but she scowled internally cold demeanor toward her despite how welcoming he had been on the ARK at first, brief attack excluded. It felt like as soon as he had a job to do, everything became mechanical and their friendship meant nothing, strengthening her urge to shout at him again. Why the hell couldn't he do both? Her insides twisted as his scouting eyes ignored hers once again. He wasn't even playing the part by ignoring her. Rouge adjusted her dress as she thought of her scars, and how Shadow had so intimately questioned her about them. Damn him.

Her lungs suddenly clenched as she planned her next action carefully. A thumping sound began to fill her ears, the noise of her accelerating blood.

Rouge threw down her fork loudly, and the guests of the peaceful outdoor restaurant were summoned to the violent tang, more than twenty of them, all wealthy and influential members of Echidna and Mobian society.

"One moment you seem to care about me," she yelled, "and then one damn _second_ later I'm nothing more than extra baggage in the way of your heartless desires."

For a rare second, one that was unsettling to him, Shadow the Hedgehog had nothing to say in return. The furious face in front of him harbored malice that his typical neglect of others couldn't have caused by itself (yes, he was quite aware of it), certainly not in someone who was collected the way Rouge normally was. This time no tears welled up in her eyes. Her anger was pure, and instead of the fear, shame or embarrassment that she apparently wanted him to feel, his powers of observation increased in an effort to pierce through the rigid shell that she was putting up.

"Fine, just sit there, be an ass. I'm going to find someone who will listen to me."

For the coup de grace of their short lived afternoon, Rouge slammed her seat solidly into the table, shaking their place settings and leaving a dent in the hand-carved spine of the chair.

Silence was widespread amidst noiselessly mouthed words of nervous gossip, disrupted gallingly to Shadow by the embellished stomping of her heels.

"Hmph," the black Hedgehog snorted indifferently. He wondered if perhaps her act was exactly that, an _act_ for the sake of their internal espionage, but somehow he doubted it.

Underneath the backside of his left glove in a small, almost unnoticeable pouch there was a considerable some of money in large bills. He took out two of them which had identical faces of a century-dead, female echidna monarch (he couldn't seem to remember the name, only that her face had been 'surgically' altered to look younger by the artistic designers) that constituted roughly the average person's weekly salary. It was more than enough to pay for the meal and the service, but he figured it would be wise to leave extra money to fix the chair and not to cause additional offense to the rich persons. They could be useful.

There was clearly no point in staying, and he figured that his most pressing need was to find Rouge if no one approached him from the council or otherwise. They had walked a considerable way through the city before their meal; more than enough residents had witnessed their presence to reach the ears of the authorities by now.

He knew that hesitance and careful planning might keep those involved from surfacing, and as Shadow wordlessly passed the well-dressed female echidna receptionist he reminded himself that the encounter might not occur at all if the less suspected outcome was true, that it was someone not involved with the council at all.

The streets were busy in both directions. Several echidna had even taken to the sky, those just finishing whatever jobs they had literally gliding out of their windows or from the roofs if they were light and aerodynamic enough to do so.

An echidna on foot – among those _not_ quite light enough to glide – approached with two uninteresting guards, one on either side. The kind that he could crush effortlessly, as he could with all those wearing the simple black utility pants and matching short sleeve side snap button tops.

The short, chubby echidna was one Shadow recognized by face and name. However, the entire visual consumption of this echidna's features screamed just about anything except 'conspirator.' Old and balding, a considerable limp on one side requiring the use of a large oak cane with a rounded crystal at the top, and a wheezing cough that acted up quite often… quite frankly, Shadow was feeling confident that this man was a waste of time. The tan robe that covered the echidna's girth had a long green stripe from neck to bottom with a triangular tessellation, but other than that it was fairly ordinary. His sight was also quite bad, and he adjusted his hexagonally rimmed oak glasses.

"Shadow the Hedgehog, I presume?" he stuck out a thick, meaty hand, as if Shadow would have any interest in shaking it. The black hedgehog crossed his arms and glared.

"Yes, and you are High Councilman Balk, one of the Conservative Party leaders."

"Oh ho, it seems I have a reputation outside of these parts," he chuckled heartily. The neutrality of his tone, neither accusing nor friendly, captured the black hedgehog's inquisitiveness despite how thick his voice was with illness swollen cheeks.

Shadow was also becoming slightly worried about Rouge. As much as he would likely find the explanation for her actions pointless, he was curious as to what caused it, and now this man was delaying that desire.

"What do you want?" he demanded of Balk.

"Straight to the point," the fat echidna stated, then began coughing.

Shadow scowled in disgust at the pitiful health of the overweight man, and the two guards accompanying him became uneasy and nervous at the simple expression. The fact that his reputation in a single glance far outweighed Balk's raised a small degree of amusement in his eyes.

"It is not what merely I want, but what the council wants," Balk continued, still stating everything very matter-of-factly, emotionally blank underneath practiced gestures that conferred camaraderie and civility to those less observant. For the wise ones, Balk's powers of speech were null and void.

"You see, the council wants what is in the best interest of the Island and its people. We do typically welcome a great deal of Mobians and many other types of outlanders, but you, I'm afraid, are considered to be far too dangerous for us to allow you here. We would kindly ask that you leave."

"I'm just on vacation," Shadow stated, going with the façade. "I hold down a job just like an ordinary person."

Balk chuckled plainly amidst another mild fit of coughing. "You may hold down a job, but even if _you_ were an ordinary person, we would not want you here purely for the reason that you are a member of the Terran military and intelligence forces. The same goes for your lady friend, wherever she ran off to."

"Why did you bring them?" Shadow grinned.

Balk stared for a moment.

"Those guards," Shadow flicked the high black collar on one of them, triggering an instinctual retreat as the soldier stepped back and gripped the baton at his hip.

Nothing could have amused the black hedgehog more. A single chortle rose through his throat and into Balk's face.

"This is how I would kill you if I wanted," he continued, and the violence of his statement sucked out what feeble breath the anxious officers could muster.

"First I would rush the guard to your left since his reflexes are a bit faster, snap his neck before any of you can move and then use my forward momentum to pivot around his snapped spine to throw him like a projectile. Once he's airborne your attention will be distracted reflexively for a moment, long enough for me to break your left leg backwards with a single strike from my right palm. From there I can generate enough rotational force to turn and drive a kick into your gut and potentially destroy your internal organs. Once you fall I'll propel myself over you and the first dead crony at a velocity strong enough to crush your other guard's windpipe and throat against the pavement. He'll die of suffocation shortly after, and just to make sure you die I'll crush your skull where you lie into a bloody, unrecognizable mess of flesh, bone and brain."

A rush of adrenaline interrupted his thoughts and coursed through the black hedgehog's arms as he caught the scent and taste of pure power on the wind. An aura of a similar brand compared to the Sage of Light's filled his lungs, and he savored the rush in his blood, sweet like the purest of candy, more savory than the expensive meal he just finished.

The next moment happened so fast. A flash of steel snapped to black as a cold object cracked against his face.

Three surprises. Shadow was on the ground. Shadow was in pain. Worst of all, in an instant that he didn't understand, Shadow was _bleeding_.

Attempting to focus on thought at all was difficult. Many words all synonyms of each other rattled off in his head. Impossible. Inconceivable. Beyond belief.

A second strike rang through his ears, he shouted in agony, and an unbelievable pain hammered like exploding pistons through his skull without relent. The more he tried to stand and see straight with the blood-free eye the more his pain grew, but he forced through it, pulsing his teeth together in rhythm with the agony. Was what he saw through a haze of senses a reality? Was it the fat old man holding the weapon that made him bleed? Small caliber bullets could not even do that. Who – no, _what_ was he? Unless Balk was some sort of mutation Shadow knew there was no way that he could have been harmed by the echidna, nor was Balk one of the Technologists with mechanical enhancements that damage him.

The black hedgehog stumbled to his feet, witnessing a pale green light surrounding the unclear outline of the old echidna.

Another current of chaos power wafted over him and mixed with the dark, oily taste of his thick maroon blood. It helped douse the fire in his head, but immediately after it began cleansing the dullness in his sight a third blow cracked the side of his face. He blacked out almost instantly.

"Let that be a lesson to you," Balk's voice haunted Shadow as he fell unconscious.

* * *

Knuckles was in the bathroom tending to his cybernetic eye when a subtle ring came from his sheriff's hat, and he grunted angrily at the interruption. He hated dealing with the implant enough as is, and having to put the process on hold only made him angrier about it. The ringing eventually stopped, dragging an irritated sigh from the depths of his abdomen, and he continued to delicately unscrew the plate covering the ocular receptor sphere from the center of the device. He set the piece on the wide, white porcelain sink next to the gold colored knobs.

To make it easier, his eye was designed so that the front half containing most of the device's complex components could disconnect from the back half, eliminating the need to remove the entire thing except for bi-weekly cleanings.

A quick inspection of the socket of internal flesh where he took it from revealed nothing abnormal. No rash or swelling. Nothing dislodged, twisted or out of place and nothing obviously wrong with the back half of the device. He knew it would always be bizarre to know precisely when something in the slimy hollow was off at the sight of it. No one else had to deal with that, seeing the veins of an internal organ as clear as day in the mirror.

That wasn't really true. Others had mechanical eyes just like him. But it was still weird.

The problem now was the milky white marble in the center that processed and filtered sight in a way that was close to the way an actual eye worked, and it also had the added effect of being able to make sights too bright or dark more tolerable than an organic eye ever could. Once a year the white orb – the secondary but more important of the receptors – needed to be replaced, and it was about a month overdue.

Money was not a serious issue, but Knuckles still grumbled about how damn expensive the things were. The primary receptor at the front of the eye was less than half the price but had a five year shelf life, of course.

His true eye leered as the ringing started again just as he finished clipping the new part in place, but he still needed to attach the protective covering.

"Frigging phone," he snarled, placing the hat on his head. He tapped the leftmost gold star on the hat and a thin microphone jumped out from the side, extending swiftly towards his mouth.

"What?" he demanded.

"It's Shadow," the familiar voice of his wife said grimly.

Julie-su had gone into town by herself to meet with some friends with the additional intent to keep watch on Shadow and Rouge.

"Damn it!" Knuckles shouted. "What the hell did he do already?"

"It's not what you think," she reassured him.

Knuckles heard panic in her voice. Fear. Her reaction would have been similarly furious to his if Shadow started wreaking havoc, so something was seriously wrong. Could their plot have been discovered so soon?

"What is it then?" Knuckles requested more softly. "Did something happen to Shadow?"

She was breathing heavy. "Yes, I think so, but I can't believe what the rumor is on the street," she said uneasily.

Disbelief was saturating her voice along with the genuine fright, making Knuckles apprehensive to put it lightly. A number of possible scenarios flashed through his head, many of them violent or destructive, but he reminded himself that any serious legal matter would have earned him a call before Julie-su would get a chance to reach him. Pacifying as the thought was, it meant that something could have hurt or captured Shadow, and anyone or any_thing_ capable of that was cause for much more fear than a temporary fit of rage from the black hedgehog.

"Tell me," Knuckles braced himself, making sure that his mechanical eye was not in his grip, avoiding the risk of having to replace all of it.

From the other end of the link Julie stammered turbulently. Replaying what she had heard by word of mouth was too unlikely to accept as true. She heaved a terrible sigh and spoke through the words of others, powerless to utter it through her own mouth. Explaining the argument that Shadow and Rouge had was the easy part, believable in every way, but when Balk's name was mentioned Knuckles was confused again.

"Witnesses said that… oh, I can't even believe it."

Knuckles snarled. "Just tell me!"

"Balk, it was Balk. They said he hit Shadow in the head and knocked him unconscious."

"Damn, what kind of weapon did he bring along that could do that?"

Another pause. The silence was dead.

"Julie?"

"Just a rod," she said, confounding herself as she tried to envision it. "A simple rod," she repeated. "A couple of witnesses said they saw the whole thing, but that they didn't actually see Balk hit him. Shadow just fell to the ground, really fast."

"And what the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?" the Guardian muttered to himself angrily.

He isolated Shadow and Balk in his mind and replayed what little he knew. Balk confronting him like the fat, stupid politician that he was. Then, in a swift, unnatural motion, Shadow falls to the ground – the hardest part to imagine – in incredible pain. An electrical charge of some sort, something concealed might have been able to do that, but the level of power would have had to be unreal. That alone would suggest conspiracy, possession of an incredibly small and powerful device designed to take out Shadow and others with immense strength. The kind of voltage and amps needed to incapacitate the black hedgehog would deep fry the internal organs of a normal person.

"Knuckles, talk to me."

"We need to investigate Balk," he said quickly, and he tapped the star on his hat, hanging up as the microphone slid beneath his simple looking hat.

Knuckles leaned heavy against the white porcelain sink. Begrudgingly, he refitted the machine eye back where it belonged. He didn't wait for it to initialize. His face turned to stone, aware that any other emotion he expressed would be explosive. Their little game was already going south, and fast. With Shadow defeated so quickly by a fat old echidna Knuckles was more than confident that the Sage of Light was right, though trusting him as an ally was out of the question. There were too many factors swirling around his head as the Guardian rushed from his home, accelerating fast into a sprint that he restrained just enough to make his intent appear important, not dangerous.

His skull became hot and painful as his other eye activated and filtered the images from blurry, bulky shapes into precise movements. Seconds later it cooled and tingled inside his head, and he quickly readjusted.

The Guardian's mind raced just as his thick, lace-less red shoes did along the walking path from his home to the silver city. Shadow wasn't even interrogated. Just apprehended and brutalized. Could he be dead? No, that simply wasn't possible, and he shook his head angrily at the possibility. That would be too cruel without provocation, and the witnesses didn't indicate anything of the sort.

But in hours, perhaps less, Knuckles figured that a story contradicting whatever happened in Balk's favor and Shadow's detriment would be formally made. Those who argued would be encouraged to remain silent. If they didn't…

"Damn it!" he spat openly as the city and the small playground before it grew larger. He, Rouge and Julie-su were all in danger simply for associating with Shadow if they captured him without knowing anything about the treason.

_Damn it all_, he thought. The image of the brown, tattered cloak belonging to the mysterious Terran flashed across his organic eye since he didn't seem to be able to imagine things in his mechanical eye. Where was the sage? They needed help, and as much as he hated accepting help from outsiders, he would not be as selfishly xenophobic as the rest of his people. His responsibility was not for them. It was for the Island and the power source that kept it afloat.

As he reduced his pace to a slow hurry to avoid startling the couple of children still playing on the swings an hour or so before dark, he plotted how he could reached the world below without being detected and without leaving. If only he could contact Princess Sally, Knuckles knew they could do something.

He suddenly had a horrible feeling ripple through his stomach. To hell with not startling the children. Knuckles began sprinting again, desperate to know that his loved ones were still safe from whatever power Balk had gained. He needed to see their faces, know that they didn't fall prey to some fate worse than Shadow's.

The tall buildings of Echidnopolis darkened the streets against the falling sunlight's will. Avoiding all eyes, Knuckles felt like an intruder in his own city searching for his co-conspirators. So be it. Above all others, it was his island, and he would protect it at any cost.


	64. Mind War, Part II

**Chapter 64 – Mind War, Part II**

It was becoming harder to focus on the reality, as dark and nondescript as it was, having nothing to look at but the pale purple glow of the creature's eyes, narrowed and angry. The resilience of the Triforce's rays was finally fading, but the desire to know why it had appeared on this creature could not go away.

His mind raced, trying to form thoughts that were constantly being stifled by invasion at every turn. The Sage of Light could barely manage to keep his mind clear while looking into the real world, but his trapped subconscious landscape was far more dangerous to reside in, not that he had much choice.

There were only two other sages left besides himself, he knew. The one standing before him could have been either Wind or Spirit, but there was another possibility, one that was grim and unrevealing, straining the already difficult task of coherent thinking. Though the sages held the mark, X and Zero also did, and they were technically not sages.

It turned out to be of no immediate help, and a burning, violent force seemed to be jerking at his head the longer he avoided his subconscious plane. The Sage of Light needed a solution before the task of maintaining what little shield he could conceive failed and revealed his most important secret, his own name that he had not thought of for generations.

He was skilled at avoiding the thought of his own name, and armed with years of practice and teaching by Rauru, he had not spoken or even thought it aloud for decades, longer still than the memories that this creature of the Triforce was attempting to tear open. The telepathic being would not be given it without a fierce war of their minds.

One thing brought small relief and an influx of hope. When his eyes and focus could no longer hold on to the dark physical realm, the memories that swirled spherically around him had slowed down. The creature was either struggling with older memories (tiring, he hoped) or scrutinizing the fresh ones more carefully than before, seeking something missed in the first sweep, like editing a novel a second time to filter out those imperfections and study every detail for the closest thing to perfection. Either way it boiled down to more time to find a way to beat the enemy bearer of the mark.

Another memory began taking shape, consuming the others into another convincing reality, but this time the reploid sage had the knowledge to hold off the forces that would trick him into thinking that he was in the present.

"You're not going to find what you're looking for," he said through the blur of his memories taking shape. "I'm protected from the changes in the timeline more securely than any of the other sages. Any place you search in my mind or in the real world, past, present or future, my existence and my very name is cloaked to prevent what you are trying to do."

He waited.

No reaction.

Other than the initial surprise that the creature showed when he refused to fight physically, he felt no emotion coming from it, and the sage was instead left with the feeble sight of purple, glowing slit eyes. He had failed to make any sound – the purpose being to gauge the size of the room by echoes or the lack thereof – despite using the element of surprise by feigning mental anguish. But the creature could probably sense the tactic very easily. It felt like a foolish gesture in hindsight.

The memory was becoming more real, and he recognized it. One from only two years ago. Why this memory?

From his perspective he was in a simple, dark alleyway on a rainy night. It was late, and the drops of water were thick, plunking against the plastic dumpster top which made it look even cleaner than it already was.

A clean dumpster. Even now, two years later, that still seemed odd compared to nearly all the other worlds he had traveled to over so many decades. Most planets had generally foul dumpsters or depositories for refuse, but Reploid City and the expanse around it full of Maverick Hunters and other peaceable reploid and human inhabitants had insisted on impeccable cleanliness. In other worlds, Gaia, Earth, Hyrule, Mobius, and many more, the place where trash was kept was sometimes no more sanitary than the garbage itself.

It was funny how good intentions and those habits 'next to godliness' had a funny way of coming back to haunt. No one had ever expected that cleanliness, superb sanitation and the visual pride that came with it could have drawbacks, but any time that the balance of power is shifted too far in one direction, trouble always follows.

How could cleanliness cause problems? The Sage of Light couldn't help but grin at the irony. Because everything was so clean three different species of scavenging rodents had little choice but to retreat to the sewers to find more food, but the biochemical compounds that were recently applied to the sewers to degrade garbage into a clean burning, useable fuel source were toxic to the rats when they ate it. The smell of decay in the air was too subtle for anyone on the surface to notice, but a particular breed of serpent, the red wisdom snake (given the name as a result of it having a thick, fleshy tendril on either side of its face that resembled an ancient style of dignifying mustache) caught the scent on its tongue and migrated into the city, breeding and spreading in the sewers. In time the snakes devoured the rodents that had few places to run or hide, but the slithering reptiles ingested non-lethal amounts of the chemicals through the rats poisoned with it, and an unforeseen mutation occurred.

Two things happened to the snakes. First, their brain chemistry was slightly altered in such a way that they became predatory beyond their normal bounds. They began attacking larger game or sometimes with no purpose at all to their attacks. That wasn't so serious; the snakebites were almost never deadly, and the anti-venom was carried in every hospital and even some emergency vehicles. But soon incidents began popping up across the city of humans and reploids both being killed by incredibly powerful venom, chemically enhanced by the same compounds intended to create clean burning fuel.

Where was the unfair shift in power? Medical technology and the generally high resistance of the reploid race in general made the extreme levels of sanitation completely unnecessary except for the purpose of vanity. That extra step which saved hospitals a few dozen cases per year of easily treated infection and disease resulted in over a thousand incidents of long-term hospitalization in the first month, half of whom died before a new anti-venom could be developed.

Since then the incidents had decreased greatly in number. The snakes were hunted down until their numbers were more manageable, but their offspring, though slightly more docile than the outraged predecessors, maintained the advanced venom long after the panic and aggressiveness calmed down. Even two years away from the sage's memory to the present, the red wisdom snake still caused problems every so often.

Alia Kiera, head of communications for all Maverick Hunter operations, was unlucky enough to fall victim to one of these serpents on the cold, lonely night.

Alia was walking home as many reploids did once they were off duty, but she had stayed to integrate new software which kept her considerably late. The rainclouds hid the starlight, decreasing the usefulness of the street lamps and corner lights, and the Hunter's home was in a less populated area of the city. It was more expensive, but worth the distance after having to use her vocal systems all day with little rest. Her efficiency was unreal at her Maverick Hunter job and it earned her the extra luxury.

It was not the Sage of Light's concern to play doctor, and as he relived the moment hiding in shadows, he witnessed once again the two foot red snake hiding behind a street light. Alia's pink plated boots narrowly missed crushing the tail of the creature without her knowing it was there, and in a swift half second the reptile's teeth sank into the soft of the back of her knee, just above the protective plating.

She fell to one side in front of the alleyway, clutching her leg with a shout of pain as burning spasms shook mechanical joints from thigh to foot. In was instinctual, the urge to rip the snake with teeth still sunk in away, and she couldn't resist it, mutilating some of her flesh as the hooked fangs messily came out.

There was no one nearby to help and the rain muffled her voice, so anger helped instead. Embracing rage for a brief moment allowed her to crush the snake's neck and then launch it against the corner of the building near where the sage stood.

The splatter was impressive. If it hadn't been for the recognizable scales of the hunted reptile it would have been difficult to identify. The bones had shattered apart in several places by the sheer force of the throw, and flesh and blood waited in some instances several seconds before gravity returned it to earth. Someone was going to have a delightful job cleaning that off the next day once it had crusted.

Alia still moaned in pain, gritting her teeth to maintain composure, and the sage watched her from the shadows with interest.

_Quite strong_, he thought. _No wonder X likes her_.

There was no imminent worry for the sage despite her violent reaction; Alia only acted aggressively out of anger and pain, and as the sage watched with a curious brow beneath his visor, Alia struggled to get to her feet. Blood trickled from the crook of her leg for almost a minute, staining her white gloved hands until it came to a stop. Her nanites had quickly sealed the wound, but the spread of poison would take much longer to fix, at least a day, and in the meantime, she was quite vulnerable.

The sage watched, completely still, unnoticeable to anybody in the darkness where he hid. Curiosity once again caught him. What would she do exactly?

"Damn it," she cursed. The communicator strapped to her side as always was crunched when she fell. Two of its octagonal pink fragments had broken off, exposing multicolored circuits.

Despite the terrible pain she was in, the sage had no intentions of intervening. A few hours of minor agony and treatment and she would be fine. A careful examination of her specs through the scanning functions of his visor revealed that she was one of the 'Cain' series reploids, one of the older and much stronger ones. That alone was fairly impressive, seeing as how there were so few of them left with the war torn life that reploids seemed to lead. She, like X, also had the capability to evolve and grow, and a simple snakebite was no match for that trait or her determination.

His head twisted at a sound. The streets were apparently not so empty. Vibrations of metal footsteps were accelerating fast. Too fast to be those of a passerby, two reploids closed in with intent.

The sage's joints tensed. Was she a good enough fighter to deal with two reploids thugs in her crippled condition?

"Scream and you die," a voice – hardly a voice but a metal growl of worlds – demanded.

Alia's head jerked in their direction, and she nearly forgot about the pain in her leg until it kept her from standing. She was reduced to a crawl, biting her lip as she struggled to get her back to the wall, limiting their angles of attack if it came down to that.

A second voice spoke eloquently. "We'd prefer that you not make this difficult. The mess we would be forced to make of you should you fight back could cause you to die, and we'd rather have the ransom money and supplies that someone of your stature would fetch."

They stepped out from the opposite alleyway. The articulate one was slim, wearing white armor that extended and draped long triangular pennants from his shoulders, arms, legs, and waist. Alia observed them with a simple glance, knowing that they were laced with absorbent microfiber capsules and, depending on the make and model, capable of diffusing or deflecting as much as ninety percent of energy projectiles.

The other was humanoid in shape only because of his arms and legs. Thick plates in a deep brick orange tint covered the Maverick from head to toe, layered like an armadillo but in no way resembling one otherwise. There was a head but no face, making fear penetrate deeper into Alia's chest, and she saw that jagged metal edges arranged in no particular pattern were the tips of its dense armor, making it look as though a collision with the Maverick would impale her.

She tried to think, tried to come up with some strategy as they stepped closer and apart, sealing off what little escape route she had.

The Sage of Light watched silent and still, curious to see her reaction. He could sense her thoughts. There was little cohesion in them, but instinctual urges laced with combat experience appeared to be guiding her in the same direction that the sage would have taken should he have been in the same situation.

Aim for the frailer one. Wait until he's distracted or off guard. Shoot the head. Shoot to kill.

There wasn't a plan yet for the larger one, the 'tank' of the two. But in that situation, what could any average Hunter do? The weaponry of a communications technician would probably do nothing more than tickle the faceless Maverick and all his armor, and she had no chance of running.

"You seem calm," the white Maverick teased, casually positioning himself so that there was the same amount of space between him and the wall as there was between the two Mavericks. "That's good. The progression from silence and stubbornness to screams of endless agony for death while we extract information from you is a delight compared to those pitifully weak ones."

Alia listened carefully, knowing from their word choices that they had obviously done this enough times to witness an array of horrified reactions and behaviors. She begged the powers that be for a distraction, another traveler, a sound; anything that could pull the white Maverick's face away from her for a fraction of a second.

Pain coursed through her leg again – there was no escape.

The Sage of Light frowned from his hiding spot. It was not his business to interfere with this Hunter's problems, but the Mavericks changed that. Still, he considered, there was no point in involving himself if she could deal with the situation, and only time would tell if she could beat the overwhelming odds and do so. He would wait, but only after generously granting the distraction he needed.

A loud smash of metal against metal distracted them both, but Alia was so intent on waiting for him to move that her ears heard nothing of it.

Her chest pounded, teeth grinding together madly as she aimed her arm, seeing the opening appear on the cocky Maverick. She spun her arm around, barely waiting for her hand to finish the transformation before she released a blast of anger and fear, exploding into his face at point blank in a shower of sparks and fleshy cinders.

Three shots was all it took, so close in succession that the trio of white-light bursts appeared like one, and when the paralysis of the moment faded the slighter of the two Mavericks collapsed, a mess of circuits and metal framework were all that remained of his head.

"Incredible," the sage whispered. "She wields an X-type Buster successfully, but only three reploids have ever been designed that could use it. What grants her the strength?"

In his awe the crimson sage fought to catch up to what was happening. Alia's X-Buster failed to fire again, shorted out in a spatter of feeble electrical surges from the sheer power and inability to properly cool down after three successive shots.

The sage's leg twitched; he felt compelled to help.

Distorted metal roars boomed from the armored Maverick, and he lunged at Alia, piercing her lips and cheeks with jagged spikes.

Teeth gritted, the sage could not ignore his compulsion any longer. Something about her was too important to leave to death. He lunged. The slice up the front side of the Maverick was perfectly vertical from waist to crown, not without effort to pierce the thick hide as the leaping slash carried him over the enemy's head.

The somersault was brief, and a quick switch to heat vision allowed the sage to easily distinguish between the darkness and the infected reploid as it stumbled. He calculated the angle, elongated his body to slow his spin and extended the blade once more, slicing along the length of its spine into a shower of sparks on the pavement.

He watched Alia look up, trying to see past the stumbling, sparking Maverick. It convulsed, shaking in short jolts, trying to hold itself up with a wider stance as it labored to comprehend the level of damage it had suffered, and as Alia cradled her malfunctioning arm and dragged herself into the alley in pain, the sage imagined that the strange cloaked figured she saw through her eyes was an odd savior. Surely he looked just as menacing as the plated Maverick.

The Sage of Light stood upright rigidly and retracted his blade, confident that the Hunter was in no longer in any danger despite whatever impressions she had of him. Her next gesture was quite unnecessary, but she didn't know that. Once the sage sensed her X-Buster charging up while still malfunctioning, he waited to see what would happen, if her risk of potentially destroying her entire arm would pay off.

The high resonance of that familiar reploid hum pulsed from her as the pinks and blacks of her armor began to resonate a blue aura, and the Sage of Light became truly intrigued. She dared to release a charge shot, one of much greater size and power that only a handful of reploids could tolerate, and once again, exactly three were capable of it with the X-Buster.

And it stayed at three. The energy rushed to the weapon at the end of her arm, and the massive charge mostly backfired. The burst was messy, discharging a slower, inaccurate splash of energy at the Maverick as Alia's arm burst into spark and greenish flames, her mouth splitting into wide shouts of agony. Still, it was enough.

The shot found its way into the crevasse that the sage had carved into the Maverick, and it was the last effort needed to completely sever the creature's two halves. It stumbled for a moment more, and then a jettison of blood, reploids organs and explosive charges began to light up the street making the lamps pitiable in comparison. There were two distinct halves, clean and even, but they lasted only seconds more as the minor explosions and electrical bursts splintered dangerous fragments of metal.

The sage's shield protected him, and Alia was low enough to avoid the debris, though she still held her face underneath her arms, now in more pain than before with the added damage to her arm. Poor thing.

He didn't allow the commotion to stop before he acted, shoving by the two corpses as the last bangs sounded. Alia looked up, impressively withholding her tears of suffering, and the sage felt guilty for what he was about to do. She opened her mouth to speak, but choking coughs of blood escaped first when the sage struck her in the abdomen with his foot. As expected, she attempted to roll over and crawl away, and the sage bashed the back of her head with his shield, but not without a sense of regret that surprised him.

Once Alia was completely still the Sage of Light heaved an unpleasant say and hefted her easily over one shoulder. A few seconds gave him the time to teleport away with her in a streak of bright rays, shortly before the emergency response team arrived. The Hunters and Lifesaver medical units couldn't distinguish the leftover sparkles of his transport from the burning Maverick corpses.

* * *

"This game is beginning to tire me," the Sage of Light called out to his captor as he returned to the sphere of his memories. As soon as his line of sight fluctuated and blurred when taking Alia away, he realized that he was being manipulated again. The creature controlling his mind hadn't been able to recreate the sensation based on memories because of the way teleportation disrupts the reploid senses, and the sage grinned internally at the small victory.

Truth be told, however, the memory was so convincing up until that moment that he had been completely entranced, and the leaps and bounds of mystery remaining in the telepath were infuriating. The Triforce mark that the two of them shared spelled disaster of some sort, and he didn't know if he was still on Mobius.

But the question that bothered him most was why the creature kept choosing emotional memories. The one with Alia was only two years old, and he had so much practice hiding his name at that point that the creature could not possibly expect him to reveal it then. Zero and his servant, this mind stealer, were not learning anything that they didn't already know. Being aware of X was no revelation, nor was the sage's strength and ability as a reploid.

Perhaps this was not merely about him at all, he considered. Zero had many goals beyond satiating the need to know the Sage of Light's true identity, though the sage had hoped that revealing himself as Zero's brother would draw focus away from X and the others. Of course, the intent at the time was to buy escape before the crimson reploid and the Ultima Weapon killed him.

Damn it all, that was a terrible memory. His cheek still hurt when he remembered it, like a toxic remnant of the battle, a scar despite the uncanny perfection of reploid healing. A tiny inkling of solace came out of thoughts of Zelda and how well she handled the sky blue emerald at the expense of her own health.

For a moment, a fearful weight hung in his throat. Even a longing, a mishmash of desire and need to be near her, to protect the frail flesh that she so willingly gave to him.

The sage growled, and the blockage in his airways melted into fresh breath. Now was not the time to think of those things.

He needed to focus. Search for a window, a weakness, some vulnerability that could give him an edge to crush the creature into paste if need be, and Zelda wasn't there to help, nor would she be. Light years away, he was on his own.

For a while, the battle was quiet as his enemy searched for some other memory that made no sense to bring up. The sage saw with his own eyes again, long enough to see that nothing had changed, short enough to avoid the assault that burned his insides when he resisted.

Beneath that grim determination a tiny grain of his willpower, one so small that neither he nor the telepathic predator upon him could detect it, was driven by wishes of seeing her again, the dark blonde gentle curls, the crimson eyes weathered by isolation and pain, and the smile that could break through it all despite years of emotional torture. That piece of him hoped and prayed that she might somehow find a way to help, if only with the mere thoughts of how special the princess of Hyrule was to him.


	65. Splitting the Lead

**Chapter 65 – Splitting the Lead**

"What foolish responsibility have I brought on myself?" Zelda moaned.

With mere hours until X, Raven, Saria and Nanaki left for the vastness of space and with luck the next of the sages, the princess struggled with the position of leadership she had been placed in. This was not like her kingdom, and in a foreign world it felt illogical to declare herself in any position of power. All of the buildings and crowds of people were overwhelming compared to what was, in contrast to Earth, tiny and insignificant in her once proud realm of Hyrule.

Much worse, she had to lead the remaining sages, Tidus and Terra, of whom she did not belong to anymore. Mediating the dispute between them and Beast Boy seemed like the only reasonably attainable goal, and even that felt like a disaster waiting to happen. Zelda tugged at her hair as she desperately tried to plan how she would assume authority under such dismal conditions.

Storm clouds were something Zelda had grown accustomed to in the Dark World, but since having been freed from them while traveling across the galaxy with X, that complacency had turned into repugnance. As the last of the sunlight began to fade beneath thickening grays, she decided to escape from the small beach on Titan's Island and retreat into their home.

One thing that was convenient and always comforting in the Titan home (and the Dreamweaver as well) was the ability to maintain a pleasing temperature at all times. No matter how much the outside world was ravaged by the malice of nature's storms, the stinging rain or the paralysis of winter, the people of these superior worlds could maintain heat in their homes. And when the heat was unbearable the very same abodes could cool to a state of relief.

It has something to do with 'electricity' and whatever that unfamiliar form of energy entailed. Nothing as simple and inferior as the wood and brush fires of her people.

Yet again Zelda felt unintelligent and ignorant, certainly in no place to lead. She prayed in the name of the goddesses for some sort of assistance, anything that might grant the wisdom to succeed in this task given to her.

As she entered the Titan common room, a little boy named Gizmo (though he acted as though he were a young adult, making his real age hard to guess) was sitting on one side of the red couch with Robin on the opposite side. They leaned away from each other as if one presence was offensive to the other, but they both stared with intensity at the large, flat screen ahead of them that magically showed things happening in the city at great distances.

More news reports of the strange events were happening in the city. Though magical powers were not common in her former home of Hyrule, they were regarded in this world as extremely bizarre. She had learned through whatever means of study she could managed that the spectrum of physical ability of the people on this world was quite narrow and in many cases inferior. It was a small but welcome comfort in the presence of such dwarfing technology and architecture.

Zelda stood behind them watching the bright screen and a story about a marathon runner who apparently reached speeds of about twice that of the fastest normal runner in the world, normal meaning that they didn't have the special and rare powers that the Titans had. The image of the blonde woman telling the story – Zelda noticed that she had coloring applied to her face, which was unusual but not offensive – suddenly switched to an image of a bushy bearded man and the aforementioned legs that were practically a blur.

The runner was screaming as he bolted by whomever's eyes were seeing the event, and it sent a horrible chill up the princess' spine. Even the tips of her pointed ears felt frigid.

The story proceeded, but despite the amazing feat, there was no happy ending to it. Zelda brought her hand to her mouth to silence her gasps as the man was next shown in the hospital, blood coming from various places in his legs and constant screams that had no end.

The warning of 'graphic content' hadn't been helpful to her.

She noticed that, other than irritation, neither of the young men on the couch appeared fazed by how gruesome it was.

As Zelda reluctantly continue to watch, the blonde woman telling the story explained that the skin and muscle in his legs had accumulated so much lactic acid (whatever that was), heat and friction that it nearly tore his skin and muscle apart from thighs to feet.

"That's horrible," she whispered, startling the two men.

"Yeah," Robin agreed with a contemplative sigh. Gizmo grunted tiredly, crossing his little arms.

"What can we do?" Zelda asked, hopeful.

"Hang on," Robin silenced her, and Zelda forced herself to stay quiet.

_You have no authority in the home of these young people_, she reminded herself.

The broadcast continued, and the princess watched tensely until Cyborg's familiar face came on. He appeared to be addressing a series of people dressed in fancy suits, and there were more than a dozen strange things that Zelda thought were called 'microphones' in front of him.

She listened intently, and the two boys on the couch also leaned forward, Robin in particular. It appeared to be the moment that Robin was waiting for, and the princess wondered if it was some sort of initiation or test that the huge metal man was undergoing. If it was, Cyborg appeared especially lucid.

"We're doing everything we can to minimize accidents and take care of the situation, and I promise that a solution is on its way," he said with a firm hand in the air, and the simple gesture silenced all those shouting questions at him. The voice coming from him sounded nothing like his loose, slang filled tongue from earlier. Compared to the other Titans, especially Starfire who spoke with perfect enunciation during all times and emotions, the way Cyborg normally spoke was like that of the lowest peasants and beggars in Hyrule. It fascinated her how this trait could be widely accepted, even liked by this world called Earth. Poor speech often paired itself with poor intellect and upbringing within Zelda's once proud kingdom, but Cyborg was a powerful warrior, a master of science and repair, and now a diplomat when he chose to be.

Zelda noticed the way that, although he was a massive colossus standing next to most people, these things in Cyborg could be welcoming, too. His voice was gentle and reassuring, using only a minor fraction of his size and intimidation to bolster its effectiveness. Perhaps it was also the lack of panic in his countenance and the way he still chose to acknowledge the grim situation with clarity and objective ideas that made his frightening physical presence almost serene.

Petite as she was compared to the half-machine, Zelda wondered if she could relearn to emulate that sort of confidence again to this new brand of people. Her crimson eyes focused on the details of his posture, voice, and movement, hoping to gain something that would make leading the sages left behind easier.

"What are we supposed to do?" one person who was back to on the television stood and asked.

"I'll answer that," Cyborg replied with a nod. "But please let me to finish before you say anything else." He sucked in a deep breath.

Telepathy didn't work through television, but Cyborg seemed very confident to the princess, making her smile. Robin knew well enough that part of it was practiced, and the Titans were becoming increasingly worried in reality.

"The most important thing you can possibly do is to stay calm," he began, standing tall and authoritative with his hands on the sides of the podium, and there were discontent murmurs filling in sounds out of nowhere as the view closed in on Cyborg. "Trust me, I know what most of you thought just now. You're all thinking 'how can we possibly stay calm when all these things are happening, when the streets could go from safe to dangerous in seconds?' and I share your concern. But what we are dealing with is not a mutation or a virus; it is our emotions running amuck while a foreign device influences us."

More murmurs, and this time they were considerably more restless.

"Please, please," Cyborg asked, and the sounds slowly died down again.

"You've all heard stories of people performing amazing feats under stress and panic. People lifting cars to safe trapped loved ones, soldiers running harder and faster than they ever have in their whole lives to save each other, medical miracles; all these things are happening here even more, as well as occurrences that haven't happened before like bullets violently exploding on impact and ordinary citizens being able to glide to safety without any aid as if they had wings. Some of these changes are good, others, as some of us have unfortunately experienced, have been awful tragedies."

"How long will it be until we can feel safe again?" a man wearing a black suit said angrily, only half visible, looking as though he were cut in twain by the edge of the screen.

Zelda watched his uncanny evasion of the question, and it brought a grin to her face. Robin nodded in unknowing agreement, for he too was glad that the dead end question was side-stepped.

"Repairs will be finished soon on our underwater craft. With help from Titans from other areas," (Zelda wondered if he was referring to her and Tidus) "we will obtain the source of the disturbance and make sure it is removed – sent into the sun if we have to. Thank you for your time."

He waved once more amidst a series of bright flashes, like flash bangs of fire that failed to ignite properly, and then he was gone.

"The repairs have already been completed," Robin explained to the princess. "But the public doesn't always understand our need to prepare and plan, and to deal with our stress too. Sometimes we have to exaggerate a little to compensate for that."

"They see you like small gods," Zelda spoke back. "It must be hard for you."

"Sometimes," Robin smiled politely. "It's rare that we have such long lasting problems, so we don't have to deal with the scrutiny all the time."

"I see," the princess responded. "I don't understand many things about your society, but it appeared that Cyborg did quite well," she added, referring back to the massive screen.

"Very," the Boy Wonder confirmed. "As leader I'm typically the one to do the speech giving if it's needed, but sometimes, if I'm incapacitated or too busy or stressed, Cyborg is just as capable. The trick when speaking to reporters is to command the conversation as much as possible and not give too many details. If you try to answer all of their questions directly you can get cornered in a situation where there's no right answer."

"Indeed."

Zelda ambled gracefully with a slow sway in her hips, pressing beyond the massive screen and placing her slender palm against the tower high glass panes. Through them to the far left of the ocean was a city she did not understand, mighty edifices less exquisite but far more plentiful and devices that seemed to move with magic because she lacked any other explanation. Her insides churned with her belly at the epicenter of the quaking.

"How… many people are in this city?" she asked hesitantly.

Gizmo quickly cleared his throat. "Two hundred ninety-four thousand, seven hundred seventy-six according to the latest census."

Zelda pursed her lips. So many. The City of Hyrule housed not even a tenth of that, and the entire outlying kingdom held _maybe_ that number at best. How cramped were there living conditions, and how did they fight pestilence with so many people? Trying to comprehend it seemed useless the more she tried. She might as well have been reading the pages of a blank book, and her feeling of personal ignorance was emotionally swollen.

"Much different from your home?" Robin asked.

She nodded. "I feel lost."

Admitting it didn't make it any better.

"I can imagine," Robin continued. "In other countries on our own world we sometimes feel pretty out of place. The cultures and people are so different, and we stumble when we make assumptions about the way they should act. Starfire has been here for years now and she's _still_ adjusting to the way of life. I can't imagine it would be any easier if we were on your world. Just because we have more technology doesn't make us better or smarter."

Gizmo propped himself up with a hop, landing to the floor where he stood barely above Zelda's waist.

"I've got better things to do than listen to you two chit chat," he stormed off without looking

Robin sighed, then shrugged with a bit of amusement.

"Don't mind him, he's always like that."

Zelda attempted a smile, almost succeeding in it.

"I wish it felt that way, about you not being so far beyond my people," she answered, staring out to the city and the darkening bay underneath the clouds. Thankfully it was not raining yet. If it had been her opinion of the city would have been severely impaired.

"I think I can help," Robin said confidently. He stared out to the city as well for a moment thinking of his culture and the time he lived in, and he then considered what he knew from pre-industrial history. A subtle smile graced the Titan leader's face when an excellent question came to mind.

"Tell me some things that most people in your world can do, just everyday things, but ones that are needed."

It took Zelda only a quick second to begin listing answers.

"Lay basic foundation in buildings, raise at least one kind of animal for food, hunt with a bow and arrow or spear, fish, read…"

She paused. Robin looked like he wanted more.

"Um… harvest salt from the ocean or other minerals from cave water, trade with the Zoran people or the Gorons, raise crops, bake bread, make butter, forage for some type of medical plant, basic carpentry… and I'm running out of ideas."

Robin absorbed the list into contemplation. "In our world we need most of those things too, but except for reading and maybe fishing, most people in our world don't know how to do a lot of the things you mentioned. All of our technology and knowledge and we've forgotten how do to basic things in exchange."

Zelda considered that, wondering if there was a parallel to Hylian culture, but it was hard to isolate those things that were once so natural to her. It was also painful to think back of a time before her home had been destroyed by the savage absence of the Triforce. That glimmer of clear sky that the Sage of Light had shown her, illusion or not, was so beautiful, and it stung her insides with sharp pricks of desolation at the same time that her eyes became wet for the longing to see him once more, the mysterious reploid sage.

"Zelda?"

Startled, she adjusted her long, dark blonde curls at the end of her locks of hair and tried to remember what they were talking about.

"Robin, may I ask your advice with something?" she turned away from the overcast view of the bay.

"Of course," the Titan stated. "What is it?"

Where to begin? Too many concerns to think of.

"X has decided that Tidus, Terra and I will be staying to help you with the chaos emerald and the problems it's causing. And… X has also decided to place me in charge of the two of them."

"Alright," Robin absorbed it. Zelda watched him transform into a humorlessly different person.

"You realize that Terra has an allegiance to the Titans if she chooses," he said.

The reaction was one Zelda had anticipated but not wanted. She shook her head softly.

"I sincerely do not wish to overstep any bounds, but that choice is not one I intend to give her easily. Terra has a responsibility to the Triforce and to X, and unlike Raven and Red XIII, she has been aware of it and committed for some time."

"I understand your position," he debated, "but I can't agree to anything that would take away her free will."

Zelda had wanted to interrupt him, but her voice seemed to fail while he spoke. She felt inferior, and Robin's steadfast attitude forced the princess to fight the compulsion to shrink away.

He tried to explain more. "Really, I do understand the conflict, but-"

"You understand nothing!" she raised her voice far louder than his, amazed at the sound erupting from her diaphragm. "Because of the war for the Triforce the world of mine you inquire about no longer exists! Hyrule is dead, littered with scavenging creatures and monsters. The trees have all withered into skeletons, nothing will grow, and the sky is almost always blanketed in misery and darkness. On the planet Gaia we have just come from, the entire ecosystem has been torn asunder, throwing millions of people into panic, crushing countless homes with giant tidal waves, volcanic eruptions and other disasters that no amount of help can save them from entirely. Entire villages were slaughtered by Zero, but he and the Mavericks have done far worse even than that. Do you know what the life expectancy of a reploid is on X's world? Do you?"

Robin's face was narrowed with shock and pity. He made no effort to prevent her from continuing.

"Eight. _Eight_ years. X has told me that reploids are capable of living to be well over a hundred, but most of them are killed by Mavericks or the Maverick virus spread by Zero and Sigma before they even celebrate their tenth birthday. Practically children, some of them know nothing but war until they die. And now look at your world, slowly changing and doomed to chaos if you can't stop the effects of the emerald from changing your people.

"If Terra chooses to run away because she's conflicted between Tidus and Beast Boy, then it could take months to find a replacement, time enough for Zero to absorb more power and destroy more lives. The stronger he gets, the greater a chance he'll reach his ambitions."

"Which are?" Robin jumped in.

Zelda tried to explain and ended up losing her momentum. The answer for that was never truly established. Merely theories, none of them good.

"I don't quite understand what it means, but it has to do with the timeline… snapping."

Robin's reactions were consistently contradicting Zelda's anticipations. A statement like the one she just made amongst any culture could beget fear, anger, panic, or perhaps even determination to fix or prevent such a calamity from happening. Surprise gripped the princess purely because nothing changed on the young Titan's face. How old? Twenty at best, and he was not afraid?

"That is vague," Robin rubbed his chin and paced away from the windows to the upper level.

"Forgive me for asking," Zelda followed her skepticism, "but how is it you are so calm after what I've just said?"

"Hmm? Oh," he responded nonchalantly, clearly dedicating his thought to what it meant for a timeline to 'snap.'

"It doesn't do us any good to panic," Robin explained. "Especially when none of us know what that will do or if it's possible. We don't know if that's what Zero really wants, either. Until we know those things, we can't do anything to stop it."

"But surely the very words must strike you no matter how hard your exterior may appear."

Robin paused and slowly nodded, noting with a palm on his chest the faster beating inside. He smiled, noticing how he had _not_ noticed that reaction before. Did his heart always do that, completely subdued by being accustomed to it?

"I've faced a lot of dangers, some of them threatening the entire world of ours. I guess I still feel the worry inside me, but it doesn't make me panic easily no matter how bad it sounds. It makes me think of how to change it and how to prevent it. But to be completely honest I'm still having a hard enough time picturing Zero as the bad guy. If it weren't for him all the Titans would probably be dead, and X too."

Princess Zelda clasped her hands at her collarbone. Her lungs burned at the thought of the crimson reploid, and a great deal of fear shivered up the backs of her legs, clawing across her spine and shoulders in a zigzag.

"I never knew Zero like that," she bit the inside of her mouth. "But everyone says he was a great reploid. What… was he like?"

"I didn't know him long," Robin answered. "You'd be much better off asking X. I'm surprised you haven't."

"As a matter of fact, I have," she stated. "But I get the feeling X doesn't want to share everything about him. I was hoping to get a fresh perspective."

"Then you should ask Raven," he said finally, and he appeared to be leaving abruptly. "She and Zero rescued us when we first fought of Vile and the other Mavericks. Maybe she could give you what you're looking for. Right now I have to check up on the energy readings with Gizmo, and then I have to head out to patrol the city for abnormal activity caused by the emerald. Starfire and Cyborg are due back in, but I get the impression Cy still wants to show off his new toy."

Zelda smiled a dainty chuckle at that. Robin returned the warm expression then waved his goodbye for the moment, off to tend to his duties.

What to do? Raven was likely on the Dreamweaver, preparing to leave along with the rest. If Zelda was going to seize the opportunity to learn more about this Zero she had merely seen in briefings aboard X's ship, it would have to be now. As pangs of worry and loneliness forced her to shiver, the princess guessed that the journey to Mobius alone would take many days, perhaps weeks, same as it had to and from Gaia.

She remembered as she noticed the blank state of the back of her hand that Raven now held the Triforce of Wisdom, and though the sorceress had made little use of it yet, time would soon tell what she was capable of with the golden mark.

Zelda made her way to the long, iron spiral staircase at the edge of the hallway just outside the Titan's main room, but she had to stop to wipe away the tears that began when she found herself looking again at the blank space beneath her fingers. Not having the royal rings she used to wear as princess was far worse.

"X needs me to be better than that," Zelda whispered, tightening her cheeks. "I have to adapt to this new world."

The sun outside was still shielded by clouds, though they seemed to have thinned a bit. The heat was still welcoming, as was the absence of excessive wind, but Zelda ignored them. She made a mental note that she would have to be harsh to Tidus and Terra and possibly Beast Boy as well, so for the time being petty joys like comforting weather would have to be ignored until the situation was taken care of. But what could she do for now? She had been shown some of the basic techniques of what X called 'physical therapy' to help Terra regain her strength, but X was handling it until everyone left. Tidus was sulking somewhere; Zelda could practically hear the Sage of Water's self-disgust, though where he hid wasn't clear. He might be the easiest to speak to first, but it was important to get to know Terra soon too. The little changeling… that might be more of a challenge. Despite his optimism and boundless energy, Beast Boy's attitude towards this rather delicate relationship issue was similarly childlike.

The princess almost missed it. Saria was down at the Titans' little beach with Nanaki, swimming in the shallows and the little rock coves around the island. Zelda was surprised at first. They seemed to be having such fun, and the forest girl was waving politely, signaling her to come and join them.

She hesitated. Her instinct was to pass by with an equally pleasant wave, but one that was quick and fleeting so that she could speak with Raven. She did have an urge to speak with the Sage of Darkness solely for the enjoyment of it. They had bonded so nicely in Gaia's future as they fought off Sigma and resisted the harshness that plagued them.

Saria's eyes became alluring, feigning sadness at the possibility that Zelda wouldn't join them, and Red XIII looked her way as well. If the Kokiri woman (that was still an odd thought, a Kokiri being an adult) hadn't convinced her, the laugh that Zelda couldn't stifle as Nanaki exited the water did. Even though the wolf's fur was short it now draped flat against him, smearing the front of his spiked tresses over his face and back.

He shook his fur in one of the few gestures that actually looked human-like, and the way his fur poofed out like a hairy balloon was enough to get both women laughing.

"You find this amusing?" the wolf joked, focusing most of his attention on the green haired woman in her black swimwear. "If we end up in a confined space together you won't find it so delightful."

Saria grinned happily and kicked water at him. "You could always just flame up. Then you'd be dry."

"Yes, that's true," the wolf leered teasingly at her, "but then I would smell like char broiled wet dog, and the only thing that stench would be good for is repelling our enemies."

Saria laughed happily again, enthusiastic and playful as she leaned against the Sage of Fire and stroked his back for a quick moment.

Zelda hopped down the long height from the cliff edge to the soft beach, fanning her half-skirt in the air and wafting sand upward as she gently impacted. Yuna's guns at her hips were uncomfortable with the landing, so she clicked them away from her hip holsters and tossed them aside.

"I give in, I'll join your for a swim," said the princess as she knelt down and began unlacing her black knee-highs. "But don't tempt me for too long, I have things to discuss with Raven before you go off to explore the galaxy."

"While you stay here by your lonesome," Saria jabbed.

The two hadn't really spoken to each other, Zelda and the Kokiri woman. Despite a week's worth of travel aboard the Dreamweaver to the place Raven called home, she hadn't spoken with Saria once, and she considered how odd that was. In the last battle of the Hero of Time a century ago the two had known each other fairly well, and even after the battle was won Zelda occasionally visited Kokiri Forest's edge so that the two could speak. Now… hardly a word, or even a glance.

Zelda watched the way she interacted with Nanaki as she removed her leg wear, and it was very happy as they joked, swam, and played like spirited youth, though neither of them was so young anymore in body or mind. Saria clearly had the advantage when it came to splashing, using her human limbs to arc her arm across the surface of the water, and the princess watched her grin in triumph as Nanaki could only pound the gentle waves in place. Even his tail couldn't manage the swinging motion, but he didn't mind that. He seemed very content.

It had been a hundred years for Saria, Zelda reminded herself with a shallow sigh, and only seven years for her. It was hardly fair, as though she merely drew the shortest straw and then was beaten for what was beyond her control, but it at least shed some light as to why they hadn't spoken. Either for fear of remembering her past or simple detachment that so easily occurs to all lost and forgotten acquaintances.

"Hylian aristocracy," Saria rolled her eyes. "Can't you just enjoy yourself without overanalyzing the details of the past?"

The princess turned a little red. Telepathy was all too common amongst the sages to safely think anything.

"Fine," Saria shrugged flippantly. "We can swap horror stories and talk about the way we used to ogle Link if you want."

Again, Zelda was struck speechless and this time redder than a tomato. If her face didn't cool down she was afraid that _she_ might become the Sage of Fire.

"I'm over the worst parts of my past, but we _are_ going to swim while we're at it," Saria insisted, and it was clear that she was going to have her way. Nanaki's silence was clearly just as consenting as if she was the elder of the two of them.

"Age is not as quantifiable a thing for those of us abused by time, princess," the Kokiri probed. "And regardless of how I may look, I _am_ the older and more experienced. Nanaki is still considered quite youthful for his fifty-three years of a species that often lives to be over two and a half centuries, and I have lived longer than him purely during my period of aging on Hyrule. Now enough of your contemplation. Come have fun with us."

With her boots, half skirt and white ribbon sleeves tossed to the sand, Zelda tried to forget all that plagued her mind from the frightening unfamiliarity of the strange city she was in to her new responsibility to the sages to her long ago falling out with Saria. For at least a short time her lost friend was determined to pull her away from her troubles, and the princess couldn't fight anymore against the need for her body to relax and be happy.


	66. Water and Earth

**Chapter 66 – Water and Earth**

"You're making excellent progress," X said as he inspected Terra's pale legs from the thighs down beneath where her plain white smock hung to.

The waist-height parallel bars she leaned on to walk were quickly becoming less necessary, and her motions were almost fluid, shaking only gently at the end of each stride while she leaned on them. Her reploid doctor inspected each part of her lower limbs, thighs, knees, shins and ankles, for any irregularity and for the greatest areas of weakness so that he could adjust her physical therapy accordingly.

"It feels better," she mentioned to him. "I think I can do a little without help."

"You're too daring for your own good," X smiled and stood. "Either that or impatient. But I won't deny you the opportunity."

Mega Man held out the white gloved hand of his reploid armor as she neared the end of the bars, and she placed her fingers in his much larger grip.

The first step she took was tiny, only a foot's length ahead. No problem. She stepped a bit farther, and she shook a little, but she didn't need to lean on X. Terra took two steps in a row, slightly larger, and she wobbled slightly. Her knees felt a bit weak and strained. Damn it, she thought, scrunching her brow in a slight exhale. She tried to do the same thing again with the same response, but she was determined to do it without him at all. Terra took her hand back from him again, and X allowed it, but as she attempted to take the two consecutive steps again her knees buckled sideways.

Angry, face red and holding in breath that would undoubtedly come out in swears, Terra succumbed to the reploid's arms and allowed herself to be carried back to the medical table.

"Don't be frustrated," X comforted her with a warm expression.

"Easy for you to say."

"I thought this was going to take much longer," the reploid admitted. "A few days after I'm gone and you should be walking normally. It should only be a couple more until you can jog and do slightly more intense things. In just over a week at this pace you should be as good as new."

"Bleh," Terra pouted.

X couldn't help but join her in a sigh, though hers held the greater share of frustration as the patient and not the doctor.

"I know," he said. "You want to be better yesterday."

Terra stretched a weak smile. Two days ago would have been even better.

"How is your telekinetic training going with Raven?" X asked as he headed over to fill a pressure injector with the right concoction.

"It's going well so far. A bit better than this."

X shrugged and chuckled, understanding what she meant. "If willpower was all it took to heal your body then you'd be perfect already. You're lucky that it's the driving force behind your powers."

It was comforting to her.

Terra and X continued to talk pleasantly together. Terra was happy that she was finally getting to know the Hero of Time that the Lifestream had told her so much about, and X was just as thankful to get to know his Sage of Earth. He explained how there was cartilage degeneration in her knees and that he was about to inject a substance that would stimulate new growth over the next couple of days. Terra sounded pleased at anything that would speed up the healing process so she could fight alongside everyone else. No one knew when or where Zero would strike, and if Earth was a target while X and Raven were gone Terra wanted to be in top condition, just like when she was a Titan.

The young girl's blue eyes suddenly tried to hide. Attempting to veil herself behind the discomfort of the pressure injector squeezing against her leg made it easy for X to see her overcompensation holding her facial muscles tight.

"I, uh… need to ask you about something," Terra whispered meekly.

X courteously showed her his bright green globes as he finished with her other knee.

"I… I don't really know what to do now that I'm out of the Lifestream. Tidus and all the other voices were with me almost the whole time, but now that I'm out, Beast Boy is…I, I don't know…"

"How would you like me to help with this?" X asked with a warm smile. "I can't make the decision for you, and I'm not a matchmaker."

"Could you just… talk to him maybe?" Terra asked. It was a pleading request.

X watched the subtle changes in her face, interested in how much she fought. Upset, hiding, then clenched until her eyes were comfortably far away from the possibility of tearing up. She forced sternness across her features, making her lips purse and her eyes narrow firmly. It looked strange to X, and he laughed gently inside, thinking that her features appeared far too delicate to act so hard. The narrow nose and small eyes were suddenly out of place against her pale skin and lips.

"I don't think I'm the right person to do it," X admitted, and Terra slowly hunched over, dejected. "But I thought you might be worried about it, so I spoke with Zelda, and she's going to talk to him."

"Err… Zelda?" the Sage of Earth hesitated.

X's face froze for a moment at the skepticism that was thoroughly inflating Terra's facial contortion. He was not completely sure of the extent of her doubt, but he immediately took a dislike to the attitude. Terra, already sunken down, cowered away at the wide stare of the Hero's bright Mako eyes.

"I trust Zelda," he said pointedly. "So much so that I'm leaving her in charge of you and Tidus."

Terra's jaw twisted to the side. She made a move to jump from the table angrily.

"Sit _down_," X poked two fingers into a pressure point beneath her collar, and she winced silently as she fell back into place.

Why did there always have to be such foolish problems? X wondered what it was now that Terra found untrustworthy about the princess. Yes, Zelda came from a dark place that she suffered in, and she longed to once again have her old Hero of Time. At first she was reluctant to trust him and Raven, too, but time made her an ally and a friend. So what was the problem?

"Zelda is older than you and she used to lead a nation, and she knows more about the sages and the Triforce than you do. She's capable of using the emeralds better than anyone else who's going to be left behind here, and you're all going to need that to find and protect the last one here. She willingly gave the Triforce of Wisdom to Raven, and she's done nothing but protect us since we met her. I don't care if she's not technically part of this war we're fighting, but none of the other Titans are and that doesn't stop them from helping."

Terra scoffed. "I'm surprised that someone like you thinks that age and wisdom compliment each other. I've been in the Lifestream for over a year, and I've learned a hundred times more than what I would have otherwise. I don't need a caretaker, and especially not one like Zelda."

"Age and wisdom _do_ compliment each other. What you gained in the Lifestream is nothing more than a treasure trove of knowledge, too much to properly put into action so that you're overwhelmed by possibilities when the time comes to make the important decisions. Your arrogance tells me that you need a caretaker worse than I thought."

"I refuse to follow Zelda," she crossed her arms and glared spitefully, and it nearly sent X over the edge.

"What the hell is your problem with her?" he demanded, chucking the pressure injector he used on her knees against the wall, shattering its glass parts. "What has she ever done to you?"

Terra stood, and her legs barely held up, but she fought to keep her ground and her dignity. Her cheekbones pulsed underneath her flesh, furious at _his_ ignorance.

"Here's a taste of the knowledge I've gained," she said, suddenly more silent. "And I'll start it with a question."

The unexpected calm startled Mega Man. Despite his anger, he listened.

"When do you think you officially became the Hero of Time?" she pressed.

"When I pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal almost twelve years ago," X quickly answered. He was confident in the guess, but the cocky grin Terra adopted quashed him into a neutral glare.

To Terra it was a better answer than if he said 'when he received the mark', but she knew better.

X stared at her for a few moments, realizing that his response, at least in her opinion, was wrong. He scrunched his face in thought, thinking of an earlier date, but the only logical one he could think of didn't seem any more right than his first guess. Worry started to clog his throat from getting a comfortable stream of air.

"When I first awoke twenty years ago?" he suggested again.

She shook her head; her grin had faded. X could sense what he felt was misplaced and unjust bitterness against Zelda in Terra's eyes and face, and in that moment it was swimming through her veins to the tips of her flesh. It was so strong that it nearly gave him a headache through his telepathy.

"It didn't happen while you were sleeping in that capsule, either," Terra said as she leaned back against the med table again. "And yes, I know about that. There's a period of time before that long century that I can't see. It's completely blocked, even in the Lifestream. I don't think Zero can even get to it. But I do know what Zelda was doing around that time."

The reploid wasn't sure he wanted to hear what was coming next, but his curiosity was a pitfall that made him silent, jaw rigid and bright Mako globes wide for the explanation. Even Terra who was malicious towards Zelda only seconds ago was fizzling into something feebler, as if her own coming explanation was frightening to her too.

"Zelda hadn't thrown herself into the Dark World yet. It wasn't too long before Ganondorf tried to break free, but Link was nowhere to be found. Zelda's intentions when they first imprisoned Ganondorf were dangerous already, but it might have been her motives for finding Link later on that sealed his fate."

"I don't understand," said X, tightening his. "What do you mean by 'her intentions were dangerous? What did she do?"

Attempting to word it properly, Terra took a deep breath, but in a fluid motion X quickly held a hand to her mouth with a stern look. Surprise covered her face.

"Never mind. I don't think I want to know," the reploid said slowly and softly, and behind his silencing finger the Sage of Earth's expression widened, eyes bulging, but X forced himself to remain staid despite how livid Terra was.

"Are you insane?" she shouted, and her voice cracked under the strain as she smacked X's hand away. "She got too close to Link and because of that…"

"I _said_ I don't want to know!" X bellowed back.

It was not his voice that silenced her, but rather the violent crush of the med table beneath the feeble, recovering legs. X's foot had solidly punctured it, ripping the metal and polymers apart. His face guard had suddenly slipped into place, only exposing a curved rectangular area around his eyes. Terra found herself tensely frozen, losing her words at the simple gesture. Fear rose in her spine and throat.

"Zelda has never done anything to harm me or the people I care about," the reploid snarled. "And the fact that you can't forgive her for things she may have done years in the past only speaks to your lack of wisdom even more."

"But you don't understand…"

"I've had enough of this!" roared the reploid, and although he regretted it partially because the telepathic aura he released from such an outburst had undoubtedly reached Zelda and Raven (and maybe even Saria), he had meant his anger very seriously. His eyes remained constant, staring down at her as the overly-knowledgeable but foolishly childlike person she was acting like. Worry and concern were filling his thoughts. He knew Zelda's task as moderator and leader in an unfamiliar world would be difficult enough, but now he feared that she was going to suffer more than she could handle with Terra's disobedience. Tidus would likely follow suit, and probably even some of the other Titans with Terra influencing them.

Burning anger rose in his tongue, and it slid across his teeth firmly. He refused to put Zelda in that position. The gesture was meant to acclimatize her to these modern worlds and find her a place she could call home since Hyrule was dead. Contemplating the huge mistake he would have made had he left sooner made him feel foolish – the real reason for hiding his face, because his lips were narrowed forming wrinkles from being squeezed together so angrily. The motion would have been poorly hidden if it weren't shielded by the face guard of his modified Hylian armor.

After a moment of staring at each other and at the floor, contemptuous, angry and untrusting, X crossed his arms at Terra.

"Tidus is here to see you."

She perked up, straining her spine, almost straining it in the process.

X tried to hide his aversion to it. His mind swirled with the trouble that they could cause for Zelda, and ultimately the sages. Despite how unnerving and mysterious Zelda's importance was, X was confident that she needed to be around for this, for some purpose or circumstance. Had she been too close to Link all those years ago? And if she was, so what?

A chill gripped his back and neck when he considered that it might be some unknown condition of being the Hero, abstaining from the kind of closeness that he had already formed with Raven, and the thought terrified him enough to show in his Mako pupils. They dilated. Was something going to happen to her because of how close they had become? His mind raced, thinking of something that might be wrong with their relationship. They had both grown stronger and saved each other's lives, stood in defense of each other countless times, and together they had mediated and survived disasters and war on several worlds. As his eyes flicked back and forth, calculating and checking every detail he could come up with, large or petty, he started to feel slightly better. X couldn't find anything wrong. They were emotional and physical support for each other that no lone fighter could have.

When he came near the end of his thoughts insecurity struck hard. Throughout their growth and their bond, X had forgotten the reason why such closeness can devastate, even though their relationship had been almost nothing but positive.

When it came down to it – and X knew it was true in his heart – if he had to choose between the survival of the entire city that the Titans had protected for so long or Raven alone, he knew he would be tempted to choose the dark young girl with the wondrous mind, the beautiful pale skin and the heart that could heal and love so many. One person in exchange for thousands.

Oxygen spontaneously lacked the ability to satiate his lungs, even though he needed no air in the first place. The thought of something happening to her that he couldn't stop made his head throb. It was unfair, and his mouth squeezed tighter. The desire to see Raven, to touch her face and know that it would be alright, grew too strong to defend.

He materialized into a stream of matter and warped away from the torment that the young Sage of Earth had invoked.

Tidus entered seconds afterward, just after the energy stream had vanished. His posture was hesitant, and he looked around cautiously for Mega Man X before focusing fully on Terra, who stared up at where he had left from.

"I thought he was in here with you," he said after a moment, and he ruffled his blonde hair as he rubbed his skull in relief.

"He was until a second ago. He sensed you coming, but I think I upset him…"

Tidus embraced her firmly. She didn't have her full strength to properly squeeze back, but Terra was more than content with the warm gesture and the feeling of contentedness that came with it. She felt like she could fall straight to sleep.

And then Beast Boy's saddened face in her mind destroyed all of that, making her comfort clash with a bout of degenerating bereavement.

"What did you say to him?" Tidus asked.

For Terra, it was as far away a question from what she had wanted him to ask than anything else bothering her, but it distracted her from thoughts of Beast Boy. It was then that she realized that there was no more mind reading between her and Tidus, and that X, Raven, Zelda and Saria were the only ones capable of that sort of connection now. It dragged her face down until it drooped pitifully low into his lean, muscular chest.

Maybe it was just the frustration of the position she was in, but Tidus also seemed to be pretty bad at perception to people's emotions without it. Terra felt his embrace stretching her stiff and weak shoulder muscles, but it wasn't one that acknowledged her feelings. The dark gold metal bracings on one of his arms felt wrong, too, bearing down much harder than she remembered in the Lifestream.

Having chastised X only moments ago, the earth bender felt repeated pangs of guilt that changed her already feeble limbs into nearly useless hunks of flesh.

"I told him about Zelda," she said, still slumped against his tanned skin. He may not have understood completely, and his contact was far different than when she was just a ghost of a being amongst the Fayth, as his people called it, but it was still more comfortable than not being in contact with him at all.

Tidus stroked her straight, soft blonde hair with his unarmored, plainly gloved hand. "I hear that she's going to be in charge," he changed the topic a notch. "I'm not too keen about that after finding out about her past."

"Damn it, maybe I was too harsh," Terra said with gloom tightening the wilted posture of her face, still maintaining the original issue that she had wanted to discuss. "Is it possible it was Link's fault and not hers? Or maybe both of them?"

"You think that the Hero of Time was the one at fault compared to her?" he said, almost laughing, but he rescinded his amusement after Terra pulled away out of frustration.

X's words crept inside her head. Words of faith and trust. Terra firmly believed that Zelda was too much of a liability, but she also believed that X was their leader. The glimpses of past Heroes of Time she had witnessed in the Lifestream, however fleeting in the corporeal reality she had returned to, gave her that impression, and she wholeheartedly believed that after all his self sacrifice and suffering from materia poisoning just for her sake, there was no reason that he _shouldn't_ be trusted. Gratitude was something she owed him, and Terra's facial muscles muddled together in guilt when she realized how harsh she had been to him. Giving him the appreciation he deserved late and after the fact, she considered his unyielding trust, and it brought up a thought that she hadn't expected of herself. Maybe he was right about her having too much knowledge.

"We have a story on our planet about a very, very old couple named Adam and Eve. Have you heard of it?"

Tidus thought for a brief second before extending his lower lip with a shrug.

"Adam and Eve lived in a special garden where they had all the food and comfort that they could ever need, and everything was peaceful. There was only one very important rule, and that rule was that they could not eat from one specific tree, because if they did, they would die."

"That's harsh," Tidus stated.

Terra shot him an emotionally tense look as she fought her distress with pulsating temples. "Will you wait until I'm finished?"

The Sage of Water turned a bit red and averted his eyes. "Sorry," he replied.

"Whatever," Terra shrugged back. "Anyway, there was a serpent that lived in the forbidden tree, and one day when Eve was walking under its branches the serpent approached her. It offered her one of the apples from the tree, and she refused, repeating what she had been told about it bringing death. The serpent lied and said that it would not kill her, and that it would make her wiser than she could ever be otherwise. Eventually Eve believed the serpent and took a bite from the apple. Then, when she brought the apple to Adam and told him what the serpent had said, he took a bite too."

"So they both died?"

She shook her head, narrowing her face in thought. "Not immediately, anyway, but they were banished from the garden, and supposedly that was the beginning of death itself for our world. People have been blaming Eve in that story for centuries, but some people say that Adam _knew_ that what he was doing was doing wrong, so he might have been more at fault than Eve was. Do you think that maybe that's what's happening?"

"Do you trust Zelda either way?" responded the water sage, and it was clear in his voice that he didn't.

"Not really," she admitted. "But we're supposed to trust her while X isn't here. I just don't see how he could be so blind to…"

"Do you think that the same thing could happen again?" Tidus posed the dangerous thought that they had been holding back. "I mean, what if Zelda gets too close and it forces X to distance himself?"

"I don't know," Terra gritted and dug her fingers into her thighs. "It almost seems like that's what he's doing by leaving her here. Maybe he already knows and just doesn't want to talk about it, or maybe…"

She groaned, and her head began to feel like a balloon with too much helium. The pale silvers and grays of the room had become monotonously horrible to stare at, and the various instruments and readouts that she half-understood at best were becoming reminiscent of painful grade school days. The room was nice at first, but she longed for anything else after being cooped up in it for the half week she had been there.

"I need fresh air and sunlight," she said.

"You want me to carry you?"

She frowned and rolled her eyes at him. "I just need a solid chunk of earth. Take me as far as the exit to the ship and I think I can manage."

"It would be more fun if you tried to get the rock to come to you. Like navigating through a maze," Tidus said, attempting to make her laugh, but the exhaustion and self-induced feelings of inadequacy from her physical therapy had made her incurably sullen. She didn't respond to the joke at all, and Tidus backed down in a bit of a slump himself.

"X is already angry with me," she muttered, not really caring if Tidus heard her or not. "I don't think it would help to have the walls of his ship smashed in because I'm too weak and can't control my powers."

"Ok," he managed a weak but tender smile. "Come on then."

Terra sighed and returned the soft affection with warmth rising in her lips, and she held out her arms for him to take her. Skinny even before the misguided struggle she had with the Titans and Slade where she was turned to stone over a year ago, the extra bit of weight she had lost from the sheer strain of returning to that body made her effortless to carry. She was surprised at how little pressure she felt from Tidus's arms, but it occurred to her that the only other person who had held her like that in a very long time was Mega Man X, just a few days ago when he carried her to the medical ward of the Dreamweaver. There was no other time to compare it to, so Terra eventually gave up on searching for one and absorbed the way it felt as if it were the first time.

His arms were firm, but not overly so like X's; the reploid's 'skin' was barely malleable, which she didn't like much, yet it was still warm and protective. Tidus's grip was more than stable too. It was more… casual, Terra eventually came to describe it as they walked through the halls. Not possessive. Was that a good or bad thing? To Terra it meant too many possibilities. Maybe free and fun, willing to let her be just as boundless to choose what she wished. Fear gurgled in her belly as she wondered if it might mean that she wasn't as special to him as she had hoped, but his smile always said otherwise. Lies were so easy. The Lifestream had taught her that amongst the rest of her knowledge, and Terra desperately tried to think of something else. As they traversed the repeating silver-grey halls, she hoped that it might mean that Tidus simply wasn't as deeply committed as he could be, meaning that he needed time to adjust to the new feelings himself.

They neared the exit, seeing a flood of natural light beating out the artificial kind.

Terra's bright blue eyes widened as the refreshing ocean air filled her lungs before they could reach the light, but her mind continued to wander.

He was technically a Gaian human, she remembered, and they were different from the humans she knew on Earth. His kind was more unified in physical appearance, but they were slightly more xenophobic and lived in more isolated regions and cities than Earth did. In her head, Terra strained to think what that meant. Isolation and governmental separatism meant huge social diversity. So that meant nothing. Some cultures on Gaia were very physically demonstrative much like many of the western European nations on Earth but if anything even more so, while there were others who refused physical contact in public at all costs, like the strict private school she had gone to when she was younger.

The brightness outside was wonderful aside from how much more it was making her head hurt.

Tidus was from Zanarkand, one of the only melting pots of Gaia a dozen years or so in the future after a man named Rufus Shinra was – according to the future's history – finished with its construction. That could have meant that he was a product of so many personalities that there was really no way to tell…

"Urgh!" she shouted.

It was so startling that she felt Tidus grip extra tight around her exposed thighs so that he wouldn't drop her, and his tense face that came with the simple gesture eased Terra almost immediately. _He cares for me_, the earth bender repeated again and again in her head. _That's all that's important right now_.

"You scared me for second," he said. "Are you ok?"

She nodded. "I'm ok, thanks. Maybe I _am_ just thinking too hard. I guess I do have too much information in my brain to go through."

"You're just stressed," said the young water sage, and he set her down on the soft grass.

Terra frowned. It was true, but there was far much more to it than common tension. Tidus seemed to be taking everything so casually, and she wondered if he really knew how deep her worry was. It was about Zelda and X, and of course about she and Tidus, but she also felt like an alien next door to a place that was once home. X told her that the other Titans were busy, but _surely_ they could have found time to visit her, and not knowing how they were or why they hadn't, Raven aside, was driving her mad with worry and suspicion. Maybe they still hated her for all she had put them through. She had been able to watch them to a small extent while in the Lifestream, but it was meager compared to how much she knew when they were together.

"I can… m-manage from here," she stumbled over her words, already beginning to shape a makeshift seat of stone and dirt with a headrest for comfort. The precision was a bit slow, and it came out a bit sloppy, but almost any relaxing position was comfortable after the few moments she had leaned on Tidus. "I… kind of want to be alone. Do you mind?"

"That's fine," he smiled. "Do what you need to do. Besides, we'll have plenty of time here while the others are off on… uh… where was it again?"

"Mobius, silly," she finally smiled a bit at his forgetfulness as the stone hovered in air with her snugly situated in it.

"Right, Mobius," he said, squinting his eyes as if repeating it in his head. "Well, enjoy your ride. Don't be long!"

A soft smile. "I won't."

Terra waved at him longingly as she began to back away, up and towards the city. She kept the pace slow, and despite her weak body it was easy to move the hunk of earth casually, only a few feet above the water. Gentle waves sent bits of sea spray that tickled her feet, and it felt wondrous. It reminded her of the therapy she had been going through. Except for today she had bathed in a cool mineral soak for half an hour twice daily to soothe and energize her body, but Mega Man's abrupt exit stopped the part of her recuperation that she had enjoyed most from happening. The fresh air and the gentle breeze compensated nicely. Maybe better.

Once the city grew closer and she could hear the various sounds coming from it, Terra increased her height to go over the multi-story rooftops. It wasn't at all how she remembered it last looking, and the thoughts of what _she_ had done to it just before her imprisonment rushed in and spread through her already fragile mood like a malicious infection. The streets had been barren. The sky had been dark and miserable, blocked of sun and reddened by the fires and destruction that _she_ had caused. Not even the sirens of fire trucks or police cruisers dared oppose her or all that she had done back in that terrible time. Slade may have been the mastermind behind all of it, but the attempt to make herself feel better merely made Terra slump deeper into her seat of stone, which conformed almost automatically to her motion. Slade did plan the takeover, but she was the idiot gullible and angry enough to be his puppet.

It had not stayed that way since her petrification a bit over a year ago. Everything she had done had been reversed, and for the first time in what felt like decades ago after living in the Lifestream, the remorse and shame of what she had done was returning to her. All that she had transformed into misery and forced rule for that short time had been completely defied in less than a year. People were busy, working, happier, and just going on about their lives rather than having to live in fear.

Terra wept on her medical smock. She was thankful, because when she wasn't wearing it during her nutrient soaks there were still some clearly visible machine components around her chest that X hadn't removed. He had taken out the microcircuits and other tiny things with radiation treatment, but some of the machinery stimulating her heart and lungs in the event of additional strain had been more intricately attached. X had said that they were too dangerous to remove without a more experienced surgeon. Sighing, Terra felt the implants along her sternum, most of which was beneath the flesh, while trying to rub out the salty tears with the other hand. They almost looked like a second ribcage that curved awkwardly upward beyond several sets of ribs before passing deeper into her. The part above the flesh gave her a chill when she touched it, but she forced herself to tolerate it because she knew that she might have to deal with the implants for a long, long time.

They was spiderlike, the extensions, but with a slightly longer body and two extra legs, making a total of ten. Disgusting. It turned her watering eyes into thin slits with anger more for herself than for Slade. She knew it was her own fault.

It occurred to the Sage of Earth that if people recognized the hunk of rock hovering over the city as being her then she might be in trouble. The people of the surrounding cities didn't know she had been freed, and to them she was just as much of a criminal as Cinderblock, Plasmus and even Slade himself.

Her course was easy to alter so that she crossed streets perpendicularly instead of cruising parallel above them, and she figured that the precaution would be good enough. After that she kept an eye out for any of her fellow Titans, though Starfire or Beast Boy would be easiest to spot by air.

"Beast Boy…"

Struggling against thinking about him, she tried to fill her thoughts with something else. Anything.

Terra remembered another conversation she had with X during her treatments. She had asked about all of the criminals they, the Titans, had imprisoned, since every now and then they had a knack of breaking free or being released by others. X had explained how he and the Titans had defeated an upgraded Cinderblock, how one of the Mavericks had crushed the computer chips that composed Overload, and how Plasmus had been missing ever since the Mavericks broke him – well, _it_, really – out of prison. Slade, thankfully, had made no appearance and was presumed dead, but like so many of the best and most malevolent villains, Slade didn't seem to be able to stay that way, and the thought made her implants kick in and balance her quickly accelerating heart rate.

She looked up as she rubbed the uncomfortable areas around her chest, and a familiar sight greeted her with excitement, making her blood pump for totally different reasons. As her reddish hair and tanned, almost orange-skinned face grew closer, a huge smile lighted Terra's lapis eyes.

"Starfire!" she shouted.

"Friend Terra!" the Tamaranian squealed back.

Even for the excitable, loving Starfire it was a tackle-hug that rivaled most others she had given throughout her life.

Awkward and forceful enough to bring them to the nearest rooftop, Starfire had practically enveloped the Sage of Earth in arms and legs. Terra longed to be able to return the gesture, but her limbs clenched feebly in response as she wondered how she wasn't popping like a balloon. When they split apart (always a difficult thing for Starfire) it was hard to find the right thing to say. For Star the many things that had happened since they were separated were too great in number to choose from. Terra had similar issues, but her experiences in the Lifestream would never be something she could fully explain.

"Starfire, I missed you so much. I'm… I'm so sorry about everything that happened before, when I… you know… what can I say that could make it…"

"Say nothing, friend Terra!" Starfire squeezed her again. "We are only too happy to have you back!"

Glazes of water formed around the whites of her eyes. "But I… but I… I'm a criminal."

Starfire's smile was fickle, as easily changed as her dispassionate expression of patrolling into one of happiness in the first place. It was one of the few contenting things Terra had remembered of her former friends since being brought back to life, and it only made her want to cry more, but she force her eyelids shut and rubbed them free, preparing herself for something that Starfire had clearly discussed with Robin. If she hadn't, then blunt confusion would have emerged just as swiftly as all the other emotions that Star so clearly displayed.

"I am afraid that the government would not allow you to go free if they knew about your presence," she said to Terra. "But Robin and X both agree that now is not the time to pay for what you have done. The need for your help is too great, and you have much responsibility to the Triforce."

The blonde earth sage nodded, pursing her lips as she swallowed the heavy burden. So she _would_ eventually have to pay for the crimes she committed. It wasn't as though she hadn't expected that as a possible outcome, but it wasn't something she intended to allow. On the run again… Terra had hoped that she would never have to return to that lifestyle, but it seemed inevitable. Maybe she and Tidus could go to some other world, like Gaia, or X's world, or Mobius, or _anywhere_. She didn't feel like she belonged, and Starfire's natural warmth couldn't fix that, nor could Tidus's firm embrace. As her jaw began to shake, Terra pointedly changed the subject.

"Why… haven't you guys come to visit me? I mean… damn, I know it's selfish, but…"

Starfire's reassurance was suddenly astounding as her eyes went wide in denial of what Terra was thinking. "We have all wanted to visit you so badly!" she said, bowing almost horizontally in that quick, apologetic motion of hers. "Even in my culture it is considered meaningless to make 'the excuses' but you may have noticed that I have the eye-circles of unattractive darkness?" She pointed with both hands and an exaggerated grin to the extremely sunken areas beneath her eyelids.

Terra was surprised. In her trance of exhaustion and happiness she hadn't noticed anything about Starfire except that it _was_ Starfire, but the high speed collision of their greeting hadn't given either participant a change to really see one another. Looking closer was harrowing for both of them. To Terra, the Tamaranian's eyes were surrounded by purple bruise colors. If it weren't for how wrinkled and strained the areas were as well, Terra would have sworn that Star had been socked in the face.

Starfire was just as surprised. Terra almost seemed taller where she sat, but also undoubtedly thinner with cheekbones protruding unhealthily. The shadowy bags under her eyes were almost as dark, accentuated by the pale skin of her face, which was also paler than before. They both realized how much of a mess the other one was.

"You can still smile," Terra replied. "That's the most important thing. Is everyone else running themselves ragged?"

"Yes," Starfire feigned enthusiasm with an exaggerative nod-bow. "Cyborg takes the most shift time since his mechanical body can withstand more than ours, but Robin, Beast Boy and I have been, as you say 'running ragged,' for many days now. Gizmo does not often leave the tower, but he is also…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, _Gizmo_ is a _TITAN_?"

Starfire took a few minutes to explain that he was simply assisting with the search, and that he hadn't caused any problems aside from his being generally annoying to the males. When the explanation was finished Terra sighed heavily and her floating stone chair cupped her elbow as she squished her cheek against her hand.

"Things really have changed around here," she heaved glumly. "Maybe I'll have to get used to Zelda leading us. I just don't know how to trust her."

"Zelda will be leading you and Tidus while our other friends leave? That sounds most pleasant."

The look that Terra shot her was sharp, and the muscles in her arms clenched for a brief second before going limp, to which she cursed out loud. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Zelda's responsible for… damn it!" she pounded the rock as hard as she could, and it crumbled into brownish bits beneath her mental will, not the force of her hand. Starfire was startled, but it only brought her closer to her former friend.

"I have not known Zelda for very long," the tired Titan admitted, "but she appears very kind and wants most certainly to help X, and you too. I will trust her as long as she stays that way."

Terra began to open her mouth, but Starfire had already managed to pacify how angry and defensive she had wanted to be.

"I wish I could be like that," said the earth bender.

"But you can," Starfire smiled jubilantly. "Simply remember the trust that the Titans have given everyone. Even I can barely believe that Gizmo is on our side, but without that trust he would still most certainly be our enemy."

The dirt in her chair started to wind around her fingers as she moved them slowly, up and down like pistons in slow motion. It wasn't as smooth as she had wanted it to be, and hurling it against the rooftop angrily didn't feel any better. "What if he ends up being your enemy again?" she asked, thinking that she had cornered Starfire's way of thinking.

Knowing that her positive outlook couldn't go down so easily, Starfire continued to beam with her tired eyes. "Then he'll become our enemy again. I would take a portion of time as an ally, or even on neutral ground, as a success over him always being our enemy. We might get abused for our trust sometimes, but we lose ground in spreading the idea that any person can be a good person if we as role models refuse to trust."

Terra looked as though she might fall asleep from the strain of the discussion. Her eyes glazed. "I don't understand how you can do it." She sighed and pictured Zelda in her head, and almost immediately the instinct to back away encompassed her thoughts. There was no good sensation that passed along the tiny hairs on her arms, exerting a strain on her muscles to fight the weakness of anger that she couldn't back up.

But there was Starfire, still smiling happily. Terra couldn't help but become soft at how genuine it was, even for a person whose frequent smile could lose its touch. Her eyes were soft, calming and happy without the zealous tackle that they had just shared.

"I think it would be wonderful for us to share dinner," Starfire suggested. "And I would welcome your friend Tidus as well. I must get to know the person that captured your heart so well."

Thoughts of a heaping slab of pizza broke like a cloud in Terra's mind. "But… what about Beast Boy?"

"Beast Boy… will be alright," she said with a concerned nod.

The Sage of Earth sighed heavily. "I guess it would be nice to get some take out. And show Tidus around the city."

"That is, as they say, the spirit!" Starfire returned to her jubilant self.

To avoid people recognizing her Terra left the stone on top of the building and allowed Starfire to carry her through the skies. Desperately she tried to force warring thoughts of Zelda, Tidus and Beast Boy out of her head. Why was it so hard?


	67. Mind War, Part III

**Chapter 67 – Mind War, Part III**

The Sage of Light had felt regret during the rest of his relived memory with Alia, but he simply could not allow any memory of his presence in her, so he had patched her wounds, nullified the snake venom and scrambled the spots of her memory that included him before dropping her off in her own home. A mysterious Hunter like himself would draw attention either way, but eliminating what little visual description their communications leader could give made the Sage of Light as protected as he could be. The occurrences of his intrusion were widespread enough that it was unlikely anyone could discern a pattern, and between his arsenal of weapons – a Buster, an energy saber, arrows of light and his bare hands – it would be hard for forensics to detect a consistent perpetrator of destruction for any Mavericks unlucky enough to come his way.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but the sage swore that the thin slits containing the creature's glowing eyes had narrowed, as if furiously dissatisfied. The knobby three fingers from each hand holding his face also seemed to press harder against his reploid flesh, which he still couldn't move.

In his stillness, the sage realized that one more memory was coming. It was violently forced with emotion driven behind it, the first clear and distinct sensation that the creature had given off, and there was something disturbingly familiar about it. Perhaps it was just the mysterious occurrence of the Triforce mark, but something else felt too analogous to the emotions he and others had experienced in his several lifetimes of observations.

The memory was old. Very old. Forty years further back than when he protected and learned of Saria, and about eighty-eight before the recent incident where he defeated the Mavericks threatening Alia.

The sky was not as dreary and desolate as Hyrule's condemned landscape, but the skies were grey and the mood was pained, humble, and poignant. The only architecture present lacked the grandeur of Reploid City, but the destruction of warfare was still there in the dead, rotted trees on one side of the lonely graveyard, only just beginning the horror of years and years of robot wars. They were stained with the long-lasting burns of laser fire. Some of the tombstones had suffered the same fate, reduced in the worst cases to rubble stumps of marble or granite. Some were lucky enough to have only small chunks blown off.

One particular gravestone that was neither the largest nor the grandest, but beautiful in its white marble design and decorated with many wreaths and bouquets of withering flowers stood at his feet. There were so many different kinds that he couldn't remember the names for all of them. Lilacs and daisies, roses and gladiolas. Someone else had laid night flowers that looked oddly black in the daylight. When it was dark, they glowed violet.

The Sage of Light recognized that his cloak was no longer the same as it once had been. The one he wore while reliving the memory was pale yellow, unstained, and not covered in blood or burns. The tatters and shreds that he had earned over so many years had not even begun to form. Different was the way it clung to his body.

So young, he thought to himself.

So stupid, too. And foolish, cowardly and ignorant.

As long ago as it had been, he did not look much different underneath it all. Many reploids changed their appearances or received upgrades, but not him.

He quickly focused on anything but the thought of his own appearance. The tangle of emotions he felt was bad enough, filled with miserable remorse and, in a rare instance, pure gloom as he remembered the identity of the gentle footsteps coming from behind him.

The sunlight glimmered off her blonde hair and glared against his visor while his old self turned. Ninety years later, the Sage of Light tried to wholly remember a time when he couldn't sense the presence by name of people coming. It was slightly amusing, but mostly horrid to see himself so inexperienced.

The woman seldom changed clothing; it wasn't necessary for her to clean unless some outside source dirtied her, but now she wore a black, short sleeve blouse with a subtle sheen and little, two-hole white buttons that were square. Her skirt was similar and about knee length, showing the ancient rotor joints that she had been built with on the sides of her knees.

He wondered. If he had had the abilities all those years ago, would he have been able to sense her mind at all? She was not technically a reploid like he was, just an emotive robot with a pretty smile programmed since 'birth.'

She came up and stood beside him, also noticing the dead trees off to one side. Their wide, three-prong leaves had all fallen off in the wake of their death, making it look as though either autumn had fallen early or the trees had been weeping, and yet early summer existed everywhere else, happily ignorant of lifelessness in the thousands of underground caskets they encompassed.

"Hey," she whispered softly. Her voice was a soft mezzo soprano, one with warmth and intelligence, lacking the obnoxious traits and slang that humans sometimes integrated at their lowest, most foolish levels. She was machine perfect in construction, not the definition of beauty but impossibly symmetrical in her rounded cheeks, short nose, average sized eyes and blemish free white skin. Despite her being merely a robot and much different from the reploid sage, she had a voice that was more comforting than any other when he was young. For him, she was unlike all the other simple machines.

But back then he was not the Sage of Light. He was only a wandering reploid, the first and only of his kind, a terrible outcast with an unfixable defect that made controlling his emotions unbearably difficult.

"Hey sis," he said back to her.

The robot smiled warmly. Her face looked so very human to the future sage. Almost a century later, it still did.

For a long time they stared that the grave. In bold, carefully carved letters it said: 'Doctor Thomas Light, Inventor, Leader, Father. May the World He Envisioned Become Reality.'

Each of them read the name many times to themselves, hoping that they could gain something new from it after multiple attempts, some better understanding or a more comforting sentiment than the blank slate they were unfairly given instead.

The wind gusted. No matter what time of year it was, wind was cold in a graveyard.

"I didn't think I'd find you here," the female robot said quietly, still staring at the name on the stone.

The reploid in the yellow cloak hid behind his visor and didn't say anything in return. He only looked at the grave, entranced by its stillness. There was never any love felt for the man buried underneath the ground from the reploid ninety years ago, but the same could not be said of his sister. The lady robot, if she was capable of it, held more love for the white-bearded corpse than she did for any other person. For a moment, the sage reploid wished he could feel it too.

"We all miss you," she spoke to him again, this time trying to stare past the hood that blocked out all the unwanted things in his life, of which there were far too many.

"I'm sorry, Roll," he said.

"I know you are," she answered back, and she took a hold of his arm and the long yellow sleeve around it, wiping her tears against the fabric.

Each breeze stung like an instant winter frost despite the high temperature.

"Roll?"

She turned halfway, enough to see his visor and the unhappy, vacant posture of his lips.

"Yes?"

Pulling away from her was far harder than the name on the grave. He felt his mouth and cheeks twitching and pursing of its own will, and he swore that a few beads of moisture had begun to collect in the corner of his eyes. It was the most painful feeling he had ever endured.

"Roll… Would father forgive me if I did something else bad? Really bad?"

"I'm sure he would," she answered quickly in a voice soft and practiced to sound like that of a caring mother's.

The sage shook his head. "You don't understand."

"Maybe," she said back. "But I'd like to. You're different from all the rest of us. Father made you extra special."

He sighed and turned away. "You've always said that, sis. Father did, too. So why the hell did I spend so much of my time fighting against you?"

The future sage spun back, angry, fists and teeth clenched, but his sister did not back down an inch.

"I made life horrible for the people around me. I destroyed homes and factories and laboratories. I stole priceless valuables and weapons, all for Doctor Wily, our father's arch enemy. I joined him while he made robots of destruction, and Mega fought me and them back every time. If I'm so damned special, why did I do those things?"

He looked to the dead trees not far away, and then he thought of the parts of the city he grew up in, demolished from new robot wars that were beginning to go completely out of control.

"If I hadn't been so selfish I could have stopped all this," he said. "But I didn't. And for some reason I still can't seem to do the right thing. Why?"

Roll held her face down for a moment and looked back to the gravestone.

"Maybe you didn't have a choice," Roll spoke softly, to which the cloaked reploid sharply cocked his head. "I know we have the ability to grow and learn, but Mega and I were still _programmed_ to do the right thing. All of Doctor Wily's robots were made to do the exact opposite. But you were special. You were and still are completely free to do whatever you choose, and as someone with a father who didn't know how to love them, maybe you made the only choice you could. I have to say, I've been jealous of what that total freedom feels like, because I know that I can never truly experience it."

"It's not a life you would want," was his cold reply.

In the distance far behind them an explosion of some sort resonated the remnants of its sound waves, making a sound that would have been barely noticeable to humans, and not much better for the two of them. The fact that they didn't react to it eventually made them react with shame for what their peaceful home had become.

They did not speak for a while longer, but neither of them looked at the large gravestone again.

Another explosion. A little closer this time. An aftershock of sound meant that a building might have collapsed. They remained still for a few minutes longer.

"I should go," said Roll. She placed a hand on his reploid shoulder guard and gently squeezed it. "Are you staying?"

He shook his head, smiling a little, but he was far from amused. The irony of her question made him feel like he could collapse and die right there, or just walk into the center of an incoming missile launch. Tears fell past the veil of his shades.

"I'm… leaving sis," he stammered. "I need to get away from this place. I can't take it anymore. I need to find a way to fix myself, and I can't do it here."

"Then go," said the robotic woman. "We'll do the best we can here, but I can't promise you that the war won't spread to wherever you're headed."

He hung his face down. She didn't understand, not that he expected her to. And he wouldn't tell Roll exactly what it meant, that he was called to a completely different world, that it would mean abandoning her and everyone else to lead a different life, and with luck, a better one. More than the existence of fighting and unhappiness since his birth as a reploid, the only one of his kind amongst thousands of imitative robots that only made his heart sink more.

"Goodbye, sis," said the lone reploid sage.

Ninety years later, he regretted it.

It was the last time he saw her alive.

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Five long years later – a momentary resurfacing of the realization that these were merely memories – the Sage of Light in training returned to his home, the city he fought for and against so many times. A place he had almost belonged to amongst the tall, rectangular sky scrapers, the many wind-powered turbines on the hillsides generating energy for the small metropolis and surrounding areas, and the solar blimps that carried passengers without the need for rapid teleportation so regularly. And most importantly, he had family there.

The wind turbines still stood on the hills, locked and motionless, but nothing else remained. There was no trace of the giant balloons, and the city had crumbled to the ground, as easily washed apart as a sand castle in a storm. All of the buildings had collapsed upon themselves; only a few of hundreds of structures stood at half height or better, and all the rubble was an empty mass of grey metals and concrete. It was a colorless, quiet series of ruins that stretched for many miles in every direction.

As the sage walked and leapt through the rubble his face became as blank as the emotionless city. He pressed through, cloak slightly stained and faded to a paler yellow with splotches of brown from constant use, and he began to notice a pattern to the destruction; a general increase the amount of damage as he moved toward a certain point. Eventually there came a clearing and a deep indentation easily a quarter of a mile in diameter, and there were few pieces of rubble larger than the size of his fist as he approached it. Mostly dust was left.

The inevitable conclusion was that there was no telling how much battle the city had endured before the precision nuclear strike that had annihilated it, but he didn't feel the tingle of radiation against his metallic body that would have been there if it was within the past few months. It had been dead for at least that long. Perhaps several years.

It was all gone. All the people, all the robots, all the shops and businesses and homes. The modern temples and sanctuaries, the cars, buses and hover cycles, also gone. Fragments of denser metal constructs survived, but recognizing the internal skeleton of someone who might have once been an acquaintance, an enemy, or perhaps even a sister was too harrowing to handle.

He fell to his knees.

Could he have prevented this? If he had been present, could it have been stopped from happening? His stomach lurched at the possibility that something, anything could have been done to stop the loss of thousands of lives that had touched him, and yet he had done nothing. Instead, he cowered in his own inadequacy on Hyrule. The sage clenched his teeth, knowing that he should have been among the rest of them, and if he couldn't prevent the disaster then he should have died with them.

He sucked in breath after breath, making it deeper each time until he could absorb in no greater amount of air.

The Sage of Light intended to scream as loud as he could, echoing violently across the emptiness until his chest began to ache, and yet no sound would come out. He wanted to hear his own hate filled voice reflecting back to him many times, mocking his choices and his anguish, and when his airways failed he pounded what little solidity he could find amongst the desolation into shrapnel with his fists. Bits stuck into his hand, eventually drawing blood, and when the pain turned into sadness and feeble lack of hope the best suitable bandage he could find was the bottom of his own cloak.

A few might have survived it. Just a few. Robots who were durable enough and near the edge of the blast radius could have lived. Maybe Roll was alive, somewhere. And maybe she was somewhere else altogether, he thought, though he didn't believe it could be true. In all mathematical likelihood she was dead, and if this devastated city was any indication, there would likely be more death across the globe of his former home.

And the graveyard that housed his father's headstone? It was his next stop, and he feared the worst.

The walk there was void of emotion, and he noticed nothing of his surroundings until he reached the forest-lined cemetery. All of the trees had long since suffered from a forced autumn, and rotted leaves in messy clumps were all that remained. Some had been blown down and were barely growing the new life of moss that should have been more abundant. Some of the stones and other testaments to people who had once lived were in no better shape. The resilient grass was long and uncut, and decrepit vines crawled over the broken stumps of rock, violating their respect as departed dead.

No matter how destroyed and overgrown things had become, the Sage of Light recognized the spot where he and his sister had stood. Their father's monument was massively cracked, and the name had broken off the top and was allowed to be encased in plant matter a few feet away. The rest of it was barely legible, but if he looked close he could decipher the phrase that had been left there: 'May the World He Envisioned Become Reality.'

Ironic. It may as well have been a shotgun in his mouth, and for a brief few seconds he wondered if that would actually work for him. A small weapon never would. A reploid was too durable for that, but the explosive power of a shotgun might just rip him apart, and the idea was enticing the more he thought about it.

He wondered what someone would say at finding his remains perhaps only for the pure survival instinct. The thought, though laced with morbidity, was amusing enough to force him to move on. Despite all his knowledge and awareness of what his own brain was doing by changing the subject, the Sage of Light couldn't win the fight against his own need to keep on living. It might have been a tribute to how well he was built. Or, depending on the way you look at it, a tribute to how horribly flawed he was as a living thing. For a moment he picked at the rubble feeling nothing but a void until he began to envy the way that a human could dedicate themselves to suicide. The way they could succeed in splattering themselves in their living rooms or bathrooms, ingest poisons that take many minutes to kill or slice their own throats was perhaps the only redeeming quality he knew in humans. It was one of the few things he was incapable of, but that was enough to make him bitter and jealous, and it forced him to focus on all of his superiorities.

For a while he paced through the rubble on the other side of the city feeling the dust progress into bits beneath his metal steps, and the bits eventually became larger chunks once he had reached a few miles outside the initial blast. Each step was emotionless and not at the same time. After the many minutes fluttered by him, the city thinned out, and there was some living greenery half way to the horizon, but no sentient life in sight.

There was a mark on his hand that pulsed. It hadn't been there long. The three golden triangles that had begun forming just beneath his knuckles. What was it called? The Triforce, he remembered quickly. At that moment it meant nothing. All his family was dead. His enemies likely were, too.

Foreign sounds like rushing water interrupted him, and yet his body refused to acknowledge it.

The true Sage cursed himself; he had fallen for the illusion again, but at least he had come out of it quickly this time. His memory froze like a picture frame, different from the way it fizzled or shattered the previous times.

Faster than a finger snap he found himself in a dark stretch of nothingness, white eyes revealed once again and glowing underneath his hood. The place he stood was new, yet familiarly haunting. It was too similar to the space between dimensions that Zero had trapped him in not many days prior, and it made his inner mechanisms squirm.

There were differences. Beneath his feet was a pale white glow that sparkled subtly and more so when his feet moved. It appeared to be a narrow path leading in two directions. It warped and waved very slowly, with occasional jolts and blurs before becoming consistently straight again. He looked in either direction. The place closest to him, less than thirty yards away, flickered with emotions and a pale yellow glow, most prominently the seething hopelessness of returning to his destroyed home world. Like a gate of some sort, it vibrated with welcome as he looked at it.

The other one was just a fleck of dark purple lightning and blurry glows that he estimated to be miles away, filled with anger, distress, and other things that he was surprised he could sense at the great distance. It was as though a psychic force was shooting out from it.

Crackling thunder boomed in the direction of the distortion, and the sage white eyes narrowed at the anomaly, and it immediately became his destination.

The thought was countered by a sharp jolt in his skull, as if someone was refusing his intent. Bursts of violet smoke began to pop up along the path, and as they cleared, the Sage of Light raised an eyebrow.

"What's this? Fiends in here?"

Not far ahead, a creature made of stone but with large, organic eyes stared at him with its head tilted to one side. Like a rhinoceros made out of a mountain, it a thick plate of rock in the front and a single, solid horn in the front. It pounded its solid, exoskeletal front legs, daring to charge, and it waved the drill-like horn. The sage spread his legs in a wide stance and drew his energy blade as his white eyes became hidden again underneath his visor. A wide grin crossed his face.

"Finally, a little bit of action," he taunted the creature. The sage watched the rocky extensions of its body began grinding. "Come on! Show me what you've got!"

His stance snapped low, thrusting his shield outward as his energy blade pointed backwards from his sleeve.

The creature became maddened by the sudden jolt and began charging, spreading shockwaves from its immense weight rippling across the interdimensional plane. It bellowed angrily like an oversized bull, and the Sage of Light deepened and shifted his weight, letting his back leg bear his weight while leaning forward. Behind the stone-skinned creature he caught glimpses of other monsters, all different colors and shapes, closing in on him in a horde through the narrow pathway.

As he leapt just out of range of the charging animal, the sage carved through the creature's rocky skin. He landed gently and spun with a flutter of his ancient brown cloak, surprised to see that the massive gash he left in the carapace of the beast was not bleeding.

"Hmph," scoffed the light sage as he readied for the monster's next charge.

Its stomping feet rattled the ground, and the Sage of Light felt the gyros in his legs twist to compensate effortlessly. Even as the space around him rumbled wildly and the stone rhinoceros snorted, a ball of light began to form in the reploid's shield hand.

"I don't get nearly enough practice with all my abilities, but you give me so much free time."

As if it understood, the beast bellowed loudly and began to stampede, the weight and sound of it like that of a dozen animals.

"Come on!" the cloaked machine clenched the light around a tight fist.

Prismatic reflections of light surged from his hand in a widening beam, passing through the rock animal's head. It fizzled a red light then vanished, leaving a smell like burnt blood and bleach.

The sage leapt into a sprint, seeing another creature not far ahead. Its wings were as wide as it was tall, easily over ten feet. Clearly he could distinguish the head of a dragon with two fleshy stumps on top of its head like horns. The smooth skin of a salamander covered its bright orange body, and the claws were easy to spot after another second's rapid dash. From its belly a deep roar, almost human, blew hot air into his face.

Flames that may as well have been lava met his shield, dripping bits of superheated saliva from the new enemy's long reptilian mouth onto his arm, burning the surface armor quickly, painfully.

He swung a blinding slash with a sudden jolt forward, but the creature had already backed away, using its wings to retreat swiftly.

"Clever," the sage grinned. His energy blade retracted, twisting into the hollow shape of his Buster, and he fired off several volleys. Surprised again, he watched the strange fire dragon use its wings as a shield, and the energy bursts left simple burn marks were a small amount of blood oozed from it. The sage dashed once more as it fell from the sky. He began slashing, driving back the creature along the sparkling, narrow pathway.

The air around him dropped rapidly in temperature until it was bitter cold, and a plume of icy blades shot up around him. Taken by surprise, they scratched and banged against him, chilling his front side as the impact blew him backwards.

In a swift roll and backwards handspring, the sage saw the hulking colossus approaching from behind. The reploid picked off the sharp chunks of ice and stared at the simplicity of the monster. Nothing more than a tall, hexagonal mass of ice with stubby legs and arms, it stared with beady, yellow eyes.

"Ungh!" the sage shouted, feeling pain when one of the large shards of ice came out, doused in blood where it had dug beneath the armor of his thigh.

Bright rays, one fire orange, the other chilling blue, began to rise from the ground beneath where the creatures stood. The circular patterns spreading out with opposing circumferences from their feet were familiar as the shimmer of colored sparkles rose up from them.

"These beasts… materia magic?" worried the reploid. "What are these things doing in my enemy's mind? How do they have such powers?"

The sound of rising energies became immediately silent without warning. The fire dragon became panicked.

A presence so strong shouted from behind the sage that it intensified the sensations in his facial features and made his telepathy ring out like a siren across his skin.

Sacred light began to come from his hand. The Triforce symbol beneath the reploid's knuckles was reacting to the beat of a fierce heart. It entered the long, phantasmal corridor, and the creatures sensed it too, barely able to focus on finishing their materia spells.

It said no words as a flash of green streaked past in a glint of light.

Sky lights lit up as the man cleaved the dragon with wide swings that stretched beyond even the reploid sage's ability of sight. Each one was like a violent snap, and wind blew from his back towards the assault, as if the air itself was cleaving through the enemies with each swing from this madly glowing mass of green energy that somehow held a human shape. With such an intense presence it was akin to Lifestream bodies – strange echoes of people similar to aeons – which he had seen a few times before.

Blood sprayed from the fire dragon's chest, and its materia rays beneath it dissipated, scattering the runic symbols. It burned into masses of crimson ash and then blew away into nothing.

The sage continued to watch, frozen in awe. Another blinding slice stuck diagonally into the creature of ice, but the Lifestream being couldn't pull his blade – a white and ghastly double-edged blade with a spectral blur – from the ice golem.

Crunched by surprise and a frosted punch, the Lifestream spirit was plowed into a tumbling spiral, and he snapped back into his stance gracefully at the sage's side as if struck by nothing.

Staring into his face was too much for the reploid sage. Remnants of dirty blonde locks hung at the sides of his face, and the green tunic of heroes past was perfectly sized for him, draped gently beneath his waist where he wore simple white tights and thick, knee length brown boots with side clasps. A pointed cap hung to one side, and the long ears of a Hylian parted his hair.

The spirit somehow followed the sage's eyes directly, locking on to them with absolute precision through the visor. The spirit's eyes were green. Mako green, like X's, like those of the planet Gaia and all others infected by the Lifestream's curse. Not a word came from him, but his face communicated worlds, much of it beyond the Light Sage's heightened comprehension. Every so often gentle beats of color replaced his Mako image, and he appeared to have a full form, flesh and all.

"You, you're…"

The spirit clenched his hand and the gauntlet covering it, and although they were partially transparent in his mist-like, pure energy form, the golden triangles were as clear as day even through the silver-plated gauntlets. But when the sage watched one of the bottom triangles glow brighter than all the rest, it was as if his heart was being squeezed by someone's palm.

He was absolutely sure. He was standing alongside the former Hero of Time. The sage was within arm's reach of the man called Link.

The Hero glanced briefly to the icy colossus stomping its way toward them.

"I can… almost hear your thoughts," the sage said, astounded. "You want me to show you what I'm made of? My strength and skill to prove my worth?"

Link hummed an acknowledgement, but they were both drawn to the glitter of Mako energy swirling among splinters of ice and water emanating from the creature.

"Very well, get ready!"

The swell of Lifestream began to grow thick around the sage, spiraling in thick growths that began accelerating, encircling his body. A great force of wind flitted his cloak, and his body began to glow white as growls of adrenaline rushed through him.

Before the energy swell was complete, the living tower of ice had formed giant spears of frost that were now careening toward the two of them. Link pulled the shield from his back and showed its glittering Triforce emblem and the great Hylian designs of deep blue and red to deflect them. Each one impacted sharply, half exploding with tiny shards that stuck in his legs. Altering their course was all that was necessary. Jolts to one side or the other removed them all as they vanished into the abyss of whatever was outside of the gateway.

Link turned back with an impatient glare. With a slight gasp, he witnessed tiny patches of the tattered cloak suddenly become whole again, turning a pale yellow color just as the streaks around him came to a binding halt. He leapt above Link's head and shouted.

"Ray Splasher!"

Twin bursts of radiance ripped across their narrow landscape from his Busters, rupturing the shell of ice of the creature and exposing a strange gel inside it. Torn completely asunder as the hole widened and the beast became unrecognizable, it dissolved into nothing with a slow fizzle of the fragments left. Other creatures that were too far away to see were even destroyed by the onslaught of light bullets that struck their slender path and all around it, spreading into the null space and vanishing shortly after.

With a gentle landing, the sage noticed that the Hylian man was holding a second weapon that he hadn't noticed before. A strange weapon made of crystal with silver bands had appeared out of thin air, and as they began to traverse the narrow plane Link held it back as a secondary weapon if he needed it. The sage wanted a closer look, but there wasn't time.

As they approached closer to the thunderous blades of violet light, the Sage of Light wondered if this strange place was his captor's lair.

A great white fox with glowing red eyes and nine great plumes of tail survived the sage's power, and as it tried to stand and fight despite several burning, bleeding wounds, Link leapt and drove his ghostly Master sword into its heart. It dissipated like the others into a blend of the colors that comprised it, then became nothing.

The gate grew close, and thunderous booms created gusts that pushed them back. But both of them knew it was not the crack of lightning. It was too consistent, like a heartbeat.

Together they defeated every strange and different monster that stood in their way, not turning back once as they approached the storm along the steadily darkening path of dim light beneath their feet. Hostile shadows seemed to be closing in relentlessly, but it didn't keep the sage from wondering in awe at how Link came to be in this place.

_An elaborate trick_, he considered. One that would lead him to oblivion with how real it felt, but he could not ignore the pull of the Triforce. It felt right even though it made no sense for the Hylian man to be there. As the propulsion from the bottom of the sage's feet carried him forward, Link's sprint with sword in hand kept impressively close.

A great bird larger than either of them with bright yellow feathers protruding like spears from its body literally breathed electrical pulses than rained down on them. Each protecting themselves with their shields, they waited for the moment to strike. The sage grunted with eyes wide beneath his visor. The gate was within stone's throw!

For a moment the electrical plummeting from the bird's mouth ceased, and the Sage of Light took aim, striking the bird in the chest with a solid burst of plasma fire. It began to fall, and Link's blade – spun backwards in his grip – began to pull him in a rising cyclone. The avian monster's belly collapsed onto the whirling blade of the Hero, his renown spin strike dealing many blows until the creature burst into sparks and faded like the rest.

They both caught their breath. Mere seconds returned their casual breath to them.

Other than the beating heart of the gateway, it had become much quieter.

The sage's hand extended from the hollow of his Buster, and he wrapped his cloak comfortably around his entirety. Link sheathed his ephemeral blade which the sage had noticed bore a striking resemblance to the Master Sword. It was curious, but there was little time for questions as they surveyed the gate.

A door was there, that much was clear through a vertical pool of shifting liquid that stretched into the darkness. Strange emotions tickled at their calming adrenaline as they stared. It was shaped like an archway with two halves to it, but they were vastly uneven with jagged and curved extensions both pushing different directions across the centerline of how a more peaceful set of double doors would look. Sinister was too simple a word for it.

"Eh…" Link interrupted his thoughts with a small vocalization. His expression was... chastising?

"Do you know what's beyond there?" the reploid asked beneath his cloak. He hadn't looked at the miniscule splotches of yellow that the Lifestream spirit seemed so interested in, but he knew they were there.

Link's response was hesitant. To the sage it meant "Sort of."

The gate pulsed like a stone thrown into a body of water.

"Look out!"

They both dropped flat to the ground as a massive hand ripped through the gel-like substance and swung over their heads, splashing a cold, metallic liquid on them both. Pulling back, the sage and the spirit saw three fingers with rounded, probing tips opening up.

A pair of small, colorless blobs splashed and separated. The hand then retracted and vanished beyond the gateway.

The sage narrowed his gaze and spotted the barely distinct set of eyes on each one of the globs that were slowly taking shape.

He fired a single shot from his Buster, but the little blob somehow propelled itself to the side and dodged it entirely. Clumsily, the pair of eyes returned to the center of the small blob of slime, but it was anything but clumsy if it could dodge Buster fire.

Link propped himself up, and the sage followed suit, scanning the seemingly insignificant monsters with his visor. Under thermal specs they were extraordinarily warm, about fifty degrees Celsius and climbing – too hot for the insides of most living beings.

Sprouting extensions began to jut upward from them wafting their hot temperature as humanoid forms bubbled and began to string together. Each of them began the same, growing arms, legs and heads with the sound of flowing mud accompanying it.

The Sage of Light shifted his Buster and extended the energy blade from his arm, but the Lifestream Spirit pressed against his chest and held him back. The expression on his face was darkly quizzical, curious and reminiscent as he stared between his messy blonde hair at the bodies being formed.

"Wh-what is this?" the sage muttered.

Dark, twisted replicas of each of them formed stances with blank faces that held uncanny accuracy; a perfect sculpture. Down to each facial wrinkle and the dire expressions they wore, Link and the sage felt that they were standing in front of mirrors steeped in a violet aura. Even their weapons had been recreated as the shape shifter Link unsheathed a blade swathed in malice, an evil replica of the Master Sword's elegance. The phantom Sage's robe was exact down to every tatter, tear and burn, patterned by dirt and blood. The bright spots that had just recently formed were there too, though they were a pale orchid instead of yellow.

The sight of a stolen energy blade jutting out from his enemy's hand unsettled his own stance. Uncomfortably shaken, the reploid took a step back, wondering how much had been recreated in the shape shifters. Whatever was beyond the gate, it was clear to the sage that their counterparts were determined to guard it to whatever lengths it took. Shield ready, he anticipated his first move.

One thing hadn't been copied, though the sage had no idea why. Link's second weapon, the strange sword made of crystal, was not in the clone's hands. When Link held the strange object out it looked almost like a key, but the streak of light that shot from it made too much of a barrier for the sage to see it clearly.

Careening backward from the beam, the fake Link was caught off guard and disadvantaged.

Link struck, diving at his shape shifter with reckless offense. The old Hero pulled the mimicking creature into the darkness outside of the lit path, but the sage's shape shifter didn't move a muscle as the two Links faded into emptiness, falling, then disappearing.

The Sage of Light wished he hadn't been watching it. A stream of matter had dissolved them both, but the lack of reluctance that the Hero showed that maybe he knew what he was doing.

Time was a cruel witch in such tense situations, and yet the other shape shifter didn't budge, the one that had so perfectly assimilated the reploid's appearance down to the most recent color added to his cloak and the energy weapons he used. The purple saber jutting from his enemy's wrist was perfectly still, more the color of night than violet. It would be a fight alone; the sage couldn't assume that Link was coming back. If only the monster stealing his face would make the first move, the sage was confident he could win.

His face felt hot, and his arms creaked with a tense worry. If the goal was nothing more than a stale mate to buy time, then the sage knew he would have to assault first.


	68. The Council of Fallen Swords

**Chapter 68 – The Council of Fallen Swords**

Unusual and disturbing pulses of consciousness had been occurring for months now. A series of small ripples that normally clash and nullify each other or simply pass by without obstruction had changed, disrupting whatever sense and definition of balance existed. Those small waves had matched a certain frequency and amplitude so dangerous that when one event encountered another they would together magnify into something spiritually and chemically devastating. In the far reaches of existence, those attuned to catastrophic occurrences were uneasy, but few knew why.

Amongst the Lifestream and those from it trapped in Zero's twisted Deathflow, a few were stirred beyond their rest and the mesh of life that was rarely more distinguishable than one blade amongst fields of grass. Flowing in a realm where physical existence was near meaningless, even these beings of pure emotion and spirit sought an image of flesh to discuss the doom that might spell the end of existence for all things. To think that a single being not all that different than them could bring about the destruction of time itself was harrowing. And for people who were already dead, even that was too frightening to ignore.

The surface of their meeting place was as similarly false as their bodies, imaginary to the extreme, touchable even, but lacking the full connection that true physicality offered. The smooth marble columns felt as such under the fingers, but the sensation was too temporary and could only affect the skin that touched it, whereas a real perception of that perfect softness like silk hardened to an unbendable form could tingle along the hair on one's arm. For the young Naminé, remembering how it truly felt was almost arousing.

It was she who had envisioned this place, taken it from her own memories. The white marble at the corner of the room and the too perfect white walls, floor and ceiling of the mansion she was once trapped in harbored no more ill will against her as it had in real life. She may have been prisoner there once, but she was no longer alive in a way that she could fear it. For Naminé it had become a peaceful sanctuary.

She rubbed the corner support again, scrunching her small nose and her lapis blue eyes as she hoped to feel something more real, but it wasn't enough. She stroked her long, bright blonde hair next and then hoped maybe for some more powerful reaction as she rubbed her sleeveless, featureless white dress. Naminé frowned at her failed experiment, sighing. She considered that perhaps with practice she could recreate the sensation, but she wondered if she had been too young to fully appreciate those kinds of senses in the first place, restricted to a poor restoration as a result of her uncontrollable fifteen years of age at death. Not that she would be allowed to _attempt_ bringing back those feelings, of course. The Lifestream didn't need anymore instability, even a trifle like that.

The chandelier and its many simple offshoots that hung from above were also perfectly white, as were the long rectangular table and the round-cushioned wood-like chairs, four of them for the four expected to come including her. The only objects that bore color were the drawings on the wall. They were all done in colored pencil or crayon, and they depicted many events in her life, but she couldn't remember them as clearly as she wanted, nor were they sophisticated enough to tell much of a story.

Some names came to her. The tall, thin man with spiky red hair and flames on his arms was Axel. He was once her enemy, sort of. He was also a good guy, she clearly remembered. Complicated was probably the right word. Looking at his picture made her feel many things. Sadness, happiness, and a little bit of anger.

The two that caused the most emotion were pictures of two young boys about her age. They had spiky hair too, but not like Axel's. Naminé remembered how Axel's hair was kind of crazy, but the other two – one blonde, one dark haired – were fun and free.

She was swiftly distracted from her reminiscing, and Naminé spun when she sensed the presence of someone near. Even when she still lived she would have felt it. The Lifestream's interconnectedness wasn't necessary with her powers of memory reading.

A haze of greenish essence flowed in and began to take a humanoid form, one that Naminé identified correctly without having to look. Regardless of the tranquility that the stream gave to everyone, the incoming Inuyasha was a boisterous spirit with too much hostility for his own good. He stuck out like a sore thumb with firecrackers going off around it.

His large, loose robe had slits in the shoulders to expose a white undershirt that was also robe-like, and baggy, ancient style pants matched the outer-top to bring the color of blood to the all white room. His hair, however, waist length and rather beautiful, was almost a perfect match to the shades of snow. There were small, pointed dog ears that stuck up through his locks, and they were somehow adorably cute despite his aptitude for hot headedness. Nothing covered his feet.

"Where's Link?" He demanded with a snarl, proving his irritability to be at the forefront of his emotions, as usual.

"He's not here yet," Naminé said quietly. She then ignored him and returned to the hand drawn pictures.

"Hey, I'm not done talking to you!" Inuyasha snapped with a rising growl.

She heard snaps and cracks of flesh and bone adjusting to stiffness – a futile gesture of someone holding on to humanity even harder than her. Still, Naminé knew that the half demon was capable of hurting her in this form, and that wasn't something she needed or wanted. The price of creating such flesh however fickle and temporary meant that pain could be suffered, too. Considering his sharp fingernails digging in was unpleasant to say the least, but that was probably because she knew their appearance was deceiving; Inuyasha's mildly dangerous looking pointed nails were comparable to a dragon's talons.

"How the hell can you go along with what he's doing?" the half demon screamed some more. "The way he's interfering!"

How to deal with him was always a challenge.

Naminé could feel the half-demon's temper continuing to rise; Inuyasha was seriously considering acting on his rage, so she glided away from her drawings and faced him, wondering if he would dare to pull out his legendary weapon, the Tetsusaiga, from its haggard, old wood scabbard on his hip.

Normally physical belongings didn't tag along after death. That would be silly. But the Tetsusaiga was a spirit sword with an unshakable bond to Inuyasha that couldn't be split easily. Death couldn't break it. The sword was made from a tooth of his father, a massive demon with almost unmatched powers on his world. When sheathed or pulled by a normal being the Tetsusaiga looked pitiful to say the least, dented, rusted and miserable, which made it an inconspicuous weapon. But when it was pulled by its rightful owner the Tetsusaiga grew into a massive blade taller than Naminé and quite threatening. It was an off yellow color and had a white tuft of fur at the base of blade, presumably from his father, and it smelled like the blood of hundreds of living creatures and demons, as they were called.

Inuyasha's hand was on it, wanting badly to pull the weapon against his better judgment as the growls continued to come from his lips.

Naminé eyed the large, black-beaded necklace around his neck, and a wonderful idea popped into her head, making her smile at her own devilishness. She read his memories and found many instances that amused her in regards to the large piece of jewelry that hung on the inside of his tunic at the bottom of his chest.

"Sit, boy," she said simply, and instantly the necklace responded, radiating a brilliant indigo light that seemed to horrify the dog demon.

"Oh no, not that! Anything but-"

_THUD_.

Face first, Inuyasha had crashed to the floor, hair falling into a mess around him a moment afterward.

"Good to know that curse still works," Naminé smiled plainly, amused that the irremovable necklace placed on him in life still carried across the threshold to the Lifestream as well. It was surprising that he had two articles like that between the Tetsusaiga and the cursed jewelry. Clothing was merely a mentally constructed facsimile, but his two possessions literally had a presence of their own in the stream.

Inuyasha groaned and picked himself up, rubbing the sore spots on his face as he plunked into one of the white chairs. "Seems like I get treated like a dog whether I'm alive or dead."

"Don't act like one and it won't be a problem," the young girl suggested, to which the half-demon grunted, annoyed to say the least.

They waited in silence for a few moments, allowing the air – though there wasn't any real air to breathe in their imaginary realm – to settle into something more calm. The emotion of serenity, unlike the concept of oxygen molecules, was something that they _could_ achieve in the Lifestream, though Naminé grinningly didn't count on it with him.

Inuyasha sighed and attempted to fix his hair. That damn curse always made it a tangled mess, and he posed a question as he worked his fingers through it.

"Why are you helping Link all of a sudden?"

Naminé continued to inspect her drawings as she answered, "I'm not. He asked to borrow my Keyblade, and I said yes."

"Which means that you're helping him," he bared his sharp teeth.

"He asked nothing of me, only to borrow something that belonged to me."

Inuyasha tapped his nails on the table, obviously not agreeing with her logic. "You could have said no."

"And that would have aided you much more strongly," she pulled her fingers away from the soft crayon marks and turned her face to him. "Giving Link the Keyblade just made what he could already accomplish go faster."

"You're just helping him because you two are all hooked up," he crossed his legs in the seat and huffed.

"Shut your mouth," Naminé snapped in a whisper.

He did so with another aggravated grunt.

Naminé shrugged off his comment and stared elsewhere.

Regardless of whatever feelings existed, Naminé served as Link's interpreter. The young Hylian man, once the great Hero of Time, did not speak, but his eyes and subtle sounds could reveal worlds of knowledge and emotion. None of them truly knew if he was incapable of speaking or if perhaps he simply _chose_ to remain silent, but nobody would dare question him. If the majority of the Lifestream was a field of seemingly identical shades of grass, then Link was a great oak overlooking many or even a towering deku, the rare tree from the Kokiri forest in his land of Hyrule.

Naminé considered that Link's desire to protect the innocent might be out of guilt, and she somehow felt it forcing a tight and uneasy swallow in her throat when she took human form. She knew that _he_ knew that his absence and consequently the Triforce of Courage's lack of presence was partially responsible for Hyrule's demise, and his shame for allowing people he cared for to die might never heal.

Inuyasha was wrong. Naminé cared for the two boys in her drawings above all else, the two boys whose names she couldn't recall, and Link's heart beat for many, but above all else for the exiled princess that he once knew. As if somehow willed by his feelings for her, Princess Zelda Hyrule had cheated a normal death and maintained youth despite her suffering for over a century. If you could call the massive decline and starvation of the Hylian races normal, that is.

But Inuyasha had asked a question that was becoming more important. Where _was_ Link? What could possibly detain him?

The young girl spun and Inuyasha stared from the corner of his eye as a third presence phased from a shifting cloud of weightless matter into a cohesive form with short but soft and wavy spikes of blonde hair that were quite noticeable before the rest of the facial features became whole.

The young girl and the half demon were uneasy whenever this particular member arrived, and they both rescinded their relaxed poises. Their third member's slow, inexperienced manner of putting himself together into a natural form was only impressive for having existed in the Lifestream for three years (whereas the other two had an unknown number of decades of experience), and compared to the rest of their abilities it was frustrating and unpredictable. Half the time he could barely remember their names let alone much else, and it could make him act paranoid and shaky.

Naminé watched carefully, seeing if he was coming along any better. His thin, sleeveless purple sweater was a solid plum color, and the shape of his incredibly muscular and lean arms came together more quickly than normal, a promising sign. His baggy black utility pants and armored shoulder guard took shape shortly after, and, last but more swiftly than any other part of him, the massive Buster Sword, as he called it, materialized on his back in its four-foot long, eight-inch wide black scabbard.

Cloud Strife, third to arrive, opened his Mako green eyes, rubbed his light, unblemished skin on his arms and surveyed his surroundings emotionlessly.

Inuyasha never considered his opponent's weapon, and Naminé always found that odd. She wasn't a warrior at all like he was; her Keyblade was designed more for peace than for battle, but she'd always noticed the Buster Sword that Cloud carried on his back. He sometimes took it out to help him remember things better, and it was covered in angled, zigzag bandages with an edge that was rusting to the sharpness of a butter knife. At first glance and inspection of the dying state of the weapon one would think it might as well be a club, but like Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga, the Buster Sword made people let down their guard. Of course, being in the Lifestream didn't make that trait very useful, but it still belied the incredible power that the Buster Sword had in life and the afterlife.

"Cloud?" Naminé gently waved to him. "How are you feeling?"

He turned his head gently, froze for a moment, then surveyed the room, looking at the all white décor, the young Keyblade Master and the half demon sitting cross-legged in a seat not intended for it. For Cloud, Inuyasha's ingrained look of impatience was one of the most easily identifiable familiarities.

"I'm fine… I think," he said quietly. "Where are the… other two?"

"On their way, I'm sure," Naminé answered, to which Inuyasha huffed.

Cloud pulled the sword from his back and sat down in a rigid, mechanical motion opposite Inuyasha, placing the heavy weapon against the table. They glared at each other for a moment, and then Cloud straightened his neck and stared emotionlessly forward at nothing.

"Have you remembered anything new?" Naminé probed. "Can you at least remember our names?"

He nodded then stated them slowly. Inuyasha first, with a little effort, and then Naminé's without any hesitance. It made her smile a little, while their white-haired walking temper tantrum repeated one of his abundant scoffs and grunts.

"I heard that Link was… interfering," Cloud said. "What was he… interfering with?"

"Frigging everything he shouldn't be," Inuyasha shouted. "He's causing such a mess. The Lifestream is already getting messed up. At this rate we might destroy whole planets or turn toxic or make too much materia naturally and then the living will start running around crazy with power. It's already changing landscapes by setting off delicate things like the earthquakes on Gaia, and people with magic powers are trading off with entire civilizations that don't know a damn thing about it."

"Gaia was Zero's fault," Naminé reminded him. "And you're referring to one of the Earth planets. The one where the Sage of Darkness comes from, yes?"

"Yeah, I am."

Cloud shrugged. "The balance has already been… upset. The Deathflow wreaks havoc. Link may be… helping it."

Inuyasha once again snorted and crossed his arms at being unable to think of a quick retort, and it brought a small but significant smile to Naminé's face.

Naminé had paid close attention to Cloud's speaking. It was a little bit less choppy than normal – another good sign that he was quickly becoming more comfortable in the Lifestream as an independent entity.

"To be a little more specific about Link," she explained to Cloud, "he opened a path for one of the sages to free himself. We don't think that the sage would have been able to escape without help."

"I see," Cloud answered back. "Doesn't that… go against all that the Lifestream… stands for?"

"Just being whole like this goes against the entire Lifestream," Inuyasha huffed. "Whoever or whatever rules this place is probably going to hunt us down and erase us from existence."

"This is true," Naminé answered plainly.

Inuyasha seemed to be pulsating at the sides of his head, ready to burst. "Did anyone ever stop to think that us dead folk interfering with the living world might be causing more harm than good to them?"

"Of course we have," Naminé answered, and Cloud watched over the conversation with mild interest. "It's not as if we haven't weighed what little we know about the consequences. Yes, it's true that by just assisting and changing what the Lifestream is we might be causing as much damage as Zero intends to do, but it's better than waiting idly while he attempts to destroy the sages and gain more power."

Cloud sighed heavily and closed his eyes. Emptiness slumped him over, making his muscles feel weak and insignificant as he thought of how much he couldn't remember, and his open display of fragility stopped their bickering for a brief moment. The great Buster Sword in his lap had many dents and markings beneath the bandages, some of them so important looking that he swore he ought to know when and how they were earned, but he couldn't recall it for the life of him.

_Heh_. _For the 'life.'_

"What's your problem, mopey?" Inuyasha jabbed.

Cloud simply glared with distaste at the half-demon then turned back to his sword and the straightforward, empty stare at the wall.

"Whatever," the holder of the Tetsusaiga huffed. He leaned to one side and propped his elbow on his knee and his head on top of that, hoping that something would eventually come to alleviate his boredom.

Minutes meant very little to them anymore. The concept of time, day and night was based on their respective planets rotating around the bright star that heated them, but none of that existed in the Lifestream. Nothing entirely existed in the Lifestream at all, so they simply waited, not even knowing how to count the seconds anymore. Instead time was based on the rhythmic tapping of Inuyasha's bare foot to the multi-century old tune in his head and the number of silent and consistent rubbing motions Cloud pressed against his battered sword.

It was hard to ignore the ways that they kept time, Naminé thought, but when others weren't around she didn't often bother to keep tally. Easy as it was to forget old habits in a place like the Lifestream where everything is ephemeral and blended, every now and then she caught herself counting breaths or the number of other semi cohesive consciousnesses in the never ending stream that she encountered. Some of them were beyond her comprehension, but she still recognized them as being whole and capable of thought, though she didn't know if it could be called that. It was too complex to verbalize.

Time – regardless of how much or little it meant – did pass. Inuyasha's immature grunts began to wane, and Cloud began to absorb himself in thought, stopping the slide of his fingers against the old, bandaged Buster Sword.

In a very corporeal moment, Naminé caught Cloud running his fingers through his short but spiky blonde tresses of hair, which was just as equally meaningless as the way Inuyasha shook his massive mane of hair and how Naminé felt what she merely remembered to be the sensation of 'smooth' between her fingertips. She then realized how impatient the three of them were, expressing it in their own ways. It was unsettling to feel that human for Naminé, so she reverted back to the search for old knowledge of the spiky-haired friends from her past. Memories were less awkward than sensations, at least.

Link was quite late. None of them knew by what measurement he was late. It was more of an inherited awareness of when things ought to happen in the stream.

"This little mansion of yours won't hold forever," Inuyasha eventually frowned with a slanted glance at her.

"Once Link arrives it will be just fine," she said with confidence.

Cloud met eyes with Inuyasha in a brief moment of agreement. He also addressed Naminé. "We may have… abilities to travel through time, space and… thought, but we're… not invincible. Link… could have been delayed. Even spec-spectrally scattered."

"I doubt that," was her confidently grinning response, as mild as her expressions were.

"Should we… look for him?"

"No," said Inuyasha. "We'll just make more of a mess of things that way."

He was condescending, but quite right. No one really understood the depth of Link's motives, or their own at times, but they were deep beyond anything that they could remember from their mortal lives. Why they had come together as whole, individual beings once more in a fleeting series of echoes and impermanence confused them all. A gut instinct to give aid to those who need it, perhaps.

"I feel as though we are very similar to aeons," Naminé whispered abruptly.

Inuyasha sat up, but held his initially planned retort with a restrained sigh. "What made you think of that all of a sudden?"

"I don't know," she shook her head. The small girl in the white dress shook her head again, much more aggressively. "It was a stupid thought."

"No," Cloud stood from his chair and planted the Buster Sword's tip into the white, stainless floor. "I want to hear… what you were thinking. It... sounded interesting."

She furrowed her delicate brow. Where _had_ that thought come from all of a sudden? Why think of something she had never before considered until that moment? Her fingers fumbled nervously but slowly together as she stared blank in their general direction, pupils glossed by the white of the room.

"I… don't know why it came to me. I just thought… aeons are sort of from the Lifestream, and so are we, but supposedly aeons and summon spirits led actual lives just like we used to."

"Well, duh," Inuyasha cocked his head up, shifting his white hair. "All kinds of living things are in the Lifestream and the Deathflow. Even plants and animals and things with practically no brain. They have life essence just like we do."

"I know that," she gave him a neutral glance. "But summon spirits are granted release into the real world, whereas we've had to wander and stumble into a short-lived fabrication, and actual trips to the living world for us are much more limited."

"I do not… enjoy the thought of… living in other people's bodies or… minds," Cloud referred to red materia or other methods of summoning while he returned to a sitting position. "However, I do see your… point. We seem to… have many similarities… to aeons."

"Maybe so," Inuyasha shrugged, arms seemingly glued in a crossed arrangement, "but they're much older than we could ever imagine, and if… if…"

He sniffed the air.

They all felt it a few moments later. Like sensing a person through a sixth sense, they could almost reach out and touch the overwhelming presence of their fourth member and leader.

Inuyasha was content to finally get some answers, but Naminé was furious. She knew Inuyasha's sense of smell was a lie, so he shouldn't have felt him first. As Link's interpreter it should rightfully have been her. Rather, as she watched Link skillfully materialize into a humanoid shell, she felt that the half-demon should have been last, beyond even Cloud's meager skills.

"Link!" she said exuberantly, greeting him first as she knew she ought to.

His pine green tunic added much color to the all white room, and his metal plated gauntlets added brown and mirror silver to the mix. Quickly adjusting his bandolier and the decorated Hylian shield at his back, the man once called Hero of Time took a seat at the head of the table.

"I trust you were successful?" Naminé asked, to which he nodded.

Link held out his hand and the strange crystal key blade with silver ribbon appeared in his hand. Naminé held out hers, and the weapon quickly vanished into small twinkles of light before reappearing with a glow in her own hand.

"Thank you," she bowed lightly in her chair. "My Diamond Mind was useful?"

He nodded again simply.

Tapping his sharp fingernails against the table with a dull clack, Inuyasha pressed. "Can we get to the point?"

Link turned, and the points on his Hylian ears lifted a little as his jaw tightened.

Naminé watched the Hero's facial movements carefully, making sure not to miss a single twitch or curve in his lightly colored skin.

"He says yes," she began, "and he asks what you want to know."

"How about what the hell you're doing?" Inuyasha snapped. "You're damaging the natural flow of the Lifestream! Worlds like Gaia are too stressed by Zero's attacks to have that kind of chaos on top of it! And then there are the human worlds where magic and demons don't exist. Taking it away from those who rely on it is one thing, but the people who've started to gain power on _those_ planets are falling into petty wars."

The eyes of the Hylian man turned down for a second as he gave an unhappy nod. His expression quickly rose to a stern glare as he faced Inuyasha with resolve, determined that what he was doing was the best choice.

Naminé nodded hesitantly when Link looked at her, and she interpreted for him. "He says that he knows that what he's doing is causing direct problems for people who have nothing to do with Zero. He also says that he doesn't want anybody to get hurt, but that losing the war to Zero is much worse than the imbalance of Mana and the deaths it causes."

The dog demon snarled. "How can that possibly be worse? We could kill everyone, and that's just what Zero wants."

"No," Naminé quickly read the words he fashioned out of thought. "Zero wants far worse than that. He wants…"

She broke her concentration. "My… my God… I-I didn't know…"

Cloud raised a panicked eyebrow, worried for her, and Inuyasha backed off stifling a growl.

It took a sharp look from Link to force her to continue.

"Zero wants to… to destroy time."

"What?" Inuyasha shouted. "What the hell would that accomplish? He's insane!"

Screeches of twisting metal and floorboard drew everyone's attention. The Buster Sword had been twisted in its spot in the floor, and its owner had stood.

Naminé was choking back too-fast breaths. She had seen images of something called a 'time snap' and what it would do in Link's mind. "Cloud?" she stared, trying to distract herself. "What is it?"

"Link," said the young man from Gaia. "You do not know… why Zero wants to do this… do you?"

Link shook his head. For him, a reason was not necessary when the stakes were observed.

"When I… lost my memories… back when I was alive… I had to… piece together them from other places even though they were… false. Is it possible… that when Zero destroys time… he might have the power to take time and… rearrange the pieces of it? Would he gain anything by… doing that?"

"Maybe," Naminé answered for Link, who had become thoughtful, but agitated and angry at the possibilities. It was difficult for the young interpreter to speak some of the words.

"If that's possible then he could rearrange time in any fashion he pleased and be the ruler of eternity. He could demand worship and sacrifice, or even just continue to replay his hellish acts time after time, building and increasing his evil forever. Or he might want to destroy all time, leaving the universe as nothing. Whatever it is… Zero's hatred runs deep, in a much older way than possible for a reploid. Something is growing inside of him, something ancient beyond any of us. And we have to stop it or it will end existence as we know it. That's what I know, and it's important enough for me to act on it even if some have to die in the process."

Inuyasha plunked back down, as did the rest of them, and he groaned. "Fine," he said. "If you think we're helping the new Hero… this Mega Man X, then I'll cooperate, but only in the smallest ways possible. I don't plan on infecting the sages with too much Mako or something stupid like that."

"Agreed," Cloud said. Surprised that someone was on his side, Inuyasha scratched his head and waited for an explanation.

"I think that we need to restrain ourselves," he said, becoming abruptly more fluent. With a quick glance at Inuyasha, he added "as much as I don't like to agree with someone so… hot tempered, I can appreciate the fact that we can cause terrible… disruptions if we aren't careful enough with our interference. We should limit our powers and lend as little as possible to the sages and the Hero, just enough whenever they… need the help. We can observe the rest of the time. What… do you think?"

"Hm," Link agreed with a simple gesture of his head, and his lips pursed while he thought. They were surprised to even hear that tiny hum out of him, but the moment passed. When Link stood, they all stood with him. Inuyasha buried his reluctance and gave the young Hylian a moment to give orders. Their team wasn't formal, but he was clearly the leader. With or without reputation, his ferocity, skill in and out of the Lifestream, and clear headedness made him that. Being the former bearer of the Triforce of Courage reinforced his position.

"Link says that we should each pick a place to watch. One with the Hero, one with Zelda on Earth, the third on the planet Mobius, and one to stay in the Lifestream to search for anything unexpected."

Eager to go, Inuyasha volunteered to go with the new Hero of Time, and he anxiously placed a hand around the Tetsusaiga. "Besides, that half-demon girl is there. Raven or something. Heard she inherited the Blades of Blood power. Might be fun to see if she can do it better than I can."

Before waiting for approval, Inuyasha's form dissolved into a directed green mist of silk and passed through the pure white walls, away from the old mansion isolated in the Lifestream.

Link rolled his eyes.

Naminé smiled a little. "I know," she said. "He's going to have a terrible time catching them if they're moving faster than light on that starship."

"Link," Cloud volunteered next. "I don't have a particular preference, but I would… understand if you wanted to go to Earth. After all…"

"No, Link says you can go to Earth," Naminé said quickly, instinctually shooting out the powerfully forced emotions she interpreted from the ex-Hero.

"Very well. I'll make sure they… don't come to serious harm," said Cloud as he took up his Buster Sword, hurling it into the equally wide sheath on his back.

Naminé observed him carefully to make sure he didn't become unstable, and the way he carried the broadsword of easily fifty pounds made the bandaged old weapon look like it could have been forged in paperboard. Something about the conversation had driven him to amass more focus. Or maybe it was just Link's binding charisma.

"Yes, I'll watch out for Mobius if you wish, but – forgive me for asking – where you were just there assisting the Sage of Light, would it not make more sense for you to return?"

He turned his head and glanced at her casually but plainly.

"You think I'll interfere less?" she asked, surprised, but then she gave him a little smile. "Alright. Then good luck here," she bowed as she spun the carved crystal of the Diamond Mind in her fingers and placed it at her hip where it promptly faded. Soon, it vanished entirely. "Be careful if you venture near the Deathflow. Jenova will be merciless if she finds you."

Rolling his eyes in a friendly sort of manner, he sighed at her care for him before acknowledging the warning with a subtle bow.

"I know you know, but we need to support each other down here."

They shared a pleasant skirmish of facial pleasantries. Fascinated by how long she could just look at him and react to his thoughts happily, at times Naminé felt guilty that he couldn't do the same, or at least not as well as she could. Link was, at least, perceptive. The way he smiled at her was not how Inuyasha suggested it, nor was that how she wanted it. He was like a brother, a friend, a caretaker, a teacher, and even a bit fatherly, all compiled in a single, sometimes too-good-to-be-true package.

A brief twinge struck her forehead. She had seen some unpleasant images.

"You fought with a clone of yourself… that must have been difficult. And another clone is facing the Sage of Light, but you feel confident he will win?"

A simple nodded indicated so.

"I'm glad you're alright, at any rate. And I should be going. Hopefully you'll get a chance to…"

Another presence appeared and took shape before they could notice, and each of them had their weapons drawn before they could see it. Her Diamond Mind sparkled, and a phantom of the Master Sword named the Master's Echo slid out with a spectral swish along with the slice of metal blade against metal sheath.

A cloaked figure sat huddled in a corner, almost camouflaged by the white he wore against the white of the wall.

Link tilted his blade curiously, and the Triforce symbol at the base of the blade tilted in and out of sight with a faint glimmer as he stepped forward.

His head snapped to Naminé.

"Go? You want me to leave? Absolutely not!"

His teeth clenched and the leather of his gauntlets stretched from his compressing fists.

"A-alright," murmured the girl.

A pulse ran through her chest, halting her, but she knew that was impossible. She had no true heart, but somehow she felt something reminiscent of it as she struggled followed his orders. It pained her again as she tried to dematerialize out into the Lifestream. Though her body faded into a streak of imperceptible energy amongst countless more, she still felt panic for him.

If it was an agent of Zero…

It was all she could do to trust and hope that he was doing the right thing. The question of who else other than Zero could possibly want to find them would not let go of her, though she knew that as soon as she became whole again she might forget those last seconds. Memory was so unreliable in the Lifestream sometimes, and she pushed as hard as she could to keep those moments in her mind while seeking the route to Mobius and the Master Chaos Emerald enshrined on the Floating Island.


	69. Shadow Sight

**Chapter 69 – Shadow Sight**

The way that the black hedgehog perceived his surroundings upon waking was superior, and although he had never lived in anybody else's shoes Shadow was well aware of his advantage. Everything about him was designed to exceed the capabilities of any other living being, and for someone with that sort of reputation, regaining consciousness in a metal body cast from neck to feet was maddening.

The dizziness of waking from his forced blackout didn't grow into clarity like it should have, and Shadow soon realized that he had a horrible concussion. Anything less than a severe one would have likely healed by now. His blurry sight refused to leave, and the throbbing where he had been struck resumed at rapid pace, making his already weak focus more challenging.

A subtle hum was coming from somewhere near him, possibly a form of magnetic or electronic energy forcing the clamps around him exceptionally tight, a logical precaution, and probably a necessary one for him at full strength, he concluded. Balk had certainly done his homework.

And that worried the black hedgehog some. Balk could have aimed for the heart, the back of the head, the front-center of it... but he didn't. It could have been luck, Shadow considered, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the fat echidna had somehow managed to get his chunky hands on a set of anatomical blueprints or an X-ray, something which Shadow had only done once. Other than pure chance it was the only way that Balk could have known that the corner sections of his cranium were a bit more fragile than the rest of his skull, and thus a weak point of sorts.

He stared straight ahead, discovering that part of his poor vision was due to his right eye being glued shut from dry blood that hadn't been sopped up in his short fur. Trying to pry it open didn't accomplish anything, and he snarled, gritting his teeth until it hurt his head again.

The restraints were tight and uncomfortable. Too warm, only relieved by small gaps for his shoulders. Stranger yet, when he tried to jerk on his metal body cast to test its durability, his limbs felt weak and flaccid, far too much for a simple beating to the skull.

"Shit," he whispered.

The black hedgehog figured that he had clearly been drugged, and he struggled feebly again, barely able to twitch his fingers. His head wouldn't turn, but he could see in his clear eye that his left hand wasn't bound, and he assumed that his right one was not either. Inquisitiveness was conjoined with concern when he realized that his gloves had been taken, because it was his ring bindings around his wrist that altered his power; the simple white gloves with black and red slits did nothing. Did Balk intend to dissect his hands in some sick biological study? The thought brought chills, but he couldn't move properly to shake them off.

Then he remembered. There was a strange new mark on his hand of three golden triangles shaped into a larger pyramid. Other than having to do with the Sage of Light, Shadow frustratingly knew nothing about it, and the possibility that the same fat, stupid echidna who had beaten him _did_ made the hedgehog rage inside. He jerked angrily against the bodysuit of several-inch thick metal, doing nothing but injuring his lifeless limbs.

He shouted angrily, first at his imprisonment, then by the agonizing throb in his skull that followed his outburst, but the pain was too much for him to stop tightening, shouting, groaning, and it only augmented the problem until he ran out of stamina. Worse than his imprisonment, the strength he had petered out quickly, and his head hung forward in anger and helplessness against the steel around his neck.

For a moment he thought that his eyes were beginning to water, so he shut them tight and began breathing as deeply as the miniscule space around his chest and diaphragm would permit him to. It was torturous – every labored breath shaking him in a way he had never experienced before – feeling weak and incarcerated against his will. There was nothing he could do but wait, and it squeezed at his chest and stomach in a way that made him want to, possibly for the first time, throw up the contents of his stomach.

A sudden rush made his head throb again. His nose and cheeks twitched at scents that brought his limp arms back to life. The intoxicating feeling, taunting him somehow, was the same thing he had felt when he stood in front of Balk, but as Shadow sucked in the candy air he realized that it was not quite the same as the chaos power he so enjoyed, but peculiarly similar. The smell alone had made him forget about his devastation for a moment, and he was the stern and defiant Shadow the Hedgehog again.

Balk entered with a low swish and hiss of the massive metal doors across the room. Shadow had smelled that scent just before the fat echidna struck him, and now once again. What on earth _was_ he? There was something very abnormal about him, but it couldn't have been that way since birth.

Two guards followed him again, but not the same ones from before. These were not traditional officers, sheriffs, or even special forces of any kind he was aware of, and as a former Terran operative he knew a great deal.

They were tall. Compared to Balk almost anyone was tall, but these soldiers were sizeable even compared to Terrans. They must've been about two feet taller than the council member they guarded, and from head to toe they were covered in black armor. Solid plating encased their heads, dreads and chests, secured by thick silver clamps in the front, and covering their limbs there were smooth, hide-like surfaces, perhaps some form of elastic leather weave to provide the best protection to movement balance.

Shadow almost choked on the stench that pervaded his nostrils. It stung his sinuses once they came close, as if the two hulking guards somehow blocked the much sweeter resemblance to chaos that Balk had acquired. They instead secreted something with only the tiniest familiarity. It was like desiring a fresh piece of your favorite fruit only to be given one plump with mold. The intensity brought dampness to his eyes and made the urge to vomit much worse.

"It's strong, I know," Balk chortled at Shadow. "With a bit of light breathing you get used to it."

"What the hell are you?" Shadow spat loathingly.

The fat echidna merely grinned as he made a quick glance at Shadow's right hand.

"Do it," he commanded the guard on his left.

At the armor clad monster's side (Shadow raged internally realizing he had missed it) there was a portable, cordless circular saw of considerable size. The guard quickly released the safeties on the right and left sides near the back of the blade and then squeezed down the handles at the top and on the side that only three of his massive fingers could comfortably grip.

It began whirring rapidly, camouflaging the curved blades in the blur of swift motion.

The guard was not coming straight at him, though his heart would have thumped insanely no matter where the spinning blades approached. Instead the incoming torture was slowly aiming for the unprotected hand to his right, exactly where the golden mark was.

_Damn the Sage of Light_, Shadow thought as his chest threatened to explode. _Damn him to hell for this mark_.

Shadow was growing light-headed. He couldn't get enough air in the metal body cast that he needed to support his adrenaline. It would not even be graceful and swift, a couple of horrible seconds and then finished; no, it could take minutes to cut through his steel-like bone, every moment of which would be impossible to endure. His adrenaline had the ability to nullify drugs and other foreign matter, but it would take too long, and even then, as he panicked and starved for breath, Shadow had no confidence that he could break the restraints even with full strength.

The pounding in his read resumed with newfound intensity. Between his rushing blood and the painful sound of the metallic blade spinning, his head was throbbing worse than before, so much so that his vision became a haze. His stomach rumbled, and as pain of all kinds spread to his intestines, chest and brain, a desperate impulse made him twist his head to see the blades that had begun slicing cleanly through the first layers of his flesh.

Blood sprayed from his wrist, not fazing the massive guard at all, and all of the agony at once made Shadow launch a plume of hot brown vomit and bile.

Unable to see with his right eye and half deaf from the throbbing, the black hedgehog realized only from the horrible sensation that stopped in his wrist and the sparks that shot past his face that he could not have been luckier. The burst of liquid stomach contents had directly hit the device, shorting it out as the vomit was sucked into it internally.

Balk cursed something he couldn't hear and struck him in the face with his rod, but the pain of that was feeble and almost comforting compared to the past few seconds. Shadow exhaled in relief and simply breathed, unable to do anything else but feel the hot blood dripping fast into the tiny gaps in his restraints all the way to the pit of his arm.

A few seconds later they were gone, and the hedgehog fell limp.

Shadow knew they would be back in minutes at best with a new or repaired saw, and he prayed that someone would find him as unlikely as it was.

Time passed silently, and Shadow couldn't keep more than five coherent seconds counted in his head to know much had truly gone by.

Eventually it became minutes.

After a while his stomach gurgled uncomfortably, longing for something to satiate the forcefully taken nourishment, but it would get nothing beyond his own saliva.

He couldn't feel the flow of blood down his arm after minutes more. Had it stopped or just become so constant that he couldn't tell the difference?

Many more minutes passed.

Trying to count his breaths was easier on his head than the meaningless numbers. It helped keep track of time a little better.

Time was inconsistent and woefully inaccurate depending on how fast he breathed. The general trend was for it to slow down, a notion that was slightly panicking, which then started making it go faster again.

Hundreds of breaths passed. Maybe ten breaths to a minute? It sounded like a good approximation.

By his quickly improvised measurement, over an hour had eventually passed. His neck became sore from hanging limply so long, but as he slowly and painfully picked it up, Shadow found that his right eye was willing enough to open a little. The first thing he did with it was look at his arm.

His stomach lurched again at the glance, and he nearly expelled the empty bile and stomach acid that remained. Needless to say, it looked quite awful. It refused to move properly, and it had nearly been cut to the bone. The blood had congealed quickly, reduced to an unsightly slow ooze.

With what little thought he could manage, Shadow was curious why no one had come. If Balk wasn't coming, then he was incapacitated in some manner, but even then he could have had the soldiers come back to finish the job without him. At either rate, it bought him more time.

_Maybe that's what's happening_, he hoped, opening his eyes a bit more. _Maybe Rouge and the others had discovered Balk_.

It gave him the will to keep counting the breaths of time as they came and went.

But the isolation persisted for an hour more of anger and pain.

No one had come. Not one damn person.

How much longer?

There was an open space for his shoulder, and he considered dislocating his arm and using the greasy blood in the restraint as lubricant. He might have to break a few fingers, too, but it would at least get one arm free.

He reconsidered quickly. That would probably tear open his half-detached hand again and he'd lose even more blood. Shadow figured he'd be better off tearing the other arm out instead. And what the hell would he do even if he did get an arm out? The black hedgehog grunted hopelessly.

Shadow made a sudden, angry jerk forward, inflating his chest and arching his back against the metal armor holding him in, but it wouldn't budge in the slightest before his body became limp and exhausted. His wrist pulsed with agonizing pain that twisted his stomach again.

Shutting his eyes tightly helped him focus on sounds. There was the ever present but subtle hum of the magnetized clamps pressing confinement tighter. For a moment he heard nothing else, but something else was coming from the right side. Somehow, focusing on sounds on that side made his head pulse. Or maybe it was his head manufacturing the sound in the first place.

There was also a cracklier hum coming from the overhead lights, but he was waiting for other, more individual sounds.

As more minutes passed, he heard nothing. Where the hell did everybody go? Bingo?

Shadow took the deepest breath he could manage, regretting it immediately with tight coughs. The stench of the guards still lingered, and somehow it mixed with his drying, sticky blood in a way that was positively revolting.

He tried to focus and remember something else. The smell of anything more tolerable than that manufactured, false chaos stink. The black hedgehog was never much for flowers, and the real chaos sensation brought back the false one's sour sting in renewed forced.

In a swift motion his head twisted up, craning as far as his restraints would let him, and he filled his lungs again with the pleasant scent of the imagined woman he had abandoned and angered such a short while ago. She wore a soft and subtle perfume, not too strong even for his powerful senses. It tingled warmly into his airways like the fumes of a hot, sweet drink, and then it cooled his palate like a faint essence of mint along his tongue. He rarely _thought_ of it as pleasant. Rather just not offensive. But as the sole comfort after hours of drugged imprisonment and nearly having his hand sawed off at the wrist for some twisted science experiment, the memory of Rouge's soft aroma was exquisite. He longed to see her, and he swore that if and when he was free she would be the first person he would find, and he would embrace her, apologize for whatever it was he had done. If there was anything he could do to make it up to her, then…

Footsteps. Pounding. Slowly approaching. Awkwardly slow in Shadow's opinion, and he wondered if he wasn't hallucinating from loss of blood and shock or simply hearing things from the slow pulse of torture in his forehead

A moment later he was sure it was coming. Strangely snail paced and heavy, he assumed it was one of the guards come to finish the job, but he was alone at least. Shadow exhaled and clenched his left fist, careful to hold his partially severed one still. His eyes opened in a forced rush of adrenaline as he tried to focus, wondering if there was any chance to reason with the lone guard or if perhaps the mutant was unable to disobey. Without Balk the situation was clearly improved, and that was enough to give him some small hope.

The interlocking angled doors slid open in a thick movement, and the single guard entered sluggishly.

Shadow's vision wasn't free of cluttered blurs, but there weren't any obvious injuries. If there was an explanation to the sloth speed, Shadow couldn't figure out why.

A cordless power saw identical to the first one was at the guard's hip. As soon as Shadow saw it his stomach rumbled again, but with nothing left to release but a small amount of stinging digestive acid, he wouldn't be able to use the same tactic.

His heart began accelerating rapidly. The pain in every part of his injured body was accentuated through the fear of what he would have to do. One decision needed to be made, and although the gash in his wrist ached at the thought, Shadow prepared to dislocate his shoulder and pull out a free arm. But which one? Both might fail. Both might be successful. He could tear his left arm apart or completely fail to pull it out. The result of pulling his right arm out could easily rip his wrist apart, widening the wound and causing a renewed gush of blood that might be enough to kill him, but the blood that already had come out was the only lubricant he was going to get.

Right or Left? The guard lumbered closer, not waiting for him to make the decision.

His lungs were on fire and his head was ringing him almost to blindness. Pain coursed through his upper extremities at every consideration, and Shadow didn't have time to delay any longer. A few more of the guard's huge steps and the saw would cut off what was left of his horribly stained hand, leaving a disabled stump that would never be the same again if he ever managed to live.

He made the choice.

With a pop and crunch that made him spray frothing saliva and screams from his teeth, Shadow dislocated his left shoulder and yanked his hand through the too-small gap. There was another pop and two snaps as his thumb dislocated and his hand broke. Almost as painful, the tight ring band slipped off over his mangled digits, and the containment field it generated in his internal organs and brain shut down, flushing his veins with twice the adrenaline and endorphins.

The guard reached for the electric saw at his hip, and Shadow didn't care how abnormally slow the movement was; he lunged for it with his working fingers and jerked it free, bashing the blunt part of it against the giant echidna's head with as much momentum as his hindered movement granted him. Tearing sounds ripped with pain throughout his body; his shoulder and fingers were now the focal points of numbing torture.

All his swing had done was stun the mutant guard for a moment, knocking its disgusting stench back, and Shadow didn't wait to gear up for another blow. The chemicals fueling his actions and dulling the pain heightened instinct and numbed common sense. With no way to return the weapon to his hands, Shadow – still crackling his voice with adrenaline induced screams of anger and horror – flung the blunt metal tool and heard a crack as it struck the soldier's head and dropped him like an oversized noodle.

"Shit, shit, _shit_!" said Shadow, his already deep and slightly rasped voice breaking as capillaries in his throat and face burst from the pressure, as if he could afford to lose any more blood.

His cursing was for his own stupidity. The guard was unconscious, but he couldn't pry himself out with his only free limb after having mangled, dislocated and broken it into a shape more pitiable than the awkwardly collapsed mess of dreads and mechanized armor a few feet ahead of him.

The chemicals rushing through him were imbalanced, and his face began to jitter. He felt cold, then hot, then freezing, and his quills were becoming damp with clammy sweat, drying his tongue. His heart and lungs were confused as his head persisted it's skull-shattering pulse, but there was no way for him to undo the other gold ring clip sealing his powers with one hand almost severed and the other a broken mess. Teeth grinding and shaking from top to bottom, Shadow prepared himself for the pain that he feared would kick his heart into such a panic that it would kill him.

A horrible sight halted him, and he starved for more air for his lungs. The guard was slowly standing up; there was no time to force his other arm out. As the mutant echidna stood Shadow's eyes began to curl into the back of his head. His tongue stretched out, grasping, choking, convulsing. The gash in his wrist, the crushed and dislocated bones, and all the adrenaline poisoning his bloodstream made his shrieks soundless.

An instant later Shadow felt so much air rush into him that he coughed up tiny splatters of blood from where his throat had split, and it was hot and coppery in the back of his mouth. He reached desperately for the gold ring clip to match the one just beneath the side-to-side gash in his wrist. His legs wobbled; Shadow could not manage to stand while he dragged himself half blind with pain to the brightly colored clip on the metal floor.

"Damn it, _shit_!" he heaved weakly. The wristband shook in his grip, but it was his fingers that couldn't hold steady. With has hand almost severed and dangling he couldn't press it back into place around his broken wrist, and his chemical imbalance was getting worse. Each moment that passed made his insides burn more, and his breathing became an inconsistent stretch of wheezes.

An idea struck him amongst all his incoherent thoughts of fury. Impulsively his hands switched motions. His crunched fingers attempted to pry off the other ring. Despite blurry vision he was able to see the twisted shape of it all, the flop of his inwardly twisted thumb and the sideways snap of his smallest finger. Bile rose in his throat and stung like a fire against the walls of his airways.

It was too cruel. Pandemonium shutting his organs down. Both hands too mauled to take one clip off or return the detached one.

The guard came close with renewed speed, but the veins in Shadow's eyes were failing. His left eye was almost blank, and his right was fading fast. There was an iron tight grip on his left arm as the black mass hovered above him. A metal click sounded.

"Breathe," said two voices at once, unless he was hallucinating. Shadow's inclination was not to breathe simply because he was commanded, but he didn't get a choice. His body starved for the air to go in deeply and properly. He gave in to the necessary craving, swallowing some of the blood in his throat to avoid inhaling it.

The voices came again, but he couldn't hear over the ringing in his head and the crackle of his wheezing.

"We do not have much time," it said. One voice was husky, mechanical, grunt like and muffled. The second was harder to hear.

Shadow continued to gather himself, but now he wanted to lose consciousness as a release instead of from all the pain. Every bone and muscle felt so feeble to him, even worse than before, but he felt the torture of all his injuries and the lack of breath abate slowly. He was too weak to be angry about the pace.

"I will carry you if you need it," it called to the black hedgehog, who had decided that it was definitely a 'she' by the second voice, one with higher pitch and a tender backing in spite of the urgency.

Snarls and violent curses sputtered from him as he held his crippled arms against his chest and stumbled to his feet. In front of his face was a sight that he couldn't manage to process. He glared at a small, female Terran formed by delicate lime sparkles sticking out of the echidna creature. Her torso was leaning forward from it, her hands attached to the monster's hands, and a strange weapon that reflected light like crystal was in 'their' right hand. The weapon was enchanting to look at despite how blurry it was in his vision, like a sword made of crystal, and it was wrapped tightly in silver ribbon from handle to shaft, exposing more of the transparent jewel than silver. Its tip was almost key-like, separated in five different prongs that didn't appear sharp to Shadow.

An almost blank smile greeted him.

If it was a hallucination, it was a good one. Everything felt real enough, but he was too numbed by the endorphins in his body reverting back to the more passive state, trying to make some sense of the mess that his corporal functions had become. As he managed to nearly stand straight up the young phantom jutting out of the soldier's waist grinned livelier. It was like nothing he had ever seen, but he assumed that she somehow controlled it since he could see the head of the creature hanging limp without her inside.

Then, as a gentle waft of breath from the mutant tickled his face, Shadow discovered that the foul chaos stench that had come from them earlier had been neutralized. What on Mobius _was _this girl?

"We don't have much time," she said, sliding back in to the borrowed flesh without a sound, and the female voice was replaced by only the monster's. "They'll soon notice that this body isn't where it belongs. How fast can you move?"

"Ugh," Shadow grunted. "Quarter… maybe half speed."

"That will have to do. I'll take the front. You follow me. Don't worry if this body gets damaged, it won't hurt me."

He complied blindly, not surprised that the boosters in his shoes were disabled, but he knew he could still move fast, about twenty miles per hour in the crippled sprint. He was surprised for the few seconds that he could focus that the high speed of the mutant echidna and the girl controlling it could set the pace, defending him from anything they encountered. His head throbbed as their footsteps resonated from the large prisoner chamber to the hall outside.

The walls flashed red with sirens blaring. The mutant that the girl controlled covered its ears.

"Nyaagh!" Shadow's forehead eventually collapsed against the side of his arm. "So loud!"

"Fight it," she shouted through the muffle of the twisted echidna's face armor and the second voice within. "We must hurry. Follow me!"

The clangs of the creature's massive boots crunched along the non-descript metal floors. Grooves from where sheets of steel were joined together sloppily passed by without much chance to distinguish them. Footfalls from Shadow pattered like quiet jackhammers in comparison to the almost bashing sensation of the hulking echidna he followed, and they picked up speed as the sirens continued. His legs moved without thought as he continued to cradle his arms, counting the sections of metal as he passed by them at their sprint to help him focus on something else.

Shadow's breath heaved hard from his chest. He spat blood and continued on, feeling his temples pulse and his arms throb from deep breaths.

Footsteps echoed other than their own. Knowing he couldn't fight, Shadow allowed his legs to blur as he jerked through the motions of proper sprinting with the arm that wasn't gashed open. The broken bones were preferable as he forced past the ghost girl and took the lead, letting his shoulder take the brunt of the workload.

From behind him the bangs of metal turned into violent smashes. "Don't worry if I fall behind!" she shouted. "As I said, I don't need this body!"

"Graaa!" Shadow grunted in response, squinting from the alarms that wouldn't seem to end, and voices grew closer despite their speed. They had only passed a few intersections, but the black hedgehog couldn't focus to see if enemies had been there before they dashed past. It didn't make sense. They shouldn't have been able to keep up.

The body holding the Terran girl dashed past to match his speed and still clear the way, and Shadow nearly collapsed at the sight of it. Had he seen what he thought he had? Small flares and sparks had jutted rhythmically from the bottoms of the creature's metal leggings in a movement identical to the way that the black hedgehog normally moved, and the thought of his blueprints – his very identity as a living thing – being stolen horrified him too much to keep his balance.

Flung over the mutant echidna's shoulder Shadow could feel the sway like roller blades, but with a much greater side-to-side swing, stolen from him. His eyes stared wide at the blank metal sections, stunned by the pain of the still-flashing red lights and the theft inflicted on him. Instinctually he began to clench his fists, only to cough up more blood from the excruciating pain in both hands. It was a fire in his throat and chest.

He preferred the terrible noise of the banging footsteps over the scrape and slide of his technology. _His_ movements.

The path began to wind in different directions. Shadow only knew it by the way that the creature leaned, just as he would have under the same circumstances. Being shown how identical the creatures were to him made his stomach retch.

"They are gaining on us," the girl said, but to Shadow it sounded like it came from all around. Like she was speaking inside of his skull, painfully attacking the sore spot in his forehead.

"I cannot move at full speed while carrying you," she justified why the enemy was still gaining. When Shadow looked in the direction behind him along the metal corridors he could she the light twisting and changing from bodies blocking it. Outlines of the hulking beast echidnas like this one were coming.

It was the smaller ones that appeared first, having a bit more speed.

Shadow bit his lip hard until it bled, and he leapt down.

"Uuuurrrrraaaah!" Came a screech from his lungs, and in an instant he went from stillness to an explosion of speed, as much as he could possibly drag from the depths of his willpower. The burn in his muscles was excruciating, and he accelerated past the mutant echidna protecting him. When he… she… whatever the hell it was, pushed harder, it still couldn't pass Shadow.

A tiny pang of relief came amongst the mind-hazing vigor that he had pulled together. They still couldn't match his top speed even in a crippled state.

The terrain changed. Winding metal halls darkened into dirt and stone, and bright red lights faded into pale white. His legs melted when he spared the energy to absorb his new surroundings, and he collapsed over a metal threshold, sending a painful thud through one of his legs as he barrel-rolled across solid rock of a brown and earthy color.

Weapons sounded behind his crumpled body, clinking against walls and ceilings. He was coherent enough to hear gunfire, and that didn't belong. Energy weapons both passive and deadly were the norm for the people of Echidnopolis. Terrans used bullets.

Then… the swift slash of a sword?

It was coming closer, and thudding steps crashed and toppled behind him. Grunted moans like a sluggish engine came from something pursuing him.

Shadow gritted his teeth and dragged himself by his elbows. In his own ears he could feel the drum beat of his heart, but his body remained weak and limp as he inched further into the dimly lit cavern.

A body crashed next to him, full of holes. The strange crystal weapon in its hand was stained in red blood, but also green in some places…

Shadow gasped, shocked as the perforated mutant raised the weapon, and a bright ray shot out of it, striking the top of a mechanical door that promptly shut just as a twitching, shriveled creature came around the bend at high speed. Only for a second, Shadow had seen hands full of blades on a tiny, crumpled echidna figure with swollen skin. Frothy saliva had been dripping and bubbling from its face.

The body called out in pain next to him.

"Are you… alright?" moaned Shadow with shaking breath.

"I-I… do not need this body," she spoke in quick spurts, "but I feel its pain. I have never… felt anything…like…"

"Can you leave it?" he propped himself up against a stone wall using his legs. They felt like noodles.

Bangs and grunted language came from the door that was as much of a blur as all of Shadow's other senses.

"Can you – ungh – leave the body?" he asked again.

"Yes, but I… this hurts so much," she winced from the bullet holes that had punctured the heavy black armor and tubing. The creature she inhabited was oozing fluids into small puddles at her sides, and parts of it began to twitch and shake, growing unstable from all the mechanical attachments breaking down. "I n-need another body. Y-yours is the only one… but I…"

"Take it," he snarled, seeing the dents in the thick metal wall expand and stretch beyond their limits. "We don't have time to argue, take mine!"

Shadow gasped as a plume of sea green stretched away from the body of the mutant echidna, dancing between a form resembling a Terran and a simple dispersion of immobile fireworks.

Like a knife the light plunged into his chest, and he clutched his heart in agony. He remembered hundreds of things at once, and he felt blood on his arm; the sliced wrist was open again and resuming its trickling clock of doom. Shadow fell unconscious as a petite blonde face entered his mind. She pleaded with him to get up, but he couldn't move. As the last bits of his eyesight faded into black, he felt his legs moving somehow.


	70. Not Much Time

**Chapter 70 – Not Much Time**

In the past, when Raven was on deck to run a training course as a Teen Titan she was busy in her head analyzing the movements of the fellow Titan before her, wondering if her unspoken criticism would be helpful or not to them. She often considered Beast Boy's choice of animal transformations, the aim of Starfire's energy bolts, Cyborg's energy output, and the necessity (or lack thereof) of Robin's acrobatics. Star and BB were often just cheerleaders in the process, while Cyborg would handle the technical aspects of any gear they used. The Boy Wonder, on the other hand, was focusing on his own technique just as much as he was thinking of ways to improve their work as a team.

It was different with X. Heavenly different. She could just watch him, ignoring the facts of the battle to watch his incredible grace, great power, and sense the thoughts inside him. Happiness and wonder always came with observing what he was doing. Feeling X's mind while he fought against hordes of mechanized and organic foes in a holographic landscape of metropolitan ruins was therapeutic, though Raven did acknowledge how odd those words sounded as she thought them, and it made an unlikely escape from worrying about the damage Zero had caused or was going to cause next.

His mind was so fluid, smooth, and free of the clutter that her teammates often had during tense moments against criminals. Robin had been the closest to achieving the strange serenity that Mega Man so naturally possessed. As she watched from a distance in an isolated section of the holodeck, she blushed, realizing how that feature had probably been responsible for her infatuation with Robin in the past, though it was something she would ever admit.

Of course, X didn't need her admission. He already knew, and being completely comfortable with it, a smile graced his face as the Master Sword sliced through the torso of a generic, computer created Maverick. If anything, having traits in common with Robin that the dark woman found attractive was a flattering thing.

The debris was mostly grayish or teal, covered in concrete or metallic dust that sprinkled its color across all the other hues. Raven wondered if it was a landscape from his home. Maybe one that hadn't been as lucky as the Reploid City she got to see. He didn't show it on his face or telepathically if it was a place he once cared about, but she knew that X was becoming exceptionally good at hiding things he didn't feel comfortable sharing, and that was fine with her.

The way X had adapted to all his skills and weaponry was incredible. Some of the first skills she had seen when waking from her coma those several months ago – the materia-borne ice and fire – were still readily at his disposal and more than practical when he had a spare moment to cast the spells from behind a thick enough wall or other hiding place. As soon as someone dared to invade, they were engulfed in flames, iced into a frozen pillar, shocked by bolts of lightning or, as Raven was just seeing, crushed when a deep yellow aura allowed X to manipulate the earth itself into toppling a solid wall onto the enemies on the other side of it. The dark sorceress heard the crunch and witnessed the explosion of two Mavericks that way, while a tougher third broke through the collapsed building side only to be blasted repeatedly by Mega Man's X-Buster fire until it exploded.

That was another impressive thing about him, the gun weapon on his arm.

When X was born out of the capsule, waking for the first time on his world, his X-Buster was with him. Raven could see it in her head like it was her own memory. Thanks to their bond, it practically was. Through his eyes she saw his first sights, emerging through a thick glass capsule made of brilliant, sky blue metal that was similar to the color he was wearing when they first met on Titan's Island. The capsule wasn't unlike the one she slept in next to him aboard the Dreamweaver, either. It was well cushioned and comfortable, but it was larger, making it safe enough to jerk upward without smacking one's head against the thick glass.

Raven rubbed her forehead while the shared memory continued. Thank goodness that had only happened to her once.

It was hard to see inside the memory with flashlights and other temporary but stationary beacons set up. Humans and reploids alike were clearing away the rubble, some dressed in long lab jackets and other outfits clearly not intended for labor. When the capsule opened, all those nearby were startled and frightened at how the device miraculously survived years of war and the complete cave-in of the entire mountain facility that X had been sealed away in. They had known that it was decades old, but who designed the laboratory and for what purpose was unknown. Too much damage had destroyed all records, and old papers had long since disintegrated.

Three people wearing berets and thick red goggles approached Mega Man X with short but bulky looking black machine pistols. They were soldiers, that was clear, but it was actually difficult to tell if they were reploids or humans.

"Wait, wait," a small but gruff voice had come from outside the scope of X's eyes, and Mega Man's eyes shifted towards it, trying to see through the dim light.

First came the man's long white beard, then the tired eyes that looked like they had suddenly been filled with wonder and excitement. Last was the completely bald head and the weathered tones of Dr. Cain's weathered voice.

"Young man, can you hear me?"

"Yes," X had said.

"What is your name?" the old man asked again.

The reploid in the capsule paused for a moment, searched for the answer inside him, and responded. "My name is Mega Man X."

And that's where it had all started.

Raven liked how she could see his memories. They were more vivid than her own, which sometimes frustrated her, but at times it was like a twenty year movie that she never got tired of, and would probably never be able to finish.

His X-Buster fired all kinds of weapons. His standard shot, small and white, zipped across the terrain before dissipating about a half mile ahead of him. It was his most accurate, so he stuck with it most often. Charging massive power throughout his circuits for a few seconds allowed him to release a single, massive blast that blew most minor Mavericks into pieces and turned the abandoned destruction into a cascade of flying rock and metal when he aimed for the ground. When surrounded or faced with a large number of enemies in one general direction, his Ray Splasher would spray light bullets of pure energy with the speed of an assault rifle and the breadth of a sawed off shotgun.

Most amusing to Raven (she let out a modest giggle every time) was when he charged his Buster with the weapon that allowed him to vanish. She couldn't see the memory of the Maverick that he had taken it from, but it had something to do with a chameleon, she could sense. Enemies were flying through the air when X struck them with invisible kicks, and the sound of his yells with each impact startled the generic machines.

The computer seemed to be programmed to continue challenging him, as more enemies appeared out of nowhere. It only took the Dreamweaver a second or two to synthesize the mass of a new enemy in a sphere of glowing crimson, and it took about that long for X to defeat them, if not faster at times.

Mega Man was breathing hard, tired some from having gone on fighting for nearly thirty minutes. Aside from a single, minor energy projectile to the shoulder guard and another to his foot, he had barely been scratched, and those scarcely counted since they hit two of the most protected parts of his Shadow armor, modified to the green Hylian version that was similar to that of past Heroes of Time.

Raven sighed, staring at him with an excited tingle in her chest.

They were headed to the planet Mobius, another place in X's memories that Raven had already seen to a certain degree. X had figured it would be a good place to look for the Sage of Wind, whom he suspected might be one of a few people on Mobius. Shortly before he started training, X had briefed her, Saria and Red XIII on those particular people.

Seeing pictures of the citizens of Mobius (either on the computer screens or in X's mind) was something she hadn't been fully prepared for. Most of the inhabitants of the planet were anthropomorphisms, or at least sort of. Some didn't look very human at all, and rather much like the natural animals she knew on Earth, but with an obvious sentience in their eyes and facial features, though regardless of their likeness, nearly all stood upright on two legs. They wore clothing to varying degrees, but sometimes their fur took care of those sorts of issues, both practical and modest.

Among the names of potential sages was Miles Prower, nicknamed 'Tails.' He was a young, light brown fox with bright blue eyes and two tails, hence the nickname. Apparently he was a technological genius as well as having the ability to fly by using his dual tails like propellers. More importantly, Miles had used the chaos emeralds in the past.

Next was Knuckles the Echidna. Raven had found the echidna's dreadlocked appearance to be rather odd, but with inhuman strength and the ability to glide (not quite fly), X seemed to think that Knuckles was a likely candidate as well. What was more mysterious about the echidna to Raven, Saria and Nanaki was that Knuckles held the title of 'Guardian' on the Floating Island, designating him as protector of a place that housed some thousands of his people and many from other species.

But there was also the chilling sensation that came when one of the red-haired echidna's duties had been mentioned: protecting the Master Emerald. From X's description, though he had never seen it himself, the Master Emerald was like the ruler of the other seven. What a horrible thing to imagine. It alone held the Floating Island aloft with a power supply that was supposedly infinite. As if that wasn't hard enough to comprehend, there was the idea that without it, the people of the colossal, flying mass would crash to the surface and die, possibly with enough power to annihilate half the planet in one swift strike.

Raven had to ignore X for a minute and rub her temples to try and imagine something that controlled the other seven emeralds. It was probably about as easy as someone from hundreds of years ago trying to understand a modern computer, and the dark sorceress' best efforts only reminded her of the sky blue jewel that was now safely sealed away in X's personal collection. Chaos Control's incredible power made her feel small, and she seemed to shrink inward. The dark Chaos Blast was worse, making her shudder and hold her arms together when she remembered how many Mavericks and Hunter lives had been lost when that power overcame X. And the Chaos Abyss… it had practically sucked the life force out of her to stop Jenova. What could possibly dominate over _seven_ objects like that?

Raven's hands clenched, frightened at the overwhelming possibilities. X immediately responded to her pain.

"Computer, terminate training!" the reploid shouted, and the massive arena faded into the plain, silver-tiled empty room.

He rushed over as Raven floated swiftly to the ground from her perch in the top corner.

"You didn't have to do that," she sighed. "It was just a little worry."

"It wasn't even close to little," X remarked, placing a hand on her cheek, lifting her face up to look at her. "What's bothering you?" he smiled with concern.

"I was having fun watching," Raven grinned at the burns on his armor. "You're ridiculous, you know."

"I wouldn't get better if I knew that the computer would protect me. It's the best way to train, and I can take one hell of a beating, you know that."

She giggled softly and ran her fingers across the black reploid skin armor of his bicep. It felt very close to that of his pale tan face, and it flexed when her fingernail thinly scratched at him. The burn along his shoulder guard didn't make him wince when she wrapped around and embraced X briefly.

"Can we talk in the memoriam?" she asked gently. The subtle thought of it made them both relax and smile in excitement at the same time. Glowing, X's eyes seemed brighter as he touched Raven's chin, pulling her with the effort of a feather's stroke, but it compelled her feet up until her toes barely touched.

"Of course," he moved his hand to her pale violet hair, absorbing its softness in his fingers.

Their hands meshed, her small but strong fingers an integral part of his larger, white reploid gloves, and X could see the faint light of the Triforce mark underneath the dark fabric of her undergarment.

Words and emotions passed through them silently, but each was respectful not to pry into the other's thoughts. Raven didn't even have to think about where the memoriam was. At this point, it had become natural to pass through the wall, which X courteously let her to first with a hand politely gestured out. He followed right after, and the wall returned to its original state of illusion.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, not wasting any time as she began to casually look at the dozens of objects that never ceased to be fascinating.

"The emeralds," she answered simply, thoughtfully grazing over the glass case of the Book of Blades with her fingertips. "Just one of them… alone it's so dangerous, and I don't know how to understand what could happen with a second one, let alone seven."

"Then you'll be happy to know you're not the only one who feels that way," X sighed. "I've seen what can happen with seven. I still don't understand it."

They weren't far away from the large sparkling jewels. Just above their heads, hidden away where only the sages knew, the emotional impact of the chaos emeralds somehow pierced through the shield that they self-generated. That was worrying as well.

Raven stared in their direction. "As much as I want never to touch a chaos emerald again, I feel like we can't win this without them."

"Not with Zero after their power," X answered quickly, still standing at the entrance to the keeping place of his relics. "I'm worried too, but either we're going to use them, or he is. I've seen what they can do, and it's too frightening it is to think of Zero having them, especially with the kind of power he already has."

Raven couldn't help but stare upward to the top where she knew they were kept. Six out of the seven fateful jewels. "Can't we just keep them in the force field? You don't think that Zero could get through it as demented as he is?"

X sighed heavy, pacing forward while he stared at the top floor himself. Undoubtedly the shining stones were already reacting, pulsating with light from their anxiety and other emotions. Mega Man wished he could answer yes, confidently yes. Even though he thought the words, both of their minds knew it was a lie.

"I can't help but worry," X admitted. "There shouldn't be any way to break through except to be completely void of emotion. As far as I know, I'm the only one who can do it, but I'd have to be an idiot to think that no one else could learn. Zelda had the tenacity to try for hours. She seemed to be getting closer. And who's to say that there isn't another way altogether?"

Raven's head was heavy with angst, not liking the unpredictability of the coming days.

"Sorry," said the reploid. "I know that wasn't what you wanted to hear."

Through troubled eyes, Raven smiled at him. "I wanted to hear the truth."

"I'm always good for that," he joked. "The blunt, highly depressing truth."

"Optimism's overrated," shrugged the dark woman, playing back.

Then a strange silence came over them.

Something felt wrong to X very quickly. He eyes locked on to Raven, not understanding what was happening, rippled with abrupt fear for her throughout his body. The dark magician girl's hand slowly rose to her chest, as if trying to hold her lungs together in one piece. A spasm in her head – X felt it, too. She started to cough, slowly at first, then with more strain.

"Raven, what's happening?"

Struggling to hold back the coughing and her head beginning to throb, she shook her head in a feeble attempt to answer, but it communicated more than enough to X.

"I… I don't…"

Raven shouted in pain as she heaved a violent cough, and Mako green stained her hands, sending droplets of bright emerald between her fingers. X held her up as she began to lose balance, and he watched as her eyes began brightening to the same color. Hoarse sounds trickled from her throat, and then the green in places turned into brown where she coughed. Red in others.

"X… what is…" her steadily whitening face and lips muttered.

"Raven, hold on," Mega Man held her as she slumped into his arms, both of their faces frightened and unsure of what to do. "You're… I think you're having a Mako seizure."

Her limbs became weak, barely alive in the reploid's arms until she began to convulse, shaking in different parts of her body, never the same place twice in a row, a chain reaction. X sprinted through the halls using his boosters to move as fast as he could, and every time it was her head's turn to spasm, blood and Mako residue from Raven's mouth flecked onto the armor of his chest, staining the transparent crystal embedded in it.

"Everyone to sickbay, now!" he shouted to the computer, knowing that it would relay the message to the others. He was moving dangerously fast, causing the hydraulic swish of the door to the medical area to finish with a violent snap of metal. X's shoulder crushed it backwards, shearing off a piece that flew across the room.

Raven's coughing worsened. It had become almost pure blood, and lime tears collected and stung her eyes. The dark sorceress couldn't focus on what was happening. The pain, all through her body, shooting through muscles, then bone, then organs, it overwhelmed her. Limbs and thoughts refused to obey, sucked into terrible fear. Blood consumed her palate, the terrible taste joined by the foulness of sour Mako residue.

She knew she was shaking, but it wouldn't stop. She tried harder, and it became worse, forcing X to have to hold her down. She watched him through trembling, unfocused eyes that were unfamiliar and not her own. He was saying things, looking at her eyes, injecting her with something that cold. All the sensations blurred, only leaving her mad heartbeat and a muddle of other faint noises and touches.

And then, that last sensation stopped as well.

"X!" Saria shoved past the broken door, and Nanaki quickly followed. "What's happened?"

"She's going into cardiac arrest!" he bellowed, feeling every joint inside him clench as the words left his mouth. X could barely focus, paralyzed by fear. The first idea he had was materia's power of healing, but that would only make the situation worse.

Saria rushed to grab the arterial stimulator. X had no idea how she knew what to do, but it didn't matter. He snatched it quickly and put the flat, three pronged device on her chest right over her heart. It latched up, glowing quick and bright until the small orb at the top turned blue.

Calamity shattered what little was left of peace.

The violent shock it delivered to her heart provoked her powers. One side of the medical table encased in a black aura for a tiny second, and then it exploded, inches away from taking Saria's leg clean off. Raven had had practically flown in the air at the same time, barely landing back on the table with a horrible thud as everyone stepped back in fright.

She stopped moving.

"Hold her down!" commanded X.

Saria took one arm. Nanaki stood on his hind legs and took the other. X held down the legs and chest just as the light on the arterial stimulator turned blue again.

"Nanaki!" Saria cried.

The medical display overhanging part of Raven's body careened across the room, striking Red XIII's head with a spray of blood following. The Forest Sage rushed to him.

X cringed, ignoring the wolf. Raven was too important. Her heart still wasn't beating.

A third shock pushed X to the floor, and the stimulator snapped in two, completely broken.

X's head seared sharply. He felt hollow and empty as the seconds went on, unable to move, his sense turned to stone. Raven's mind was seeping out of his, and he found himself clutching his face on the floor, grasping desperately for images of her past, her hopes, her fears, all leaving blank spots, expanding like a plague that was going to kill him.

"Get up!" Saria shouted to him. She was standing over Raven, beating on her chest, desperately trying to make her heart move again.

"I can sacrifice myself," X whispered. "I can make her live… if I die."

Springing to his feet with resolve, refusing to even brace for the pain. Raven lay motionless, nothing was more desperately important. X placed his shaking hands above her chest, just short of touching, full of more fear than the first time he had done this to her. She was Raven then and Raven now, but the stakes pounded throughout X's body in a torrent of fear.

He waited, but in seconds his mouth opened wide with panic. "It's… it's not working. Why?"

Nanaki nudged him, bleeding into his good eye until it blinded him. "Use materia," he groaned. "A simple shock..."

The wolf collapsed in pain again and he became quiet.

"Simple… shock," X pulled his hands away from his face, letting his tears flow freely until they seeped into the area around his black neck armor. "Saria, move!"

Beneath him, a pale yellow glow climbed from the floor, brightening as it webbed upward in a smooth aura. He squeezed his features tight. Circling around him, it made Saria's bright green hair stand on end, and Raven's dark, beautiful violet hair did too.

"Gentle, gentle," X whispered, shaking.

Pale sparks jumped from his white glove tips. Afraid and losing her memory by memory, he placed both of his hands on her chest and discharged a burst.

Her outfit burned, a hole over her heart.

The Kokiri woman wept inches away from Raven, teeth gritted, unable to look away, even though Raven's powers tore out part of the ceiling and nearly hit her. The forest girl was losing hope.

X breathed into her mouth. It did nothing. He shocked her again, burning her even worse, screaming at the way he was hurting her, and hurting himself. Twice more X tried, and each time they dodged exploding piece of the medical lab.

Saria had gone pale faced next to the unconscious Red.

Raging, screaming with tears staining his vision blurry, X felt the last inklings of Raven, the ones he cherished and held onto longer than the others, starting to leave. The simple pleasure of her smile. Determination more powerful than anything. Her love. It was being ripped forcefully out of his head. Even their fresh memories, the ones they had made together, were being stolen.

"Don't leave!" X screamed, pounding his hands down on her with a flood of electricity. Raven's ribs cracked. She opened her eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs. Blood and Mako spewed from her mouth.

"Raven!"

X and Saria froze. Their disbelief clung to them passionately – the sight of her breathing rung the depths of their beings. She was alive. An instant later, a swarm of hope rushed back into X, and he acted on those blissful thoughts and memories.

"Blood transfusion!" he ordered. A body-sized tank began emerged from above where the ceiling split. Leaping up, X grabbed the necessary tubes as The Sage of Forest tried to hold Raven down.

The screams were ear-shattering, and her powers continued to shrug Saria off. Somewhere in the midst of the chaos a bloody slash had appeared on the Kokiri woman's arm, and she was forced to cradle it while pressing down on Raven's collarbone with the other. "Her broken ribs… she's bleeding internally!" Saria gnashed her teeth to fight the sting of her gashes. "We have to stop it somehow!"

"Materia will make it worse. There's too much to use a local clotting agent, damn it!" Mega Man swore, holding on to Raven's hand as blood seeped into her flesh through a long needle and tube, replacing that which was flowing madly inside her.

"I'm sedating her!" Saria's voice insisted. A cluster of black flowers with long, diamond petals rose from the flesh of her palm, and she pressed it against Raven's nose and mouth. In seconds, the streaks of telekinetic energy ceased. Half asleep, her eyes shut but her lungs continued to balloon and release feverishly.

There was almost no diagnostic table left, and it had slanted off to one side. The dark woman on it was quiet, but still dying.

X rushed in one last attempt, the last thing he could think of.

A small device with a laser tip no larger than a fountain pen was tight in his grip, and as his hand contracted and separated to reveal his X-Buster, he placed the device inside. There, it was received well, connected to wires and gripping devices that sensed it.

"What are you doing?" pleaded the green-haired girl.

A bright aura began to surround Mega Man as he charged his Buster, glowing bright blue over his emerald armor, and wisps of energy encircled him before joining with his metal flesh.

"It'll work, I know it will…" he said to himself over and over.

"X, what? You have to tell me!" she said, eyes burning with tears and panic. She still kept hold of Raven.

"It… constricts blood vessels in small areas… but in my Buster… it will constrict them _everywhere_."

Saria understood with horror. "That could kill her!"

"I know," X whimpered. "I have to try."

The weapon charged, threatening to overload the device. X's thoughts snapped instantaneous worries. It could be too much. It could kill her. Was it the only choice? Blood transfusions wouldn't fix punctured organs. Sealing them would. Her heart could stop. Her brain could lose all blood. She could be damaged forever. She could die. Why did this have to happen?

"Saria, stand back!"

Her vitals began to crash again. X didn't need his instruments. He could feel it.

X had decided. He was going to fire. The burst would cover her entire body, constricting her veins and arteries from head to toe. It could work. It _had _to work. A small voice tried to say no. To find another way. Mega Man tried desperately to quash it, squinting his eyes shut.

An outburst of heat encased him, and he shielded his face with his arms, losing the charge in his Buster. Blistering temperatures like fire had engulfed him lasted until it had evaporated his tears.

His eyes opened. Standing over Raven, the aeon inferno Rikku was in awe at her own emergence. She still wore the ebony robe like the other summon spirit of fire, Axel, and flames trickled down her limbs and sunfire hair like evaporating orange leaves.

"How..." X gasped.

"Don't know," the expression on her face was dire. She bit the black of her lips. "Doesn't matter. I think I can help her. I have a better way."

"She doesn't have any time, do it!" X screamed.

Rikku looked terrified. More than just for Raven. Mega Man had only an instant of realization before she began that told her how afraid she was for herself as well. Saria felt it too, but she was almost collapsed with her fatigue alone. Torn between Raven's jerking body and the bleeding wounds that had weakened Red XIII to unconsciousness, her mind exuded painful waves of telepathy. Mega Man felt his resolve cracking, a powerful urge trying to force its way out. Despite having no person to blame, his rage began spreading. He clutched his forehead and hunched over.

"Hurry!" he snarled, trying to hold it in.

"I am!" Rikku shouted. She placed her hands over the abdomen of the dark sorceress. "Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood... that's what you say when you summon me, isn't it?"

Temperature rising, beads of sweat accumulated on Saria's forehead, and X's face glistened from flames that flickered around her like willing servants.

"Then take my flesh and my blood... if we share it, then I can make up for what you've lost!"

Red stained the air; a copper mist released from her own abdomen, and she pulled open the outfit to let it free, guiding it onto Raven. The droplets seamlessly passed through her clothes, shining with miniscule crimson lights. X watched, seeing the rays of flame burn away the black of her inner leotard at the bottom of her ribs. As Rikku wailed in distress, blood dripping down her waist, the bruise imprints covering the Sage of Darkness began to fade away, and the room encompassed the wretched smell of scorched blood.

Currents and cinders blew the room apart as more of Rikku became a part of Raven. Medical instruments were thrown aside, knocked on the floor, and the violent winds of the aeon's blaze shoved Saria to the floor. X fought to keep his ground, bearing his teeth, not letting his eyes off of his Raven. Allowing his arms to flail back, the reploid drew even closer. Becoming singed from head to toe, Mega Man felt his anger melt away as he cradled her calming head and the violet hair blowing behind it.

"Are you in there?" he whispered.

All other movement had stopped. The droplets of Rikku's blood held in air. All the force of the winds had become silent, and all others but them were nothing but artful sculptures of the master of time.

X heard his breath. He heard hers, too. Gently, her hand reached up to his face, and her eyes opened, so slow that he thought she might be trapped in time too.

"Raven!" he cried. "I thought... I thought..."

"It's alright," she said. "Please, I'm alright… I think."

"You're... you're not just..."

"Shh," she caressed his lips. She then wiped something away from his eye. It was tainted neon green. Disbelief tangled his voice like a choking vine.

Raven's frail expression turned to concern, aghast that he tolerated the same affliction as it threatened to finish her.

"This whole time... you were having a Mako episode... and you fought through it for me. I love you, X."

For a moment, he just stared, holding her face gently against his. When time resumed and the wind of fire stopped, he looked at himself. His tears had been bright green, and more poisoned blood had come from his mouth. Even at the joints of his reploid armor, the residue of his affliction had caked on from the heat. It was all over him. The entire time, he was suffering the same sickness.

Unable to move more than her head and arms, Raven reached for Rikku, who still bled. In her mind, she shared a small amount of her pain. It was different than what aeons normally felt. All those wounds healed and were erased as if they never occurred upon each summoning. Already they began to seal, and the rest of it cooked and dried on her hot skin, but Rikku still cradled it like something vital and irreplaceable had been lost, but shared. The smile on her face was slanted with the pain, but it was a smile nonetheless. Saria wordlessly sighed and fell to the floor in exhaustion, joining Nanaki.

As it all calmed, Rikku took a look at their surroundings. "We've made... quite an awful mess, haven't we?" she smiled at Raven, wiping the grime from the sorceress' face and pressed her own braids aside. The dark girl nodded in response.

"What you did..." began Raven. "Your blood... it was somehow just like mine, completely accepting. I felt that when it started sealing the wounds. I can still feel it"

X's eyes narrowed, and he needed to wipe them off as he absorbed their features, arguing internally the obscure chance that it meant. None of them needed revelations added to their lingering fear and overwhelming shock. Still, it was imperative, a remarkable impossibility. Thus far, those rare moments had been pivotal to their journey.

Mega Man spoke the words on everyone's mind, exhausted, emotionally slaughtered. "You're… related to each other?"

"Awkward," the aeon half-laughed. She added with a wink, "Don't worry, we're a thousand years apart. Wouldn't mean anything if we decided to get kinky."

Laughing back, the two women with interlocked hands fought exhaustion tugging at their eyelids. There was more to their relationship before. Friends, and aeon and her summoner, and now relatives.

"Good to know the offer's... still open."

"Rest for now," Rikku spoke more seriously. "I'll take care of you." She pivoted, placing a hand on X's shoulder, acknowledging the fatigue in the others. "All of you. Just rest."

Raven had already succumbed to her softening voice and fallen asleep on the destroyed medical table.

"You don't get an exception," Rikku ordered X, straightening up as her pain diminished. She knew enough from having her materia orb stored in Raven's body to know what his detective expression meant. "I know I should still be with her, in the materia. I don't know what it means. We'll figure this all out some other time. Come on."

She let him lean on her as they activated a second medical table which, reluctantly, rose from a compartment in the floor just a few feet from Raven. He climbed on to it. As soon as his back touched it, X fell asleep.

With a deep breath, Rikku turned to tend to the other unconscious pair. A strange sensation caught her mind, and when she turned back for a brief second, she saw X and Raven's hands interlocked across the gap between them. As Rikku directed her efforts to Saria and Red, she couldn't help but smile.


	71. Through the Eyes of Echoes

**Chapter 71 – Through the Eyes of Echoes**

"Never knew it was so bad," Inuyasha muttered, hiding in plain sight in the Dreamweaver's medical bay. An alternate plane hid his movements, his speech, and any other traces that he existed at all even though he had plunked settled within sword's reach of the Sage of Darkness, a half-demon like himself. He turned to the great aeon of rebirth next to him.

"The resilience of their affliction is unparalleled, and beings that traverse epochs do not know an antidote," spoke the great Phoenix towering above him, barely able to hunch down enough to fit in the room. Like Inuyasha, the bird of fire with the color-cascade wings hid secretly from Mega Man X and Raven, a task that was easy for such an ancient thing of the Lifestream.

A small grunt of hesitance came from the dog-demon as he indicated Rikku with a quick aim of his chin. "You sure she can't see us?" he asked the Phoenix.

The deep voice answered. "The girl's experience as an aeon in the Viridian Vale is as a fetus in the womb. She is wholly ignorant of our presence, but the juxtaposition of her rebirth with the precision of her mental recollection is fascinating."

"You're saying she remembers?" Inuyasha questioned him. "How come she can and no one else?"

The rising temper of the white-haired spirit did nothing to faze the Phoenix. "It is the result of her resurrection being synonymous with the moment of her expiration that acts as the catalyst. That unusual attribute has allowed her experiences to resist the decay that you, I, and all others suffer within the chains of the stream."

Inuyasha's left eyebrow perked up while his eyes glazed into an unimpressed frown. "You couldn't have just said 'she got brought back as soon as she died'? Man, some of you aeon types are so uptight."

The Phoenix lowered down even more, flexing his rainbow feathers and making sure that Inuyasha could clearly see his large, fire orange eyes. A strangely casual voice boomed out of the bird in a higher pitch.

"You want me to talk all like you?" the aeon said with an attitude-heavy cock of his beak. "I'm so wise I can sound like anything I want to from anytime, anyplace, _ever_."

"On second thought," Inuyasha stammered and blushed, feeling the intense heat of the Phoenix even as a Lifestream spirit, "I think I liked it better uptight."

"Good," Phoenix returned to his previous tone and stance effortlessly. "The primary concern surrounding the Rikku aeon should not be her capacity to recall the details of physical existence, but the manner by which she was resurrected."

The white-haired one nodded suspiciously. It was obvious what he meant. Any being in the Lifestream with half a consciousness could have felt the shockwave when Rikku was created. The Phoenix was referring the Sage of Forest, Saria. Honestly, Inuyasha wasn't too interested in the details at the moment. He was absorbed with Raven and X lying still on their medical tables, though Raven barely had one left after her powers sent shrapnel and debris everywhere. The cancer eating away at their strength was a mystery, even to someone who existed with the same power that made them mortally ill. If anything it was proof to him and the ancient culture he once existed in that the living shouldn't mess with the dead, namely through materia that manifested the dead's power.

Pitying the inevitable fate that they were scarcely aware of, Inuyasha wished he could do something to help, but the Tetsusaiga that was always with him was meant to destroy, not heal. Forlorn and sighing, he knew interfering would only accelerate their sickness. Link knew that too, but he insisted on making them all a part of this. Shrugging inwardly, the half-demon wondered why then he insisted on helping the old Hero's stupid plan.

"Saria is an enigma, beyond exceptional reach," the aeon continued. "Though her self-teachings were lengthy throughout the deterioration of the Triforce's homeland, I believe her abilities to be suspect of deception beyond the epochs of my erudition and scrutiny."

"She's hiding something from these two, then," he indicated the meshed grip of Raven and X's hands.

"That is exactly what I just said."

Inuyasha withheld a feral growl.

"So if even _you_ don't know, how the heck are we supposed to figure out?" Inuyasha bit his lip, emphasizing his words angrily, and the pointy dog ears on the top of his head twitched like someone was touching them in a way he disapproved of.

The half-demon noticed the Phoenix's colors intensifying, and for a moment he wondered if it was a way of expressing emotion. A bit faster, brighter, and more intense, Inuyasha figured that the great fire aeon might be expressing similar resentment in his ethereal fashion. Though he knew he was a hot head, it was quickly intimidating to feel the fury of the spiritual being seeping out in a fragrance meant to invoke fear. Reminding himself that he couldn't be harmed – at least, _probably_ not – Inuyasha waited patiently for a reply whether it came or not.

When it didn't come immediately, Inuyasha's impatience profited him. Unable to wait for an elder's guidance, he grudgingly tried to think of something that would make sense about Saria as a frown steadily grew on his face. His eyes began to shut on X and Raven, letting the environment around him blur to relinquish some of his focus to memory.

Saria was… different, he knew that much. Her race had never aged, but when Hyrule began to die, all of her people lost that eternal youth. Somehow, she survived decades of isolation on a dying, dark world, eventually discovering the Lifestream through its connection to the Chamber of Sages. She did learn many things. Increased her power incredibly, and Inuyasha's closed eyes squinted when he recalled some of the things he had seen her do with plant life. Turned it into weapons. Had conversations with it. Made art. 'Crazy' was definitely a word Inuyasha remembered using when he had watched the Sage of Forest trying to keep from insanity. As irresistible as it was to watch a single person try to survive a dying land, it quickly became painful to watch the Kokiri girl so alone.

Unsettling to him, Saria had also learned much about what the Lifestream _was_. She had even attempted to speak to him since he was so diligent in watching her unlike other presences within the stream. He had never answered back. It would have been too dangerous then, just as it was to aid Raven and X by drawing out the Rikku aeon.

Scratching his head with both hands and growling, the half-demon didn't see any connection between that and being able to create an aeon out of a dying person. Theorizing the inner workings of the Lifestream's affects wasn't anybody's forte, and especially not his. How was he supposed to make a connection between what used to be a normal Kokiri girl and the infinite force that holds the afterlife?

"Hey…" Inuyasha spoke, pivoting his head to the Phoenix with an optimism that quickly grew excited. "I just had an idea!"

"You speak as though this epiphany is your first," the Phoenix replied. The inflection in his voice was amused.

"Oh, ha ha ha, let's all pick on Inuyasha," the half demon boisterously took the insult. "Honestly, I figured maybe an ancient spiritual being could give me the respect I deserve instead of making stupid jokes like-"

"Sit boy," Phoenix commanded, quite satisfied with the instantaneous and resounding thud that Inuyasha's face made against the floor, though it was one only the aeon and the half-demon could hear.

"Damn it, what the hell did you go and do that for!" Inuyasha seethed, shaking his fists at the Phoenix.

The great bird's wings curved inward, like a gesture of crossing arms. "Explain your hypothesis," he said coldly.

"Oh, right, _now_ you want me to," he turned his back. "Well I'm not sure I want to anymore. Maybe I should just take my ideas and-"

Inuyasha hadn't even heard the aeon speak, but the dark beads of his necklace began to glow again in a hazy purple, and he found himself flat on the floor his neck curved in a strenuous position. In less of an attempt to get up, the dog-demon groaned and snorted, choosing instead to let his chin rest there. Being on the ground already, he hoped the curse wouldn't hurt as much if the Phoenix used it again.

"Still wanna hear my idea?" Inuyasha eventually muttered.

"I suppose it could not prove counterproductive."

Still flat on the ground, he explained the simple premise. As he prepared to speak it, the words in his head sounded so strange, and they would likely be very stupid to the much wiser aeon.

"I don't think… Saria is Saria."

The Phoenix's great rainbow wings spread apart and his head lowered quickly, showing orange eyes and beak inches away from Inuyasha's floored face.

"You are implying that a Kokiri existing on Hyrule's stable plane as a single, undeviating soul for centuries has promptly adopted the existence of another?"

The half-demon's eyes were bulging as he pulled back gradually, hesitant and hoping it wasn't a rhetorical question. "Um… yes?"

For a moment they remained locked at the eyes.

Cocking his head down and away, the great bird slowly returned to an upright position, waving his mighty size with great sound as Inuyasha exhaled with relief.

"Reasoning so inharmonious and yet with logic… your premise, however chaotic, is sound. If we eliminate all possibilities before us, then that which remains, however unlikely and improbable, becomes a feasible truth."

"You're saying… I'm right?"

"I am saying that I can come to no conclusion by the assumption that Saria is Saria, and thus your theory, though ostensibly broad and fallacious, may be the superior avenue to investigate. However…" the aeon began to lose some of its vibrant color, fiery oranges fading to gray, "I do not believe that your strength can maintain mine."

"I can just summon you again later," Inuyasha shrugged. "It's no big deal."

"You wish to risk that upon Mega Man X?" the aeon stared at the crippled two on their medical beds, their hands still together as if it helped them fight the Mako poisoning. Rikku still watched diligently over them, not realizing that she had been summoned by the _other_ half-demon in the room.

"Well… I could just let her go and then-"

"No," said the Phoenix, its entire outline glistening, dissolving silver. Wisps of the Lifestream "Probability and safety dictate that we will not likely converse again before the resolution of these quickly unfolding events. Only summon my likeness under crucial circumstances, and pursue your theory of Saria's deceptive identity. It may yet…"

Nothing more than an outline, the words of the Phoenix garbled, and Inuyasha couldn't catch the rest of it before an empty space took the aeon's place. Getting to his feet and ritualistically brushing off from the embarrassment, the half demon griped under his breath about the poor treatment and wondered what he was supposed to do next. Link's orders were just to watch, but now one of the most ancient summon spirits was asking him to investigate one of the sages, as if Link's plans weren't interfering enough.

Still, as he stepped forward to look at Raven and Mega Man X, eyes and mouths stained with Mako residue that Rikku hadn't completely cleaned, he felt conflicted. Swallowing hard, he weighed his options and tried to think of a plan to unmask Saria, assuming he was right. The two… they were incredibly close, that was obvious. Even in unconsciousness, breathing with slow, healing heartbeats, their hands wouldn't separate.

Rikku, her hair fire orange and her robe mostly black with flame patterns trickling down from the top, tended to them, checking their readouts constantly and tapping at various controls every so often that made no sense to Inuyasha. She was completely vigilant, eyes kept constantly focused even as they began to droop and strain after several hours. But she, like the others, was blind to the possibility that Saria was someone else, a traitor at worst. Rikku was also special, remembering all of her past unlike all other aeons and Lifestream beings, and although she didn't know it, the white-haired half demon felt guilty letting someone so unique get betrayed.

Inuyasha sat on the corner of one of the med-tables, and though he couldn't feel it as he would have when he was alive, he imagined how luxuriously cushioned they were for the two sitting on them. He could hear their hoarse breathing when he leaned his face near them, and it made him feel sorry even more.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked himself. His voice was angry, but subdued to a gentle whisper. He chose to be respectful of the sick couple whether they could hear him or not.

Pacing away from the depressing sight, Inuyasha set his thoughts on Saria. His hand was inclined toward the worn handle of the Tetsusaiga. A moment later he released the unintentional gesture. It was stupid to think that he might need it against a little girl of the forest, though a skeptical insight, hardly a speck of instinct hiding deep within, continued to suggest that this could end poorly. He passed through the wall of the medical bay and began to wander the ship for her, all the while hoping that the other spirits were doing well.

* * *

Light years away in Titan's Tower, Cloud couldn't quite put his finger on why he felt so happy, and comfortable. It took constant self-reminders that he had a job to do, to watch those associated with the Triforce and the Lifestream on Earth, but seeing the Teen Titans, all of them such good friends, made him smile curiously. He felt that perhaps something of his past was reflected in the kindly youths.

As each one switched off duties of patrolling with the other, it was always a warm exchange of some sort, expressing their support for one another regardless of how tired or frustrated they all were. Beast Boy held back his comments of anger at how little sleep he was getting, Cyborg took over early whenever he could spare the time, and Robin was always encouraging despite having to the laborious burden of leader. Sometimes it was literally a warm exchange, and Beast Boy was more than thrilled to have a cup of hot cocoa with those tiny marshmallows after a cold and rainy patrol.

Cloud followed Robin along the hallway carpeting that added a pleasant red-autumn color, listening carefully to how heavy the Boy Wonder's boots clomped and thudded less gracefully the closer he got to his room. The Titan's shoulders had no energy to stand upright, and he peeled off his gloves clumsily with a groaning exhaustion, flinging them toward his door as a way of making the sensors open it early.

Somewhere in Cloud's mind, he imagined that his boots made the same sorts of sounds, even though he was utterly silent and in a dimension apart from Robin's senses. It made him feel very real to remember such a living detail, and he had to remind himself that he had an important task on Titan's Island.

Starfire rounded the corner clearly looking for Robin, and struck by a spell, his spine became straight, his eyes focused, and the muscles that had been flaccid with fatigue only seconds ago vigorously pumped up to something more normal. Driven by infatuation, Cloud suspected. It was remarkably obvious to him.

"Starfire!" he said happily, and Cloud couldn't help but share the pleasant sentiment with another smile, standing invisible and imperceptible just a few steps behind him.

"Robin, I am so happy to see you!" the Tamaranian expressed her feelings without reservation, something Cloud had picked up on as a consistent trait within minutes of observing her.

"I know," Robin said happily as if nothing was wrong. "We haven't had much time to talk lately with all the patrolling duty. If it wasn't for Terra, Tidus and Zelda, I guess we probably wouldn't be having this conversation, huh?"

"You are probably right," Starfire giggled much to Robin's delight and to the enjoyment of their observer as well.

Truthfully, after having briefly studied their patrol schedule that kept the chaos emerald's ever-spreading influence under control, Cloud Strife didn't really believe that those three made much of a difference on sleeping. There was little variance in their hours; the only contribution that Terra and Tidus were making was to widen their scope of control, and that was slowly becoming more irrelevant since the emerald's radius of effect continued its slow growth. Zelda was busy with other things, seeking the emerald and trying to be a leader of her own by X's request. And yet, the two whom Cloud saw nothing but friendship and camaraderie in along with the other Titans and sages were optimistically vigilant, enough so to fabricate what usefulness the extra manpower had provided.

Cloud decided to move elsewhere, but until he was out of earshot he could hear the couple laughing, talking, sharing jokes and experiences, and not allowing themselves to become the slightest bit gloomy as frustrating parts of the day seeped in to their conversation. Even the sight of each other, Robin's black hair more disheveled, terrible darkness encircling the brightness of Starfire's eyes and orange-tan skin, none of it deterred the other. If anything, it brought the two closer by how stained their skin and clothing was from sweat and the chaos of events around the city. It was something Cloud missed when he was alive. He couldn't remember anything specific, a thought that always pursed his lips and eyes shut with sadness, but seeing the Titans so comforting of each other helped to ease the pain of those lost memories.

It was time to visit the sages, Cloud resolved, reiterating his job to himself. They and Zelda were far more important to the Hero of Time's fight. Since each had an aura connected to the Triforce, all three of them were easy to find. Cloud held his forehead for a few seconds and focused, sensing that none of them were in the tower, and that Zelda seemed to be the closest. With a forward jolt like the exhilarating start of a cliff dive, Cloud's spiritual form phased through the walls with a tingling sensation, and he flew out across the bay. Contrary to the way it felt initially, there was no gravity that could exert power over him. He hovered high above the gentle waves and, trying not to think about how he couldn't feel the spray of salt water or the throngs of waves in stormy times, sought Zelda's prominent influence on the auras around her.

The city reminded him in some ways of Midgar. That was a place he could remember clearly even if the faces associated with it were blurred and nameless. But the city he began to navigate through was far larger than Midgar ever was. Skyscrapers and monumental constructs spanned as far as the eye could see, as did the countless people. Like Midgar, like any city with such dense population, Cloud remembered and knew that crime and poverty followed. Dropping down gracefully to his feet, he waded amongst the cars invisibly, hand on his Buster Sword should he need to take corporeal form and act. An angry glare crossed his face as horns blared and drivers shouted obscenities and insults at each other. Such a chaotic time; the cars were gridlocked. Was something happening?

A sharp ringing sound pained the ears of everyone, even the Lifestream spirit, and for a few seconds his body hazed painfully into static, loosing cohesiveness as particles of his spiritual flesh flecked away as tiny lights gone astray. It only took a trice for them to come back and patch the holes on his body, but he groaned uncomfortably, realizing how thoroughly draining the sound had been.

Plumes of fading fire and smoke came in the direction of the sound, the remnants of an explosion. He raised his eyebrow and headed in that direction, ignoring the physical boundaries of inanimate cars while making sure he didn't pass through a human.

Another explosion hammered sound waves through the fragile ears of many, but Cloud was ready for it, and a condensed Mako outline of him appeared for a brief instant as he crossed his arms and shielded himself. That flash of power he exerted was real, penetrating to the realm of life. People could see him in that instant, but they had no proof or recourse but to dismiss the temporary vision in the midst of their terror and continue their escape of the criminal destruction caused by the emerald's distant but powerful presence.

Gaining speed and drawing the Buster Sword in his invisible plane, Cloud sprinted forward. Recognition caressed his chest and head like gentle pulses of radar. He realized with dread that Zelda was just ahead of him, possibly in danger. Unwilling to fail so quickly, Cloud released the bonds of gravity and soared forward, brushing his form past automobiles of all colors, some of which were abandoned, their passengers fleeing on in clumsy sprints.

Among the burning debris and shattered tarmac, the little green one, Beast Boy, was staring down two who were far from normal. The first, standing in the very center of an abandoned intersection, was petite with pale skin like Raven's, but she had bright pink hair that she had tied up in two near-vertical extensions. The other was built like a massive beast, clothed in a black jumpsuit with orange trim and a mangy mop of reddish hair on top.

"So," began the girl. "Think you can take us on by yourself, little green booger?"

"Shut it, Jynx!" Beast Boy clenched his fists. "And as a matter of fact, I think I can whoop you and Mammoth just fine!"

Mammoth sputtered thick, chesty laughter. "You got any new powers to fight with, runt? 'Cause I do!"

His pair of meaty hands drove into the asphalt, ripping up a sold chunk of pipes, tar and earth. A moment later, the whole mass erupted into flame in his hands, and the Mammoth didn't flinch in the slightest from the heat. Beast Boy stared at it, frozen. There was nothing but the crackling of the flaming mass for a moment, and then it hurtled like a missile straight for him. His first instinct took shape, dropping him low into a tiny turtle the size of a fist, and the searing fireball only singed his bright green shell, drying the air around him into barely breathable smoke.

Richly colored flesh passed by him at the same instant, sliding beneath the scorched projectile brandishing two massive pistols. Streaks of golden light screeched from the heavy barrels, puncturing the limbs of the gargantuan man. Roaring like a wounded elephant, he fell to one knee.

Princess Zelda aimed and fired on his thighs, and beneath torn clothing the light spread across him like an infection, lighting up his veins as he howled and his limbs buckled.

Jynx shouted in vain as her partner fell. She turned, gathering spheres of her own light in each hand. When her face snapped towards Zelda, the hot barrel of a handgun pressed firmly against her forehead.

The timing and speed… Cloud was impressed, and the smile returned to him as the need for his interruption subsided.

Jynx had frozen, halted by the smoking chamber against her flesh. In a swift motion, Zelda took her other pistol and bashed the witch across the face, striking her a second blow on the back of her head to drop her along with her partner.

"Sweet moves!" said the changeling. "And thanks for the help."

"You're welcome," said the princess. "But if you hadn't been diverting their attention, I wouldn't have had such an easy time. I can't imagine I would have done so well against this ogre," she indicated the fallen Mammoth. "At least not up close. But still…"

"What is it?" Beast Boy asked. "What could be wrong when we just whooped these two so easy?"

The princess looked around her, at the flaming mound of tar and dirt that was fizzling out, and the massive red fire trucks that were arriving on the scene to douse the rest of the flames. Horns were blaring in the distance and all around, a testament to how much never ending commotion there was in the city that the Titans struggled so well to guard. It was only getting worse, it seemed.

"We need to stop this at the source," she sighed. "But how can we when we can barely spare a few minutes to rest without pandemonium throughout the streets?"

"Well, I…"

"I am not used to such dense population," said the frustrated princess. "If we could somehow evacuate these people out of the emerald's range…"

"We could…"

"Damn this terrible situation!" Zelda slammed her guns into their holsters. "No cooperation, no time, hardly an hour's rest without being woken. X is counting on me to succeed here. What would he do?"

Beast Boy responded with a cheerless and timid shrug, making the princess feel immediately guilty.

She released an apologetic sigh. "I'm sorry, Beast Boy," the princess slumped. "Come, let's tie these two up."

For a while they went without conversation, tying Mammoth and Jynx's arms behind their backs with thick zip ties. Ordinarily that might not have worked on the larger of the two, but the light bullets from Zelda's guns, once Yuna's, had the interesting side effect of paralyzing limbs temporarily. He wouldn't have the energy to break apart from the makeshift cuffs for a while, and Jynx had flopped on the ground, unconscious and bleeding from the nose.

Cloud was rather glad he didn't have to interfere, but they didn't see the materia spell that he cast, dropping the two teen criminals into a much deeper sleep that they wouldn't wake from for at least a day. At worthwhile precaution, he figured.

After that, the Lifestream spirit found that he was unusually enthralled with Princess Zelda of the once proud Hyrule. She was the one that many legends spoke of, one of the few coherent thoughts throughout the Lifestream and part of the reason that the Triforce of Power didn't expand to crush Hyrule in the first place. Ironically, though, Cloud recalled with a touch of pity for her that the absence of the very shard of the trinity she sought to contain was necessary for the survival of her kingdom. It was a shame that Link had to leave and take the Courage part of the Triforce, too, but that was a story that he didn't need to think about.

He continued to follow the princess, observing her features in particular, the ones that Link had always been so preoccupied with. Cloud knew that holding oneself together came more easily to the others than it did for himself, but despite personal weakness, Cloud always sensed the attachment that Link had to Zelda. To say she looked good for someone in their early thirties would be a gross understatement. Despite living in a time of medieval medicine, she was and had been royalty, granted the greatest of care and health. Since her rise into adulthood, her rich blonde hair, agile build and youthful skin had maintained unbelievably. It was impossible to deny that she was beautiful even though the pointed Hylian ears were a bit odd to him. Shadowy, hollowed eyes that fought for life and light were the only blemish on her, aside from the dirt and grime that collected from the day's troubles. No one would have believed that she had suffered such isolation in the Dark World, and The Lifestream spirit from Gaia felt a little guilty for her. It was obvious how incredibly difficult it would be to keep that enamoring appearance if the struggle against the emerald's effects continued. Soon those dark eyes would spread their age to other places, tainting the beauty she still had.

"Zelda?" Beast Boy asked hesitantly.

"Yes?" she responded, wearing a tired smile.

"We can do it," he said. "We can all go double duty for a day, and you can take the Titan's sub down to the crevasse. It'll all be worth it if we can stop this crap."

"Will you even be able to survive that?" Zelda joked, pacing away, choosing a random sidewalk amongst a stretch of tall metal buildings. It didn't matter as long as it was away from the wrecked debris of the crime. "I can't imagine your friends will handle it well."

"We've been through worse," Beast Boy grinned, and Cloud, pacing slowly behind them, shared in the happiness.

"I will check with Robin, first," the princess settled. "But if it is acceptable, then I hope to seek out the last chaos emerald tomorrow. If we can somehow seal it, I believe the problems in your city should at least become more manageable. Hopefully they will vanish altogether."

"Who will you take with you?" the changeling asked, but their heads were drawn forward to where more sirens rang out, and Terra was seen careening through the air on a platform of flying stone.

"Her, for one," Zelda responded, but she knew that the topic had completely switched in the changeling's heart. It was as if the Sage of Earth blew by on the wind and ripped Beast Boy's spirits out as she left. "I will take Tidus, too. It is not the responsibility of any of the rest of you, and you need as many hands as you can."

"Yeah," the green one gave a generic reply.

"Beast Boy…"

He hummed a lethargic tune.

"You must say something to her. Your silence will not accomplish any end."

Sighing, he nodded in agreement with her.

"Do you want me to take you as well to seek out the emerald?" she posed a solution.

More sirens blared past, and the Special Forces armored police vehicles were in pursuit of whoever Terra was also after.

"We should go help," said Beast Boy.

"And what about my offer?"

Zelda waited for his answer. Eventually, as another bizarre incident arose not far from them, his silence had to suffice.

* * *

Naminé began sobbing in her new body, unable to do anything else when she felt every ounce of pain that Shadow the Hedgehog had been suffering. With him unconscious and her mind working each of his exhausted, burnt out or annihilated limbs, her voice dominated in cries of agony.

The Lifestream spirit of the young memory reader fumbled about, bringing a more delicate appearance that anyone familiar to the hedgehog would notice if they saw her, but she didn't plan on letting that happen. Throbbing unsteadily with each step into the strange depths of the murky cave, the immediate goal was to escape the underground facility and into hiding or help.

She felt the pulse of his badly cracked skull, and both hands lacked a position of relief as the bone-deep gash slowly dripped half-congealed ooze, and the broken one was a swollen animal threatening to burst from its own skin.

From behind, the unbearably loud crashes of metal against metal and gunfire made Naminé want to clasp Shadow's borrowed hands over his head, but doing that would have been a worse torture. Refusing the urge made their eyes water and their vision blur until she scraped against the narrow rock walls she navigated.

His body, strangely shaped, slightly large in the head with great black and red spines that were functional extensions, was completely foreign to her. It was hard to move with any proper sense of direction at first, and Naminé fought to learn quickly. It was impossible to carry the Diamond Mind, her Keyblade, so she chose to dissolve it into nothingness until she could find a body capable of gripping it again.

There was a split in the dark tunnel, three ways. Two to the left were well lit with torches and electrical lamp placements, but there was a faint glow of blinking red as well. She cradled Shadow's arms as her own and whimpered, hearing her voice and his, and the young girl stared down the dark and empty cavern in the other direction. Intuition screamed that it was a dead end. Courage spoke that it was the best place to hide, and the only place she could win a fight like this. It appeared dark, bleak and lightless as she stared further.

At her laborious, throbbing limbs moved her forward, it grew dim. The slow twists of the cavern soon turned it absent of any visual comfort. Naminé had to slow down, but the sounds of her pursuers echoing not far behind kept her pace uncomfortable.

A rock jarred beneath her feet, and the next thing she knew, she was falling, scraping and tumbling down an incline until a terrible thud connected with Shadow's shoulder. There was dampness almost instantly. The black hedgehog was bleeding to death.

No. Not blood. Thank the gods not blood. Naminé, still unaware as to how she kept quiet in such pain, realized that there was a small stream flowing past her head, immersing into his thick fur and quills. It was close to the way it moved through human hair, she recalled from the strange sensation, but the quills diverted it more harshly, making it take specific paths across his head.

Lights reached out far above her. Flashlights. She quietly dragged herself with Shadow's elbows, but seconds after they appeared, they also vanished. How could they not have seen the drop off, the hole?

"Dumb luck," spoke someone else. It startled her so that she let out a tiny yelp. Immediately she clamped her mouth shut, clenching her teeth at how badly the reaction hurt Shadow's hands. Forcing her jaw so tight then made one massive, violent spasm jolt in her head completed the carousel reaction of pain for both of them.

The lights appeared overhead once more. Once more they passed on.

For a sigh of relief, it sounded terribly frightened. When Shadow's voice didn't join in making the same sound, she realized what had happened.

"Sorry," said Shadow the Hedgehog. "It was like I was responding to my own thoughts, except they were yours."

"It's alright," Naminé tried to put on a good face. "I'm… no, _we're_ ok."

"So we are," he said, though it was far from the truth. "How long was I out?"

"All of two minutes," she said. Shadow could tell that if she had a body other than his, she would be attempting a sallow smile.

"The water…" he began scooping it in their broken hand and carefully sipping it. "I must have been dehydrated, too."

There was a moment of silence. The stream filled it with the gentle slide and trickle against the rocks. Shadow took a few moments to breathe.

"You lost a lot of blood," Naminé said, worried.

He snorted. "I know."

Shadow said nothing more for a while, using his elbows to feel for things in front of him. It was still pitch black, but he tripped over nothing, navigating through puddles and rock as if he could see beyond the use of eyes. The echoing steps long since passed by and only his own were heard. After a while, he stopped abruptly with a grunt of contemplative frustration.

"Damn it."

"What is it, Shadow?" she asked.

"Can you provide some light?" he asked with a sour tone.

She realize that he could partially see something that she didn't have the ability to perceive. "It's not very good at illuminating, but yes, for a short while. It's not good if I do it for too long, so I…"

"Just do it," ordered the host body.

A faint green glow resonated at the end of Shadow's hand, and her slender arm phased out of his body.

"Nngh, that hurts!" he groaned.

She apologized quickly, occupied with the dead end they had hit where the water flowed through a narrow crevasse. It looked too small for Shadow to fit through. Naminé withdrew her hand into Shadow's, and his body relaxed.

"We're sort of sharing a brain. You're only feeling half of it because some of the signals that tell you it hurts are coming to me instead. When you were unconscious, I had to take all of it. I can't believe how much pain you're in."

"I can take it. I was just surprised."

He slumped, sitting as comfortably as his languid muscles and bones would allow in the stream of cool water. He made sure not to breathe too deeply, knowing that it would now be an irritant to his aching skull for both parties. There were two conversations going on in his head at once, unequivocally independent, but somehow aware of one another in an awkward manner, like sharing a living space with another person and the walls being too thin. It helped him focus somehow, and Shadow the Hedgehog realized that his comment about dumb luck had been completely on the mark. Rescued by a ghost, spirit thing (whatever), a cave-in that dropped them to safety from armed mutant echidnas, the same spirit possessing and numbing his body when he fell unconscious… it was all a string of unbelievable chance.

"Don't forget stopping a saw with vomit."

Shadow raised an eyebrow subtly and shook off the weariness in him. "Never thrown up before," he said. "Under the circumstances, I'd have to say it was a good experience."

Naminé giggled a bit. "I'm sorry," she quickly followed up. "It's not funny."

"It's your opinion," he shrugged. "But that's beside the point. We need to find a way out of here."

"Right… and where exactly are we?"

Shadow preferred the silence, and he figured that if he thought the conversation in his head, she would understand him just as easily.

"_There are some natural cave formations inside the floating island where water flows from the mountaintops to the streams, and eventually to here_," he thought very clearly, just as if he were speaking out loud. "_I assume we've fallen into one of those. There's a good chance that we're not that far underground, and if we can follow this stream it will take us to Hydro City, the entire island's machine-made water reservoir_. _We should be able to escape from there, but there's a good chance that Balk's forces can easily get into the reservoir to find us._"

The Black Hedgehog couldn't see her face literally, but it was hardly different. Her facial expressions came to him like a swift painting in his mind, flowing and changing with the streak of a brush. It was concern that drew her thoughtful eyes elsewhere, avoiding the thought of eye contact with him, a portrait afraid for the painter.

"_You won't make it far with both of your hands like that."_

His steady breathing cracked.

"I know," Shadow said aloud, glancing down to the injuries that were hidden in the darkness. "_But it's not like we have a choice. Drinking the water won't help me long like this."_

"I didn't mean to criticize," she returned to spoken word as well. "I was only going to suggest that I could help."

Shadow again wore a lopsided, skeptical expression. He stared back to where the tiny crevasse was, though he couldn't see anything in the complete blackness.

"_If you can help, then do it. There might be more space under the water there than we think, but I can't swim without any hands. And I can't swim with my sliced open hand, either. It'll start bleeding again and I've lost too much."_

"_That's convenient then_," she answered, and Shadow could feel the helpful smile on her face in his own. "_Brace yourself. I need to leave your body to do this_."

Shadow nodded, and then felt the pain return in his skull and arms with revenge. Gasping and grunting, he told her that she was alright. A few seconds later, through pulses that began to settle, Shadow's eyes cleared. For the first time he got a better look at the Terran girl. She was young, in her late teens at most. Pretty, Shadow noticed, with small cheeks and mature, slightly alluring eyes for someone so young. Slender, too, not quite to the point of looking unhealthily thin, but not far from it. She smiled at him innocently as she knelt towards his dangling, blood soaked gash without a sound other than her soft voice in a positive hum that the hedgehog didn't understand.

Her hand, already tinted green in her ethereal presence, began resonating a stronger lime light, and a sharp but tolerable sensation trickled throughout the deep wound.

Like before, Shadow could see past her, _through_ her. Her body was not whole, like a ghost.

"What… are you?" Shadow asked. "What's your name?"

"It's Naminé," she smiled, partially because she was happy to be out of such a damaged body. "And you're Shadow the Hedgehog."

"I knew I was well known," he watched her hands work over his dangling limb. "But are you telling me that even the dead watch me?"

Naminé hummed, amused. "It's a bit more complicated than that. I'm not what you think I am. Not really the spirit of someone dead. More like an 'echo' of a person that once was. I think the real me is somewhere else."

"Am I supposed to understand any of that?" Shadow carefully raised his brow to avoid any extra pain.

Pain continued to tipple awkwardly around his arm, lessening, then increasing, then dropping to even less than before. His wrist felt chilled, soothing slowly as his tense nerves did the same.

"There, that should do," she said. "Not quite as good as new, but better." Looking at him awaiting approval, Naminé held the light of her hand to his arm.

Shadow didn't need the light. He could feel the improvement. Still tender, like it had been lightly slashed somehow on the inside and out, it moved with tolerable pain. For him, that is. Shadow the Hedgehog reminded himself that other people might not be able to tolerate the aggravation. As for appearances, there was still so much dry or drying blood around it that it only looked marginally healed.

"You'll need to be careful with it," she instructed, jumping back into his body a moment later. "_I can only do that so much_."

"_And what happens if you do it more?_" asked the hedgehog skeptically, flexing his fingers on the bloody hand as his eyes tried to adjust to the complete darkness again.

"_I don't have unlimited power,"_ she whispered into his thoughts. "_And it could also make you sick. Let's just leave it at that_."

Whatever. That was good enough for Shadow. With a hand able to rotate almost fully, he stepped into the shallow pool of chilly water, keeping his head low to avoid the rock ceiling in the absence of light. His left hand hung loosely; all he could do with it was propel weakly with his elbow, so his other, slightly healed arm led the way, splashing the surface of the water slowly as he moved toward the edge of the rock wall.

"A little light," he said, but Naminé's hand released from his before he finished, illuminating the too-small gap in front of them with the faint jade light.

"That work underwater?" he asked. She communicated in his thoughts that it did work, but not as well, and Shadow dove.

Cold. Frightfully so. It was soothing to the beat of his skull, but it threatened to suck the air out of him. Unable to move quickly, Shadow knew his body heat wouldn't be of much assistance. Only a few reaches of his arm were poorly visible in front of him, but there was no gap above the surface for him to breathe. A steady drop in the stone formation took away all chance of air above him, and the width of his path seemed to be increasing, forming an illusion of distance. His feet found nothing to touch, losing any way of safe return. The hedgehog's chest began thumping.

_Relax_, he repeated as he swam, vision blurred from the chilly water pressing on him. _Relax or you'll lose air too quickly_.

Naminé's consciousness felt fear, too. Fear for him. It only made it more difficult for Shadow to focus.

The height of the path shrank in an instant. His knees bent and his head grazed the stone above. Still he pressed forward, feeling a hiccupping desire in his lungs to suck in air that wasn't available to him. Naminé's light didn't protect him from bumping to the narrow crevasse in front of him until he was in it.

A long enough time had passed that he felt a tingle and burn in his chest, and his heart thumped harder. Relaxing became almost impossible, but the black hedgehog heard rushing water somewhere, and it was getting closer. He knew that kind of sound couldn't come without air from above it. He searched in that direction, following the muffled sounds.

Shadow's eyes widened as his lungs throbbed with the need for oxygen, and his head began hurting too. The cold water couldn't stifle the burning in his chest, and he had to clench his teeth hard to gain a few more seconds, but dead ahead, just as the sloshing sounds of the river came to its most intense, there was a tiny, constricted gap. The water was moving fast enough to suck him directly towards it, but Naminé's lantern light showed no way through, and he could never make it back.

Heaving beats in his heart pressed his chest in an out rapidly.

"_I'll take care of it!_" Naminé shouted inside his throbbing skull.

Beginning from his feet, streaks of jade light shifted to warm amber and encircled him. His whole body had a faint glow of the orange-yellow hue, and he felt his lungs gain a small calm. He held out his working hand, only because Naminé instructed him to, and a huge hunk of rock at the top of the gap shattered, sending it and him forward in a rushing current that was large enough. Shadow felt his head leave the water, and he sucked in an enormous breath before breaking the surface of the water one last time in a shallow drop to the edge of an underground city.

Shadow's lungs still beat hard, and he sucked in breath after breath until his need for it slowly subsided. The current became manageable, and he took in his surroundings. A small, cut off room of Hydro City, designed with the same scattered brick colors of tan, cerulean, and a faintly tinted purple that the rest of the hydro plant had. On a platform above a set of spinning water wheels, an echidna in a diving suit holding a toolbox stared at him in utter disbelief.

"Mind getting me out of here?" Shadow grumbled.

Inside of the black hedgehog's body, Naminé felt her fears subside, bring a smile to her.

* * *

A white cloak against an all-white room; never had two things so similar clashed so dangerously. A smear of crimson blood could not have offended Naminé's creation as much as this being did, hunched and balled unmoving in the corner. Without a single reaction or thought, the emptiness of this being was mortally frightening to Link, the young Hylian man of olden times.

The replica of the Master Sword – the Master's Echo – was aimed, ethereal tip towards the throat, at the cloaked figure. It was not the Sage of Light; that was immediately obvious despite the withdrawn demeanor of garb being similar. As Link paced around slowly, low in careful in stance, he could sense the common aura of a Lifestream being that they shared. Beyond that, the white cloak might as well not have had a body in it. It was unnervingly blank, an empty canvas or an unending stretch of balanced stormy cloud.

Link took his shield from his back, bracing it on his left arm as he inched closer in quarter arcs that converged to the room's edge. In what might have been hours in the real world, Link eventually came within blade's reach, but since neither the white cloak nor person beneath it had moved, the former Hero was unsure of how to progress.

Using the flat of his blade near the tip, he nudged the being's head to one side, watching the reaction with cautiousness, prepared for a drastic response. For a few seconds the head remained where it had moved, a manikin's reaction, but in an empty and hollow motion it turned back, returning ghoulishly. Link was about to shorten the gap, but the shrouded figure finally reacted on its own, turning sluggishly in his direction, enough for Link to see the pale tip of its nose, almost as white as the cloak and the décor.

But that was all it did, forcing Link after long moments of stillness to drag another reaction out of it again. Scuffing his boots forward, he gained the necessary extra inches, and without warning threw a hard kick at the cloaked person's shoulder, only to have it stopped by a blinding defensive reaction – an arm within the cloak that budged worse than column of steel.

Throbbing, Link tried to calm his foot. With a simple thought, he returned his foot to normal since he could morph his temporary body freely in the Lifestream. Despite his focus, in continued to hurt. Trying again to phase himself back, his foot only seemed to hurt more, and the ephemeral Lifestream suddenly became a disturbing parallel to living. He focused hard again, risking his eyes shut as he backed away, but even then it was painful to stand on; the Hero couldn't dissolve back into the Stream or even fix the small injury.

Lost familiarity within anxious glares and uneasy movements flooded in with the swelling of his foot, and Link became fully aware that the small pocket of the Lifestream had been tampered with. Some outside influence had fixed their manifested plane of existence and all the rules in it without their permission. Focusing on the entire room, Link pointed his sword along the windows outward, wondering if there might be more than one intruder.

All the members of the Council of Fallen Swords had developed their physical construct with certain conditions, like the ability to speak, see and hear, not just absorb and mingle with countless essences in the Lifestream, and those conditions refused to break apart as they were intended. He might as well have been alive again. What worried him the most was that he was the only who hadn't escaped – the trap was set intentionally for him, not the others. Whoever had the power to seal him in also knew full well the most important person to strike.

Link growled at the cloaked figure that still hadn't moved from its spot in the corner. He knew that the mystery being was the cause. It separated him from the others, and more curious, it put him in danger. A question that he and the other members of the Council had asked themselves was looking as though it might be answered: could they be destroyed in the Lifestream?

The Hylian ghost changed his stance, loosening it. His instinct, though disturbing enough to make him continually adjust his tunic and the grip on his shield, was telling him that the two of them were far from alone. The thin strands of vapor encircling the Master's Echo in his hand were as much unsettled as he was, moving close to the weapon as if frightened of a coming presence.

Their imaginary landscape, the white mansion of Naminé, began to shake. The chandelier clattered loudly against itself, and the chairs rattled, starting to inch their way in different directions. Link held on to the long green cap on his head and jabbed his sword into the floor as an anchor. The windows shattered open in a flurry of glass that somehow flew to the ceiling, and before he knew it, he was gripping on to the sword desperately to keep from falling. Everything had hurtled toward the top of the room except the table itself, which Naminé had directly attached to the floor. Link found another bizarre sensation in his chest – a heartbeat, stinging virulently, with almost a venomous quality. As it pumped a renewed hesitance into his motions, he considered that falling wouldn't hurt much, but if the glass pierced his leg it would end any chance of him fending off what was coming.

Somehow, the cloaked figured at attached itself to the far wall where it had been sitting and held itself aloft. Link eyed it, waiting for an attack of some sort.

Collapsing forward, Link frantically managed a sloppy roll underneath the table as everything flipped in a disorienting tumble, sending broken shards into the floor like great knives. When gravity settled, Link reached out for his sword and kicked the protruding glass aside to search for the cloaked intruder.

Link's sword aimed much higher; the secretive presence had stood, just outside of the range of glass skewers.

A hand with a ghostly pale tint aimed a bony finger somewhere beyond, out to the swirling Lifestream. Link did not dare avert his eyes. He felt nothing behind him to justify taking his eyes off the shrouded creature, but a thumping in his chest – his imagined, constructed heart – sponged that confidence away from him as if it was water. The beat quickened again when the gaze of the threatening trespasser began following the former Hero.

The luxury of the real flesh was now a climbing terror, and the pacing of the Hero became steady only by sheer force of will. He kicked aside more upright glass shards as he circled, narrowing the gap. When he reached a certain distance, the head watching him ceased to follow, acting like its feet were cemented. Link, his blue eyes flaring, lunged forward with a yell and an incredible swing from his sword to slice the figure apart at the waist.

Bright embers clashed. Neon green sparks and fiery ones of metal leapt to the walls amidst the sound of an electrical explosion.

Coming from one sleeve a hooked blade wavered with gentle motions, acting like it was made of liquid harnessed in a transparent, flexible case. It had easily deflected Link to one side, recreating the same distance between them just a moment ago.

The color of the weapon in the sleeve was frighteningly familiar. Any isolated consciousness in the Lifestream with the tiniest sense of individuality would fear it, knowing the wielder's identity as the instinct to flee submerged all other senses.

It was... somehow, some way… Zero.

Link knew he couldn't run. This was a trap to doom him.

But the behavior of his assailant was bizarre, enough so to suspect that something else might seal his fate. Something perhaps worse.

Link's calm step was a lie to the rest of him, containing an eruption of collapse of his spirits and physical insides. Blood itself tried to hide inside him, circulating poorly, weakening limbs, but he continued to pace around the being, around Zero.

The reploid, if it was him, looked past Link several times with zombie reflexes, vacant and empty as various places around the room seemed to catch Zero's interest. The green energy saber fluidly swayed with his sluggish but intentional movements. If there was anything but a void inside of this strange version of the crimson Maverick Hunter, Link couldn't sense it, nor did he want to. He dashed again.

The old Hero's blade swished hard, hurling a gust of wind away from it with such speed, but the green saber met it with a smash, gushed an even larger volley of embers, and blinded him to the fact that he was suddenly kicked out from underneath his feet. Blurring whites and greens twisted forward, and a second kick cracked the side of his ribs before he could hit the ground, sending him crashing amongst the glass.

He stayed down for a second, throbbing as the walls that time had erected over things like physical pain shattered open. His ankle was sprained and swelling in his boot. None of the glass stuck in him, but that relief didn't last long as he pulled his body upward, leaning heavy on one foot. Facing Zero, Link narrowed his eyes. The crimson reploid was completely ignoring him, looking towards the windows.

For the first time, Link saw a fierce move in the reploid. His saber was drawn, tainting the air with an acidic taste as the blade hung low and melted the glass into safe rounded stumps. His speed was deliberately hurried, yet hesitant and cautious, completely turned away from the Hero as he cleared the floor of dangerous fragments.

A sudden pulse, sharper than a knife. It stung into Link's thoughts, searing his eyes shut.

"_Run_…" it warned. It was a harsh voice, young, male.

The reploid spun, and from beneath his white cloak the bright lapis in his eyes were struck with horror. He screamed. "RUN!"

The earthquakes returned. Link's eyes were nothing but a blur. The table collapsed, and he held tight to the pieces. Somehow, Zero was standing, unshaken, wielding his blade.

Massive flashes of metallic silver crashed through the walls, monstrous pipes shattering the windows and crumbling the walls into nothing. Then the smell of rotting, acrid flesh came in a hurricane. Two voices screeched. One a demonic witch, the other a grinding metal roar. Blood dripping, body deformed beyond description, Jenova's torso was a nightmare of machine tubes and wires, and the mass of dark spherical flesh behind her spat ooze.

Link's stomach lurched. The flesh-less face of Zero was a festering growth, a viral abomination that twisted beyond recognition, barely a face and a body, with eyes that stared death and hatred. It fed off Jenova's life, and yet another Zero stood not far from it, ready to fight his perverted likeness.


	72. Mind War, Part IV

**Chapter 72 – Mind War, Part IV**

Within blade's reach of each other, two Sages of Light, one real, the other a dark phantom, waited for the first move. Neither wavered, standing motionlessly at the ominous amethyst gateway that led to the hostile telepath's consciousness. Flickers of pulsating electricity latched on to bits of floating matter around it, making a strobe effect across them.

"_Make the first move_…" the real Sage of Light thought, angrily awaiting something other than their stalemate. It was all he needed. A single action, and he could assess his enemy's strength copying his form. If he underestimated, the sage knew what could happen. The first injury would set him at a disadvantage for the rest of the fight, and losing would be a foreseeable outcome. With no aeons to protect him and no way of escape, his thoughts raced, allowing the reploid side of him to make tiny calculations and unbelievable speeds, seeking an alternative.

The dark copy held its ground, both shield and energy blade drawn and ready, his stance almost a perfect match to the original.

"_Of course he's not going to attack_," glared the Sage. "_He only needs to buy time. He's winning without doing anything._"

As if aware of the real sage's thoughts, the twisted doppelganger began stretching an evil grin from ear to ear, further apart than the real sage's jaw could. It occurred to the reploid that his thoughts might still not be private, that this could somehow be another elaborate trick, the worst lie that the creature trapping him had come up with yet. Somehow that didn't feel right. The dark pathway between minds… it felt all too real, and it was no memory of his at all.

The Sage of Light leapt back and swung his blade in a wide arc releasing a brilliant streak of magenta along the path that seared the sparkling surface they stood on.

His clone reacted with identical movements, releasing the same sword beam with a vicious shout, and the two waves collided in a torrent of violent, shattering of sparks. As electrical ash settled, the sage snorted, tightening his mechanical joints and then stretching them thoroughly. The dark version of him merely watched.

"There's no other safe choice," he resolved, retracting both shield and sword. This time the shape shifter broke its mirror-hold, staring awkwardly at him with refusal to put away the weapons. It was learning, and quick, looking for a way to counter the real Sage's methods.

The creature with the stolen likeness crossed its sword and shield, and it began to swell a blackened aura that reeked of death. A deep throb rung the air, and their narrow dimension began to crackle in color flux, swallowing and spitting out a spectrum of hues before returning to its ominous purple state.

It spoke in deep, unnatural tones. "Take this!" the clone matched the sage's inflections, and a great light began to burst out from the monster's chest.

"Ray Splasher!"

A brilliant wall of spears plunged toward the reploid sage. He gritted his teeth, bracing for the impact and the searing pain that was entirely unavoidable. Shrouded down on the ground, he let the light tear through, each one that grazed or hit him like a needle of ice that burst into flame. He refused to bear his shield and took the force of it, hoping that it wouldn't accelerate too fast. Beneath the fury of the blinding radiance, his chest began to swell with strength. Emotions pumped into his limbs, and particularly into his forehead, where a subtle glow began.

It was beginning, a prophecy over a century old, built in secret inside of him. The powers of Mako, Chaos and the Triforce were converging. It signaled that an end was near, though how near was unsure, but it showed that the creature attempting to hold his mind in check in the real world was important enough to draw this out, one of the final steps in his many decades of life as a sage.

The assault stopped, and the creature relentlessly charged forward, shouting its demonic fury without mercy before the splasher lights could recede. In an instant, an echo of the true reploid's voice rippled through the air, and a yellow glow jutted like spikes from the sage's body.

Launched to the gate's mighty doors from the pure force, the clone stared, trying to adapt. To the Sage of Light, the shape shifter appeared suddenly confused and unable. It couldn't assimilate the armor of light encasing the reploid, yet it was the same rays of light that had just penetrated him, absorbed to replenish instead of harm. The attack had made him stronger.

Without a grin, the true reploid stared down his doppelganger as the grand light protected him and healed his wounds. More patches of his brown cloak became solid yellow again, releasing the same illuminating rays as his energy armor. Like a beacon, the darkness shied away from him, spreading out their narrow gateway between minds and memories. It was not without price, as the sage knew that the more of this power he released, the more difficult it would become to contain what remained. Despite knowing that he would soon win the battle, it was no time for enjoyment.

He pointed a finger menacingly through the sleeve of his cloak at his enemy. "Receive your judgment and fall into ashes," he began. The light encircling his chest in plumes and streaks and glows followed the command of his arms as his feet slowly lifted off the ground. Behind his back, a faint series of fragmented glows held their place symmetrically along his back like prisms. His arm lifted up, then shot toward his dark visage. Burning with white eyes, the sage bellowed.

"Chaos... _Radiance_!"

The walls of darkness, ceiling of emptiness, and floor of limited path all swallowed the shadows like a hungry beast, and the light surrounding him became great spheres, guided by his hands. With a shimmer, the prismatic pattern at his back flapped lightly, and he rose higher. Hurling the light forward in holy bursts, the sage made his dark prey shrivel the blasts soaring out and engulfing him until it squealed and roared. Shifting hues signaled the fight it made to keep shape.

Around him, the Sage of Light witnessed his cloak begin to glow, patching more of the war-earned damage and weathering, extending the edges of his cloak until it reached unity in length. Enveloping blood and burns turned into a firm but pale brown, and a few small spots arose with more golden light.

"You... have no idea... who you are fighting!"

The mental hold was loosening. There was no escape in the tunnel, but he could almost feel a faint movement back in the real world, where his body lay trapped. He had begun fighting back, and the vicious elation made him rise higher into the air. Glowing behind him, the disjointed patterns of symmetrical energy flickered in and out of existence as if at the threshold of transformation. They fluttered, releasing sparkles of dust that gently settled toward the ground. Eyes whitening from the holy power he wielded, the sage clenched his arms tightly and felt a pair of voices return to him. Calling one, the sage roared with fury.

"Dragon of Dragons, rend the planes of this mindscape with energies unfathomable! Come, Bahamut!"

Winds of the aeon's presence flooded them in the span of a second, ominous and horrifying to the one about to face Bahamut's wrath. The shape shifter sought shelter somewhere, anywhere, trying to press through the door where his Master hid, but it singed the creature's hands and threw it to the ground with a jolt of lightning. Seeing it made the sage grin in triumph as he raised his arms in Bahamut's presence. The cyclone fell from the darkness above to a height not far above the sage.

Obeying orders, the mystic Dragon and its many metallic colors bared the jagged, scale armor chest, many times the size of either of them. With great wings swaying, Bahamut's maw opened and spread fiery sun-orange rays across their midnight purple battlefield. A buildup, rising from deep undulating pulses into an eventual climb to ear-piercing sharpness came from the great light at the aeon's mouth.

The clone fired its reploid Buster, but the Sage of Light glided with grace to deflect every shot with his oval shield. When the creature stopped and lowered its weapons, the true reploid stared at it with disgust. To him, as his insides squirmed at how badly he had been insulted by this _thing_, he swiftly moved to give his aeon free aim.

"Go, Bahamut... Mega Flare!"

In a momentary sink of all color and sound save for their chests beating and limited tones of gray, the majestic dragon sucked in the miniature sun rising at its mouth. When he released it, the assault on the mind was almost as devastating as the burst that ripped across space so violently that it completely blocked all view of the giant gate, the creature, and the ground below.

All senses went blank.

Reality in their narrow location skewed into black.

Perceptions of time, even for the skilled reploid, were skewed after he awoke. He found himself on one knee, a bit of a distance back, sooty and littered with burn stains. He watched the settling soot collect on the brown portions of his cloak, while the golden ones repelled it as if an invisible hand was flicking it away. How many years had it been since he was like this? Since this sort of power was allowed to flow through him?

With patience, he was able to see to the gate once again, still in tact. He paced forward, slightly off balance.

Clear sight revealed small, gelatinous traces of the shape shifter. They were miniscule and insignificant. Nothing but dead bits.

A small sigh escaped. Realizing how exhausted his mind was, the sage sat back for a minute on the hazy purple star trail, allowing his metallic red boots to stick out.

And yet, he could not manage to feel an ounce of true relief.

The ringing sound in his ears stopped. Bahamut stood not far ahead of him, staring at the great door, then back to the sage. The dragon's great yellow disc spun slowly, matching the aeon's breaths in speed. They were, the sage realized, fast and tense, making the ornate pattern on the circular attachment too fast to discern. Apparently Bahamut was unsettled by the gate as well.

With a rigid reploid shrug beneath his slowly regenerating cloak, he huffed with disapproval as he calmed his inner systems and their flow of energy. It was more difficult than normal to get his heightened power to subside, but he reminded himself as he paced the still-smoking spectral path that it was to be expected. Mixing the light of his Triforce skills with Chaos Emerald abilities was dangerous. Or was the path to the prison keeper's mind causing the anxiety?

Bahamut growled some communicative disapproval.

"I know," the sage answered him. "I'm the only one able to go in there. It's our connection, me and whatever this thing holding me is. You'll be stuck inside me again once I go."

From deep within his arm, his other aeon Alexander pulsed with caution. The holy automaton warned him with every fiber of his being. It was almost a command, one that the reploid would not listen to.

"Return, Bahamut."

Turning to object, the dragon aeon fizzled into silver. He vanished, and only the sage was left.

The path behind leading to his own thoughts and memories was far in the distance. A beating heart of a door neither welcomed nor repelled. Stagnant did not fit it either. It was... inevitability setting the mood. Neither combatant had a choice. The sage was a prisoner in his own mind. Despite the emergence of holy strengths he had withheld for decades, there was a roar of fear in his chest and face, the kind that he could not hide with a visor and cloak. Not from someone like this.

"Have to protect my name..." he paced forward, taking two steps before stopping.

"Can't allow myself to be drawn into illusions anymore," the sage vowed, knowing how difficult it might be. He took two more large steps toward the goal. It pulsed with the sound of a heartbeat in his presence.

"I have to be fast. In someone else's mind, I could lose my sanity. I could believe anything."

Two more steps put him just outside of arm's reach, and the jagged, interlocking spike doors opened inward, sucking what little warmth there was from the place between their memories.

Grace's fine steps didn't follow the sage's resolve. It was not determination that coerced him forward those final inches. He was pulled, yanked, thrown into a black cloud that was as toxic to his mind as the fumes of fire to frail airways. Before his eyes, clusters of memories so fragmented blurred in and out of sight, indiscernible to him, now the intruder more than the victim. Blazing in a direction that felt as though it had some sort of gravity, like a great planet or sun of consciousness, the Sage of Light could barely keep his eyes from shutting. Horrific sensations brushed passed him, as did ones of peace, confusion, and the same resolve he strove for.

The dive morphed into something different. Losing track of what was happening to him, the reploid was not in a tunnel of darkness and past recollections anymore. He was far from the consciousness' paths of starry floors and mysterious black abysses. A small island with a small silver building and quiet, almost placid ocean waves clashed with his dirt and blood cloak, worse than it would have less than an hour ago when the bright golden spots began to bring his old garment back to life. Sadly, silver and gold didn't go together so well, and his mechanical red boots failed to match nature's shades of bright green grass and dark waters.

Wondering if perhaps this place indicated his lack of belonging and intrusion, the sage noted how incredibly well kept everything appeared to be. The grass smelled recently cut and had been cleanly raked, but the organization of huge marble and other stone furniture and arrangements was a much greater feat. With so little room to place landscaping equipment (of which there was no trace), some group of people had taken the liberty of making this place as much of a miniature paradise as possible.

Perhaps even more real than his own memories, the sage felt like he could count the blades of grass beneath his feet, and bits of the chilly ocean mist coated his legs where the breeze created gentle openings.

The small house, mostly metal, but with plain, triangular window frames, looked cozy. Enough space for a couple of people to relax happily.

He refused to let tension melt away, but the temptation was sweet.

"I'm not dropping my guard," he said.

As if in response, a pair of great, long, sea creatures leapt out of the water far in the distance. Their shape was fierce like a serpent's, but they played like innocent, joyous dolphins. Contentedness began to spread, softening any inkling of worry, because whatever those creatures were, apparently this was a place of comfort for them.

There was no person to cause strife. Nothing to harm others. There appeared to be no need for a Sage of Light, or a Hero of Time. Just a quiet retreat where all was safe, and the salty sea's permeating missed soothed almost all hungers for material things.

Soft sand suddenly replaced the grass and rock as he paced. It was perfectly gentle, a cushion beneath his every step, and therapeutically warm. Shaking his head at himself, a sigh escaped. How could it not? Despite the calming visage, he was brought there for a reason. He knew there was a purpose to it, whether malicious or not. Being calm and serene on the exterior, like many things, left only the core to contain a dark secret.

What was hiding underneath a lie crafted by angels of nature?

Tight, crushing fists reacted to all he had been put through by this creature whose mind he wandered, and they returned him to focus. The sage headed for the other side of the metal cabin where he found a simple metal door with a knob that he turned without hesitation. Inside the small cottage was an old stove, linoleum tile floors with a pale rosebush pattern, and a set of nice, maple cabinets. It smelled faintly of bacon, and the sage quickly noticed three large plates along with cooking equipment sitting dirty, but neatly, in a sink.

"Three people, at least... a family?" he wondered.

But a family has pictures. Inside the long living room, the floors were hardwood, and there was a large, box television on one end near a triangular window. The couch next to it appeared practically untouched, the red leather cushions in a state of near perfection with a single exception in one of the side cushions having been knocked down on the floor. But no pictures.

"People work here," whispered the sage. His eyes gazed upon all the little details. A simple magazine about boating left open next to the toilet. That was his first clue to the illusions of this place. The creature somehow knew of it, but not all the details. The magazine was completely blank other than the cover. Blurs were smeared across all the pages. In a carefully organized rack hanging from the shower head, there were five different shampoos. Then something caught his interest more than anything. A repeating shape, or symbol. It was on one of the shampoos, and he had sworn that he had seen it somewhere else. Maybe not in the creature's mind, but perhaps many years ago. It was nothing more than a simple sphere with the top half colored red, and the bottom colored white.

Why did they need to be so isolated?

The upstairs was nicely constructed, utilizing the natural framework of the trusses to appeal with beauty while creating less work for themselves. Like a skeleton of a house dolled up to be attractive, and succeeding well. There were four beds in three rooms. Three were singles in one room, but two people clearly lived in the other room, the isolated and more private of the two.

"Five people at least."

Strange smells were clinging to the air, some musky, some feminine, clashing unpleasantly. It was like too great an effort had been taken to hide something else, but the subtle particles of that taboo substance were intentionally being fed to him, enough to lure him deeper into curiosity. Having initially been met with serenity, the Sage of Light now found her to be a liar. It was now an eerie mystery as to how this place ended up as his first and potentially most important stop on the journey through his captor's thoughts.

Somehow his expectation for the first floor was a transformation, a shift to something unnatural, but it was left as calm and empty as before, marred by mere trivialities of a superficial social atmosphere. With the basic interior of the house absolved of crime or meaningful circumstance, the sage began tapping his foot wherever it seemed prudent. A few small raps produced telling sounds, most of which were dull, miniscule thuds. But as he neared the kitchen again, there was a hollow gain to each of his efforts, playing a game of hot-and-cold until the focal point was found, in front of a nondescript shel of green speckled marble, sandwiched between the amply sized fridge and full-of-dishes sink.

Kneeling down to the bottom cabinet, the door opened with an overused creak and a breeze, revealing a dark, deep tunnel that was large enough for even his broad reploid frame to squeeze into.

Common sense cautioned him. It was hidden for a reason, and the small island was far removed for the same purpose. In the mind of another, this place was utterly as real as its owner wanted it to be.

Gripping the marble counter and crumbling its perfect edges, the Sage of Light wondered what truth or illusion was beneath and if perhaps he had the skill to discern it. Close combat was the most logical choice; the violet rays extended from his beam saber with only the thought.

He quickly slid down the ramp into a vast darkness. His armor, even through the thick robe that was bunching, managed to drag and scrape uncomfortably, sending echoes above and below. Built slim but powerfully, he also found himself far from a match to the smaller, more frail people who were intended for the passage.

It came to a crawl where dim, neon blue light flooded in, but it was the stench that alerted him. Somehow hanging low beneath the surface of the decoy house, rotting flesh of all manners singed his nostrils, some of it burnt, and he resisted the smoky sting of still-lingering fires. Blue flickers greeted him, with the backup lights failing him as he leapt from the end of the slide into a dim nightmare of carnage. Metal walls and instruments were strewn everywhere in what was unrecognizable as anything other than a non-distinct room, and there was human blood with splatters lining bits of everything. Others were destroyed, but clean. Such havoc made the sage cringe as one fist rigidly creaked its metal joints.

The sound coming from his saber was only discernible when he held it close to his ear. It sizzled... something. Something heavier than the smoke, but light enough to float in the air.

A whisper brought his hand to his ear. It felt as if a bug was nesting inside, burrowing an infections path. And it made as much sense as one, muttering nothing but a collection of harsh consonants.

Smoke did nothing to his lungs, but somehow it made him want to hold his breath, the trail of death that lay hidden somewhere inside. Slowly, blade ready, he paced meticulously forward, aiming for one of two paths, left or right, and the right one had more light.

The sounds of sparks falling from above turned his head to streaks of carnage on the ceiling where someone had been brutalized into blood-soaked horror. But there was no body, or even a sign of one other than the red paint plastered on ceilings and walls.

Anger or some emotion of righteousness was normal to feel, but his thoughts raced with another concept that hovered thick amongst the dense hatred and malice. It surpassed the fleeting fear of the dying or dead, yet it was among their forsaken kind. A few of these people felt terrible sorrow. The kind when someone was struck with the gruesome realization that what they had been doing was, for all intents and purpose, morally criminal. The sensation was rubbing against the walls, oblivious to the great burn streaks and toppled machinery amidst faint white-blue glows. As he surveyed the quantities of blood, detecting two different genetic types, he thought of how dominant that single feeling was amongst all the vicious or cruel ones seeping through. Like the rose at the top of a huge mass of vines and thorns, its beauty stood out in telepathy with its quality rather than quantity.

The rot of that beauteous flower was beginning to grow. Whomever she was, it meant she was likely dead.

"This... is a memory," he reminded himself again. He was getting smarter about it, he acknowledged still with irritation and hesitance because of how convincing it was. Perhaps more than real life was at times.

More rooms had similar situations. Blood, destruction, and mostly hatred. The remnants of the rose waned further, and he attempt to hold on despite how futile the attempt was. It was going to die soon.

The body count had increased to at least six. Once he discovered a repeat in a blood pattern, he was forced to touch each streak with the tips of his fingers so he could obtain a psychic imprint. Each one had an emotion and a flicker of a face tacked to it, and the fresher the blood, the fresher the sensation. They were mostly male, the majority arrogant and blinded by the science of what they were doing with just a moment's evaluation. Only one had been female thus far, and it had not been the same one whose emotions were so forgiving. No, it was not at all the same person, he was sure.

The sage shook his head at the cruelty, trying not to succumb to living bitterness because of the foolish acts and hearts of the deceased. He made a quick dent in the wall with his fist and then moved on to another room, the last in this wing before retracing his steps.

He had long-since retracted his blade sensing no living presence. The last spot appeared to be the lounge for the people who once lived in the facility performing whatever experiment they found so crucial.

Abandoned. He pivoted, deliberately scraping his titanium boots to drag any spy of these memories out. Nothing responded to his taunts, but it gave him a chance to inspect the room. There was a large couch in one corner of the moderately sized rectangular space, one that was untouched except for a few small bits of pocket lint. Initial glances into the kitchen space just on the other side of a large opening were ominously dark, but quiet. Two circular tables fit for about four people each, five for a snug fit, had once been placed symmetrically in the room as evidenced by the small stained circles of floor where the table legs had been. One of them was still there. The other one was nowhere in sight. In its place was a thick pool of blood, a streak where someone had been dragged, flailing blood, and then nothing. It just stopped. There was no other trace of violence. Corner plants in three places were still upright and slightly wilted, and both the ceiling and floor had been in tact. Unlike the repeated acts of torture in the other rooms, the death of this one was quick.

"Damn," he concluded with a planned breath of concern. "If one thing did this..."

He wondered while staying vigilant of his surroundings. The purpose of this was to explore an important memory somewhere in the telepath's mind. At first it occurred to him that it was likely something he did. But the new evidence suggested two being responsible, or more. It could mean he was a part of the same spawn, or worse, that he was so mentally unstable that his killing followed no pattern.

He backed away from the huge puddle of blood and angled his body slowly in the other direction, but a miniscule sound permeated the thick of his hood. His blade ejected from his sleeve, reflecting in the thick, congealing pool. He knelt down and eyed it very carefully.

Muscles tightened and eyes shot open. A tingle ran through his spine. Crushing of ceramic tile preceded his leap to the ceiling. Latching to a ceiling pipe, he carved a triangular figure into the ceiling, only to watch a tidal wave of crimson liquid spray the front of him while carrying three bodies to the ground.

The Sage of Light shuddered away, a curdling in his throat causing his breath to halt. Without thought, he shut down his lungs and relied solely on the nuclear cells distributed around his body. Secondary power be damned in this madhouse. It saved him the need to smell anything so foul, so emotional. Daring to turn back with one bodily sense eliminated, he soaked in the accelerating nightmare, hoping with a nervous shrink in his posture that the cause of it would not come for him, too.

The two bottom bodies were in their undergarments, painted from head to toe in watercolor red. One male, one female. Mouth agape, he counted the number of front-to-back piercings in each torso. Over thirty. _Thirty_. Some small, some large, others jagged and sloppy. They had been perforated in so many ways. Grinding his teeth to hold his composure, the reploid sage thought of what it would take to commit this act.

"Long after having killed them," he whispered. It would have taken minutes beyond that.

The other body was hardly better. It was completely armless, but it was much more difficult to look at the head, severed off... no, torn without mercy at the mouth, still possessing a lower jaw. The sinews and chunks of muscle were still sticking out, far from being cleanly or even sloppily cut.

He began retracing back with a heavy clang in his step, hoping to forget what he had just seen. Of course, he knew that a reploid mind would never allow such an easy withdrawal. It was one human trait that might be enjoyable to have at times.

The sage stepped back through the dim blue lit wreckage, wishing that the details would at least go away, but his superior observation had picked up more than he had wanted before the bodies had even dropped with their sickening thuds. His eyes squeezed painfully. The one female body had been a little short and fat compared to the other trait that he craved to purge.

Long, dark blonde curls, dyed an agonizing red. It made him feel things he hadn't felt possibly in all his decades of life. Such rage and fury coursed through, and he soon realized that his lungs had restarted without his consent, seething spit-filled air in and out of his teeth. An emptiness demanded filling, pulling a small growl out moments later and stinging in his eyes as he kicked aside things that he no longer cared about, replaced by visions of _her_.

His pace livened. Knowing that she was on one planet and he on another didn't settle well. And how long had he been trapped? Hours, days, or longer?

It was time to make an escape. His pace became a sprint, ducking around the corners until he came to the drop room where he arrived, but he ignored the darkness in the other path and charged through, dropping low as his reploid boosters kicked with a loud hum. His Buster charged, bathing him in iridescent azure; his blade began resonating from normal pale purple to a rich, golden yellow.

Pulling up his visor, his white irises pierced the shadows, and he ignored the bodies and the burning fires. The count of death reached double digits. A pile of columns and debris blocked the way, and his radiant saber cut through at a distance with a shining arc.

A wall of flame from floor to ceiling only made his chest surge harder, and his shield plowed through the blaze effortlessly as he tackled a metal door with enough force to tear it off its hinges.

There was light. Broken shards of glass illuminated by small spotlights everywhere. He screeched to a halt when he saw the creature in the very center bearing a long tail that somehow started from its front. Three large knobbed fingers on each hand, and all of it a pale purple except for that large tail, darker violet than the rest. It had bone extensions at the top of its skull, almost like horns, and also a strange tube at the back of its skull creating a connection between the top of the neck and its upper back.

It was his captor, the psychic creature holding him prisoner. As it spun, the Sage of Light held his blade outward, and the reploid white-eyes met a pair equally powerful, but dark as the ocean blue.


	73. Shadow Searching

**Chapter 73 – Shadow Searching**

Inside a small, isolated room within the Echidna High Council Tower, two sentries, one a plain looking echidna, the other a wolf with an overabundance of muscle, were unconscious and in a heap. Bright computer screens lined the oppressively small walls, arcing part way around the room with a console set a few feet away. Standing uneasily in front of it, Rouge the Bat scratched at her short white fur with panic, cycling through security camera footage on the central screen, desperately hoping to find something throughout the streets of Echidnopolis that would lead her to Shadow.

The footage of the incident had already been erased, though she had expected that in the day that had passed since. There was a gap in the time signature at the intersection near the restaurant they had been eating at, an obvious and harrowing sign of foul play within the Council. Though it did little to ease her fear, whoever was working for Balk did a sloppy job. Another intersection with a camera inside the traffic light had a distant shot of what happened. Even at that poor vantage point, Rouge winced and held her hand to her mouth when she saw Balk's small, fuzzy image dash into Shadow's in the speed of a blink. The black hedgehog, a tiny dark splotch at the corner of the camera's range, collapsed instantly.

There were teeth marks at the edge of Rouge's mauve colored lips. They were close to bleeding.

A gentle twist on the doorknob made her jerk around, and she dove feet first at the person opening it.

Splinters from the wooden frame sprayed at Knuckles the Echidna, pelting him in the arms and hide hat. Rouge skipped backwards, palms aimed at him, but Knuckles only stood with a firm look on his face.

The white bat clenched her jaw to the point of pain, angry with refusal to let down her guard. Her small black wings flapped with tension as her lungs expanded and exhaled. She envisioned how she would escape, striking with a fierce kick that Knuckles would side-step, giving her a path to run.

But he just stood there. With softening eyes, even the grey mechanical one, he showed compassion and care, not for Shadow, but for her fear.

"Stop this, Rouge," said Knuckles softly. His hands were balled into fists, displaying the pointed bone extensions of his namesake.

"He's gone, and no one can find him," Rouge cried. "Balk is some kind of mutant, some freak. He shouldn't have been able to hurt Shadow like that. He shouldn't…"

"I know, Rouge," replied the echidna. He took a step toward her as she lowered her hands. "I don't know how he did it. He's got some sort of weapon, that's obvious, but no one will say anything. I mentioned it to my father, but he hasn't got a shred of evidence, and he's one of the chief members of the council."

"Locke didn't even suspect him?" the worried woman sank with disbelief.

Knuckles shook his head, taking a step closer as Rouge's eyes dropped away, loose and unfocused as the odds began to stack against them.

"Balk has always appeared to be a man of the people, even I thought that. Whatever he's hiding, he's done an incredible job of it."

Taking one more step, he knew could reach out and touch her, and he began to stretch for her shoulder when she turned away to the security monitors. He quickly pulled it back, hiding the attempt as soon as she glanced in his direction. A slow, heavy thump repeated over and over in his chest.

"Let me help," offered Knuckles. "It's my responsibility to protect the Floating Island, you know that. I don't really care if the council becomes my enemy."

"How can you say that?" she turned to him with tear-filled eyes. "Your parents could be persecuted and driven out, or worse. And what about Julie-su?"

A massive knot formed in his stomach at the name of the one person that made him most vulnerable. He made up a white lie, thanking his mechanical eye for the help it would provide in making it look real.

"She wouldn't stand for this, either," he said plainly. "Julie would rather leave than have the place be corrupt."

"Would she?" Rouge asked prying through the layers of his intent. "Wouldn't she fight back? Isn't that what she's done all her life?"

"She's tired of it," Knuckles explained argumentatively, approaching the computer display as a refusal to continue the subject.

Rouge stared at the side of his face for a moment. A part of her wanted him to just leave. It was the same part that wanted nothing but Shadow. Including the other half of her mind, she still wanted the black hedgehog, but at least there was an inkling of thanks for Knuckles' misguided emotions.

They scanned the videos wordlessly, searching the time just after Shadow was struck, but they couldn't keep a bead on the fat echidna or the enigmatic hedgehog for more than a minute. It was like they had vanished altogether. Other than the segment that had been edited out, they couldn't find any evidence of tampering, and it simply didn't seem possible that Balk, Shadow and the two echidna guards with them could have disappeared.

Continuing the search, they prepared themselves for the possibility that they would be apprehended.

Watching dozens of screens at once, they looked for a clue, a sudden jump in video, a missing piece of time, or anything else that might lead them to where Balk _didn't_ want them to see. Knuckles knew if they found that, it could be a road map to where they were vastly unwanted, and where Shadow was held prisoner. Nothing jumped out as helpful. The echidnas and other Islanders were moving about their business, smiling, talking, shouting, others quite silent. Amongst the silver structures, residential, commercial or otherwise, everything looked normal.

Rouge squinted at image after image, skeptical at every sight and action that held any trace of being suspect. Her wings occasionally fluttered with tension, trying to contain too many emotions as her frustration climbed. An echidna passed a package to another seamlessly through their walk, and a wad of money went the opposite direction. Criminal. Possibly related. The white bat woman wanted to wring their necks for information, to squeeze every last drop of air out of them until they told her where Shadow was. Then there were the ceremonial guards at the front of the Echidna Council building. Other than greeting those coming in and out, the pair in white formal and tribal headdress moved for nothing. An explosion could rip the tarmac apart right in front of them, and they wouldn't move unless they thought it was a threat to the council members. They were always there, they had to know something about the lies. It would be so easy to press one for information…

"Rouge!"

She yelped and smashed half of the touch pad controls.

"Calm down," he said.

Rouge clamped her eyes, her limbs rigid with anger.

Part of Knuckles wanted to reach out, Rouge could see it in the way he deliberately kept his hands behind his back. She glanced at them, then away.

If she hadn't averted her eyes, Knuckles would have had to. "I, uh… think I found something," he said under his breath. "Here, look."

She didn't need the invitation. The viewpoint came from opposite the Angel Island Historical Museum. The building was speckled tan, unlike the varying silvers and other metallic shades of the city, made of old fashioned denadorite bricks so the framework of the museum would last for practically an eternity. It was hellishly expensive, Rouge recalled, but she quickly ignored the financial aspects of the historic structure when Knuckles froze the frame and zoomed in on two small figures.

"I'll clear up the picture," he murmured.

The Guardian quickly tapped what was left of the controls, and it was like layers were peeled away, one by one, to achieve the properly ripe image. Rouge groaned in the echidna's direction as she waited, knowing that he somehow already knew through the thick blur what they were looking at. A few more corrections and clarifications, and the computer halted. It couldn't be much clearer, but the image was still a bit fuzzy. Two echidnas carrying a large, secure crate, both straining a bit under the weight.

"I don't understand," Rouge whined.

"There was a delivery scheduled today," said Knuckles.

A pair of furious and watery eyes batted with irritation at him, not wanting to play detective anymore. It made the echidna sink to see her hope was fading with the passing moments, but the heat rising in his face burned far worse to know that she might never worry so passionately for anyone but the black hedgehog.

"The delivery was supposed to for a small, life-size statue of a white, angelic echidna made over 800 years ago... but if you look at their expressions," he poked at the screen where the echidna facing the distance camera strained and clearly fought with the weight of their haul, "there's no way they should be having that much trouble. The box is almost twice the size it needs to be. I'm willing to bet there's something else heavy in that box, and Shadow weighs a lot more than he looks."

"You really think he could be in there?" Rouge hoped, a weak glint in her eye.

"Yeah," Knuckles confirmed, knowing that it could just be a foolish coincidence. He knew that getting her hopes up was a dangerous game, but he continued to do it despite the consequences, dragging out the unlikely scenario. "The timeline fits... between the assault and the delivery there was just enough time for the guards to change outfits and stuff Shadow in a box. We don't have a clear shot to compare, but there's nothing saying that these guys with the box aren't the same ones who were with Balk."

The bat nodded, pulling in lips that shared a bond with her teary eyes. "Ok. I'm going."

Without an inkling of hesitance, she aimed for the brighter light beyond the dim security room, but a painful squeeze jerked her back, budding an angry duo of vicious glares that began quick, then slowed to spiteful crawls.

"Don't you... _dare_ try to stop me."

It was so hard to stare into her eyes, knowing that her flare of hatred had fanned out of control from a simple grab, one out of concern, spawned by desire for only her happiness. The Guardian of all of the Floating Isle faced pain like no other, placing the physical strains of all his years on pedestals that paled against the jarring, uneven rhythm of his pulse. It may as well have been sitting in her palm, free for her to squeeze until the breaking point.

Suddenly she looked away. Rouge refused to give him any of her eyes. Though she could never sense how deep, she knew. Knuckles did, too. It had always been there, never given a chance to grow, and their hearts had long since gone separate ways.

"Knux..." whispered Rouge, barely able to speak. "Don't make this harder."

His face turned sour. "Rouge..."

Faint whimpers trailed from their sighs, discontent with the distance they had to keep, no _needed _to keep from each other. Swollen breaths caught their spilling emotions, fighting in all directions to break out in forbidden words, destructive in nature though they harbored no ill desires to those it would harm. The train of toppling events that would spread out would not be cataclysmic, but infectious, a hidden plague starting with a pink echidna and a black hedgehog. Caught in scandal, the figurehead Guardian would become the eye of disastrous public accusations of infidelity, rotting the foundations of moral duty among males for generations to come, releasing the locks on viler things. The Council could fall under public riot next, and war could erupt. Selfish as it seemed, Knuckles suspected that his influence both in preventing crime and as a model would lead to increased crime with his ostracism. So many things could lead do the destruction of the Floating Island, a target for all those greedy enough to slaughter many thousands of people for the sake of the Master Emerald keeping it aloft. Reason dictated that it was foolish to shove toward that outcome for the sake of a woman, yet temptation still burned.

Releasing more angered tears, Rouge tried to hide that they were for Shadow. For all his power, Rouge knew the black hedgehog to be as fragile and delicate as a sculpture cast in ice. Destroyed in the wrong environment and circumstances, needing to be handled with experience that no one possessed, the outcome of discarding the affection he had so slowly granted to her was not as foreseeable. That lack of knowing frightened Rouge, and her skin crawled with a cold fear. Shadow could merely hide away on the ARK, never to emerge again, but the erratic power and free will that came with his bond to the chaos emeralds could level nations to dust. His rage had once destroyed the planet out of blind and hateful ignorance for humanity, and the understanding that he had reached for the Terrans, far from the thought of forgiveness, was a vital piece of that delicate ice carving.

"You already made your choice," Rouge rubbed her eyes with resolve. "And I've made mine."

A deep and thoughtful breath sounded, bringing the bat's torn face toward his, and her tiny black nose almost touched his long echidna one. The warm air from one graced across the other, and the ring of temptation's bell sounded. Softer than silk was how he remembered her soft fur, and the masculine strength of his arms teased her.

Rouge looked away, but she couldn't move. "I..."

"Yes?" Knuckles pressed, intent and unmoving in his watchfulness of her delicate face.

"I want Shadow."

Her jaw was clamped shut when she said it, only allowing the angry words to seep between grinding whites and furious lips. She hated to speak it, but she needed to. He needed to hear it out loud. It was the truth.

For a moment there was silence, tainted by her uncomfortable breathing.

"Fine," Knuckles responded. His features were a void, cold and dry. As he turned to lead the way, presumably to the historical museum, Rouge wondered if it was a defense mechanism, or if perhaps she had managed with three simple words to cause his heart to completely cave in.

A small ounce of relief budded in her congealed mess of fears and desires, but she felt worried for him. She had desired both him and Shadow… but there was a part of her, one that was too observant for its own good, suspecting that he was not of the same mindset. The feelings she had for two, Knuckles only seemed to have for one.

Never had she felt much affection toward Julie-su, likely as a result of her title as wife, spending more time with the echidna that Rouge could not also have. But now the white bat felt a terrible pity for her, wondering if she knew. Julie-su survived the void, like only the strongest or smartest echidnas did. With her character, she must've known, or at least suspected.

Swallowing guilt that she felt equally sorry for not realizing sooner, the marginal relief fizzled away, so she tried to wear bitterness and anger. It was easiest.

Escaping the building wasn't difficult, even with security on the way. The loud stomps of numerous Island Police in deliberate unison tapered off down the hall after Knuckles quickly hid them both in a secret compartment on one particular corner of path. The High Council Building was full of these such passages, and other than the carpeted lanes on that floor, they saw little of its inner-majesty as they took one route from the kitchen into the dark, dank ventilation systems and pipes rising from bottom floor to top. The Guardian led the way, sliding down what seemed like endless narrow shafts as Rouge followed close behind, collecting ancient dust and the webs of long-deserted insects and arachnids.

Eventually, Knuckles' feet struck a ceiling panel with enough force to break it open, revealing an underground garage large enough for only about forty vehicles of varying sizes. The gross, yellow light was a rare discomfort in a city known for its cleanliness, but the hexagonal stone pattern lining the entire floor surface was flawless, much less of a surprise.

Several parking spots were not filled, and Rouge was able to spot the black, four-person jeep that Knuckles occasionally used. She hopped in the passenger seat, only to be stung an instant later by his degrading glare. Tangled emotions knotted in her stomach and chest. Ones of fury and also miserable discontent, but she obeyed the unspoken command and slid under the jeep, scratching her wings and back until she found the least miserable position while still being safe, clinging to the greasy under-workings that were less mobile. That way she wouldn't be discovered, and Knuckles could get off without question.

The engine hummed and roared, spitting its stink head to toe on Rouge. She latched her feet in and felt the gentle burn in her muscles growing, slowly, pulsing with a heat-like intensity as the curves of the weaving lot tugged on her. Gentle breezes peeled away a portion of the jeep's exhaust and oil smell, and shortly after seeing daylight, they came to an abrupt halt, tugging at her position with painful stretches.

The subdued roar of the engine blocked her angry growl from reaching even her own sensitive ears.

A pair of thick, black boots stopped within easy reach of the clinging bat, and as the boots slowly tapped around from the front of the vehicle to the back, suspicious of something, Rouge wondered what they were saying to each other. Seconds later she had to stifle a nasty cough from the fumes sifting around where she hung secretly.

Rouge squinted around beyond the legs obstructing her view. It was growing... dark? But there was no rain in the forecast. Were they talking about it too?

The pistons resumed their pounding, free from inspection and painfully loud for someone so close, scrunched away near the whirring, twisting axles. Releasing her cough felt good, but she could barely stop with all that was spewing from the combustion engine.

Using anger to stave off weakness, she clung tightly until a small bump kicked up dirt and grass onto her backside, and the vehicle came to a slow halt, allowing her to return safely to the passenger seat. Once buckled in, she found their expressions to be switched. His had gone fairly blank, and hers was fiery mad, which she had no fear in admitting to herself.

It was less than a ten minute drive. It felt like hours. Too many thoughts rumbled through her head with the rapid pistons joining in under the hood. Rouge desperately hoped Shadow was alright, just imprisoned, nothing more. All the ideas of what could have happened to him made her sides hurt, only after a few minutes of not noticing how her abs clenched painfully. A genetically and mechanically engineered super-being… all the mad doctors and scientists around the world would love to dissect him piece by piece, or perhaps in one big, bloody hurrah, beginning with his chest, opening up and cutting apart every organ.

A moment later they were pulled over, and she threw up, gagging on the last bits that clung with tenacity, punctuating her resolve with spear tips of dread.

She felt Knuckles' presence and insisted on the refusal of his help as a sense of balance crawled back into her legs. Out of three attempts of his to support her, she pushed all away. It was tempting to replace his gentle advances with a little imagination, pretending that it was a firm, consistent hand reaching to comfort her from the black hedgehog, but she knew how wrong that was. Having already spurned him completely, possibly for life, Rouge could do nothing worse than to lead him on with thoughts of Shadow inside. She fought, and it gave her enough strength to drain the poison of her mind and return to the vehicle.

Soon, they were on the road and only minutes away from the museum, both occupants quite mute.

A few passerbies glanced oddly in the Guardian's direction. He was magnificently practiced at ignoring it, yet able to see every face passing by, and Rouge suspected he knew most if not all of them by name. It was difficult to separate the likelihood of the echidnas and other Mobians stealing momentary looks at Knuckles and the offhand chance that her presence was the one pulling more on their pupils. Any number of them could be men of Balk, even if merely small subordinates. Infuriatingly, they were two who would garner more attention than anyone else, making it an impossible task to pick out those who might be working for the corrupted councilman.

Rouge was in no position or mindset to flirt, but adopting the right posture, a sultry backwards lean, one arm displayed widely along the edge of her seat, was a nice start. With open sides and a thick black cage, it was easy for people to see her remove the Y-shaped chest plate and bare a provocative, purposely inflated version of her breasts.

Her face wasn't in it, nor was her spirits. Brought to mild, reddened cheeks realizing how often she used the technique, the only pleasure she derived this time was the comfort of having the purple, metallic armor free of the sensitive region.

She felt the smile budding in her jaw as the tactic worked its charms. Everyone drawn several inches down from her pale cherry lipstick to where her chest puffed out was an unlikely candidate to be working for Balk. Amused at her quick ingenuity, she knew enough of Balk's chauvinistic standpoints as a politician to figure that only men would be spying for him, too.

Her chest contracted slowly, deliberately, a sensual motion masking discomfort when a particularly dark echidna glowered, deep maroon, dreadlocks beyond his waist. A miniscule acknowledgement of her was made, only the face, and he turned back.

Damn it. His long gray beard was braided. Cynicism was spread across his face, a veil of age covering what might have been a long stretch of impotence. He wouldn't have reacted, agent or not. The old one's observation had been calculative. Checking the side mirror, Rouge witnessed nothing out of the dark echidna. No movement, no mouthing of subtle words. Either they were already pinned and under surveillance, or they weren't.

"He wasn't," Knuckles attempted to ease her thoughts. Maybe he thought he did. Rouge felt like her silence had been interrupted.

Oddly torn from her task, her hands groped uncomfortably at her knees, refusing to give sight or significance to his comment. It had been a long stretch of time they had known each other, and with regards to his strange ability, the superior inflation of his senses, she had secretly wanted to know. Everyone had. Still, she didn't want him to speak. Wordlessness became the object of craving, He continued anyway.

"I've never told anyone this," he said. "But I want to be honest with you. As… whatever it is we can be."

Why couldn't the engines be louder? The museum wasn't close enough. Staring of others became bothersome, and she considered clamping her chest plate where it apparently belonged. The gusts of air tickled her scar spots unevenly, chilling her. Shadow crept into her mind even more, but it was the words of another person that filled the empty spaces, though not toxic enough to make her force him out. Guilt clambered through flesh and bone, two-fold, wanting the hole she had just dug in the Guardian's chest to be filled. The latest stitches that needed to be sewn spouted from a fountain that she owed to the black hedgehog. Finger tips on her scars, remnants of the bullets that tore her through. They had been made because of him. Because of his absence. Blame for something he could not have predicted wasn't fair, but it wouldn't have happened had he been there for her. He never allowed anything to happen to her.

Knuckles was monotone, speaking out of some emotion of logic or maybe lack of emotiveness altogether. As she failed to listen, Rouge despised herself, crushed by the animosity she felt, the need to hurt him and move him away so he would stop. It was undeniably one of the stupidest things she had ever done, refusing to listen to his secret, the key to his almost godly abilities of sight and hearing. "Chaos" caught her ear when it was spoken. Much of the rest of it leaked from one white, upright ear to the other. Her wings even joined in the masquerade, flexing in a way that might have appeared contemplative, but the only end that the muscular twist between her shoulders amplified was her inability to direct her hearing to him. Denying her own stupidity and childish refusals, Rouge was tempted almost to tears to listen, but she didn't. Even Julie-su didn't know what it was that chaos did to make him see the invisible, hear the silent. Rouge's chest shrank away, weighted with remorse and passive anger.

Eventually, he finished his explanation, adjusting his hide hat and vest oddly. She had barely absorbed more than a few disconnected words. The emptiness that hung afterward was palpable enough to feel on their shoulders, heavy, dense.

"Almost there," Rouge declared. Knuckles didn't even nod, refraining from a simple acknowledgment that her mouth had actually opened.

A fast jerk, nearly thrown from the vehicle. It began spinning, screeching rubber, spewing the revolting fumes of burnt tires . Her adrenaline pumped, her arms tightened like steel as she braced herself. The loose metal plate she had placed on the dash became a deadly projectile, nearly clipping the echidna in the nose before flying out his open window.

The scratchy static of volt gloves, military issue, buzzed from all around. Laser pistols made their ascending hums, echoing off one another, more than half a dozen. The cock of machine guns? A rarity, but to Rouge they were more than recognizable being an agent of the Terran military herself.

A dozen echidnas geared in intricate black armor, unusually beyond standard issue, honed in, inching closer in a circle around them. Their eyes were covered, dreads bound back with the dense facial protection, complete with functional breathing apparatus that had pipes connecting around the necks of the armor. Had Knuckles come to a halt because of them, or did they respond after Knuckles noticed them first?

"Step out of the vehicle," spoke the one nearest to the driver side door. Brave, but foolish and ignorant.

The helmet shattered, splintered by the sharp fists of the Guardian, and the first guard crumpled. A snap of bone released a muffled scream as Rouge's legs entangled a gunner's arm. The grassy, landscaped park scene that invited toward the home of past legacies became a warzone, heated with gunfire and laser rounds.

Rouge had ripped the door from its hinges, using it as a shield and battering implement as she rushed the one with the foreign weapon, the shell-firing machine pistol. She felt a round graze her boot, causing her to stumble, so she kept even lower, dodging and reflecting the low caliber shots tearing the road apart.

Screams became secondary sounds, irrelevant voices as they faded away. Knuckles used his first attacker as a human shield after the mind-numbing blow dropped him like a rag. His speed startled the next one, and they had refused to shoot their comrade. His reflexes snapped, deliberately plunging against the granite sidewalk tiles as a blue beam singed the edge a dreads. His fists tore a hunk of stone up like a tidal shock of stone, and the piece he caught in midair took only a minor effort to swing around, smashing another of their attackers, the servants of Balk's unknown plan.

Knuckles froze with another limp frame in front of him. Their tactics changed without warning. They had ceased gunfire for the last living shield. This time they relentlessly opened fire, striking both legs and shoulder. Infused with a durability that few had, the Guardian withstood the shots, only having to be concerned with a growing flame on his vest. Throwing the solider with a roar, they discontinued fire for the brief second he needed to dive and roll, extinguishing the fire and placing himself safely behind the vehicle now peppered with holes and burn marks.

He found Rouge huddled down in the same place, carrying the machine pistol she had stolen. Her silent glare, ruffled with the heart-racing feeling that came with being shot at, questioned for a plan. A squint and nod later, the last of her rounds went into a great lycha tree, splintering the base while gunfire rained around them, over their heads.

"Damn it, I'm hit!" Knuckles roared.

For a moment, intense, rapid fear. Fluttering pains in her head and heart. The white bat could barely make any expression but wide-mouthed denial of the damp red stains leaking to the tar. How? She hadn't seen. It had to have been a high caliber, or piercing. A bullet through the jeep as he moved? It didn't matter. A powerful stray, that was all it took. He was biting down hard as blood seeped out, staining his gloves as he held his lower back where more than one bullet had struck.

"Go!" he shouted, flailing his other arm at the tree.

She nodded, leaping out toward the tree. It was thick enough to provide cover, and the deafening cracks when bullets and lasers drilled through it were wracking her focus. She looked to Knuckles, wincing, struggling to stand. Even wounded, Knuckles dodged laser after laser at close range, moving in until the soldier had the butt of his own weapon cracked on his skull.

The tree creaked, threatening to fall. Perfect.

"Grrraah!" A snap kick that could have dented steel. Dark shadows of the trunk angled toward the street. The tree toppled, crushing one echidna outright, and others dove. From the crumbling stump, the bat propelled herself forward with a swift flutter of her wings, reaching to the legs of a particularly tall echidna soldier. Dragging strength from the depths of her diaphragm, Rouge bellowed a mighty scream, swinging the echidna in circles. The armored echidna itself became a weapon, and the long body came aloft, battering into the faces of those too slow to recover from the falling tree. The only one fast enough to duck and dodge a second time received vengeance, a burning so hard in Rouge's arms and torso, enough to stop the propeller assault into a falling hammer, smashing both to the sidewalk, sending billows of dust skyward.

Knuckles' voice was heavy and labored. "Need a hand!" he shouted, keeping his lower extremities blocked by the tires of his vehicles more seriously. His palms braced against what was left of the black jeep, and she ducked low, doing the same. Grunting, the massive heave of their combined strength flipped the lightweight frame, rolling it over the last few, quickly taking them out. Systematically, leaping to each closest guard in succession, they struck anyone left conscious, even those dazed from their injuries already. One of them had been trapped by the jeep, crushed with blood oozing out heavily.

No one else. The streets had become empty. People stared from windows. Snipers? They would have fired already.

"Two dead. The rest are out," Rouge huffed. She soon noticed that one of them had been sharp enough to put a laser to her thigh. The limb moved painfully, bleeding and burnt, but it was sturdy enough to keep going without much compensation.

"Quick, let's head inside, before more of them come!" Knuckles ordered, quickening his pace through the pain shooting above his waist. The great building and its sandy bricks, symmetrical, wide but not especially tall, was undoubtedly flooded with more of the kind they had just beaten. "We'll have more cover inside." After that last battle, a bit of shielding was welcome.

A rumbling crunch spun them about. Crackling, twisting sounds of grotesque natures came from behind.

"What… the…"

Rouge dared to step toward it, the contorting corpse of one whom she was sure had been dead, skull split open. The body squelched blood from its cranium, dripping from the headgear, sliding down its neck. Was the soldier growing? Rouge swore she saw his arm expand. Then his leg. All of him. As if choking on something, it gagged and wretched, writhing. The armor expanded and twisted as it grew, gaining a head's height, then two. The arms became swollen, deformed and uneven, but massive, and they two began to spit fluids, first maroon blood, then black sludge. The last liquid spitting up from it, a bright lime, dribbled from all places.

"I got it!" the Guardian dashed, sprinting into a haymaker that could have taken a head off. The very impact cracked the sky, almost a jet surpassing the sound barrier.

Rouge gasped her voice slowed with shock. "No way!"

The mutant slid back into the street several feet, taking Knuckles in a firm grasp, one mammoth hand over the Guardian's deadly punch.

Knuckles was swung like a doll, smashed twice on the pavement, thrown over Rouge's head too fast for her to catch him, though she desperately glided in his direction. The roll he landed into was clumsy, a simple log flopping and coming to a messy stop.

Weighty footsteps clambered behind, stomping at a leisurely pace. A froth of green goo began to leak from the gas mask over the creature's face.

"It's fast," he muttered incoherently, shaking off the pain and dizziness with an animal's deep growl. "If we were anywhere else, I'd say run, but we can't let this thing loose in the city. We've got to stop it here."

"Wonderful, any suggestions on how to do that?"

They continued to back away, and the creature made little attempt to increase its speed, laboring no different in its slow, deliberate steps. It breathed heavily, almost strained. The walk was uneven as well, slanted to one side with limbs that hadn't morphed the same on both sides.

There was no warning for when it began to sprint. Soil, stone and root trembled underneath the massive stomps, and it raised its arms to smash anything in front of it, bellowing like a savage.

Imaginary weights clamped to their feet, concrete bricks of strain and disbelief. Only finding the courage to break their shackles at the last moment, each dove to one side of the mutant, flanking it. Blinding, a massive arm aimed to crush instead ripped the ground apart, raining a cloud of dirt on Knuckles as he skipped backwards.

Rouge dove in, and her leg was on fire as it struck the side of the creature's head, forcing it to its knees. Stunned, Knuckles dashed in again, refusing to be denied twice. The deafening crunch of its face curdled their stomachs; Knuckles felt cheekbones and teeth snap under his prepared strike. A mask designed to protect now became a faucet of blood, and after a few spasmodic twitches, its movements slowed.

The head jerked. Then again. Twice more, it began shaking from the shoulders up.

There was no way to un-see the juicy, squelching flesh-pulp explode from the head, dousing both of them with a bloody mist. From the neck, something began sprouting, wiggling like a parasite. Twin veins of green pulsing on barbed tentacles jutted out, swinging vividly, easily the length of two arms as the body stood again, acting unharmed. There simply was no head left to speak of.

"What in the name of God is that?" Knuckles gaped, backing away. His false eye picked up energy waves and heat signatures that made no sense, almost overloading the sensors with a genuine sting all around his eye socket. There was no way something that size could hold two additional limbs inside of its body. There would have been no place for the other organs to sit properly. "Must have happened, right then. So…" he formed a conclusion, praying it was right. "Rouge! It's got to be unstable. If we can keep it busy for a bit, it might just die on its own!"

A contemptuous and panicked shout replied with little breath to speak. "_We're_ going to die if we don't do something!"

Tire squeals and sirens. Jet gliders diving from above. The _real _enforcement of Echidnopolis began pouring in, armed to the teeth. Rouge hadn't seen in ages were in the hands of allies, bandoliers of ammo braced across their chests. Two rows, one low to the ground, the second taking high stances, charged all their weapons. The speed that they moved in with was unreal and coordinated. Someone had been prepared for this.

Piqued be whatever senses it still had, the creature turned away, ignoring Rouge and the Guardian.

A pink echidna, slender and graceful, stepped out from one of the thick vans. Happy to see her for the first time, Rouge risked a grin. In the hands of Julie-su was the stock and grip of a black shotgun, stacked with three barrels in a triangular formation. Painted in crude white letters on its side was the word 'Hydra.'

A heavy, dense click echoed from her weapon as she aimed. Everyone readied their weapons, thirty or more clicks, hums and whirs, all at her command to eradicate this creature.

It picked up pace, waving the barbed tendrils madly. _Is it still growing_? Rouge wondered, her eyes too distracted by a sudden jerk to get a clear answer. She felt a damp grip on her arm, pulling her away, almost dragging until she gained her balance and sprinted out of harm's way as fast as her thigh would carry her.

Within seconds of being on them, Julie-su aimed her weapon at its chest. "Fire!"

The blast of heavy gunpowder from triplets of steel was the precursor to absolute madness. Varying brands of laser weapons, pistols, rifles, Gatling, painted showers of luminescence across a blue canvas and a green one, the latter razed into flame and sod clusters.

"Grenade launcher?" Knuckles said, the words barely audible to Rouge as balls of flame screened the light, spreading until darkness confused and shrouded. Rouge and he took shelter behind the armada. Hisses perhaps chemical splashed in the gaps not filled with gunfire and explosions.

A buildup torturously screeched somewhere toward the creature, climbing the scales of sound until it surpassed without relent, releasing all at once. Then screams. The crunching of metal and a faint outline of a military van rolling in the clouded shadows could have crushed them. Though it only passed into close range view for a second, Knuckles swore he saw it ripped through, the metal bend backwards. God, folded in on itself?

Infrared was nearly useless. Surrounded by brightened muzzles and flame, he couldn't make anything out. Staying put no longer became an option. They ran, not knowing where it was taking them other than away from the fight.

Knuckles shoved her ahead, turning back, trying to spot the recognizable frame of Julie in a mass of glowing reds and oranges, pale greens and blues over a blinding amoeba of combat. His true eye was no more helpful.

Scaling the windows of the nearest building, Rouge rose above the cloud of smoke to see it start to fade, and to witness the cluster of bodies added to the ones they had already made. Soldiers who had been left aside unconscious were now crushed to death, smashed, or somehow shot despite the concentrated fire aiming away. Two thirds of the relieving force had simply died.

Julie-su. Where was she? Knuckles backed away from the haze, coughing on it. He stopped, staring at something which caught Rouge's eyes at the same time from her higher vantage point.

The military van _had_ been blown apart, the metal sheared from nose to tail. A crumbling hole wide enough to drive a tank through had been made in the metal of the building that Rouge had scaled across the street that no one dared drive on.

"No lasers!" rang a hardened woman's voice, stressed with exhaustion and fear. "Cease fire!"

The next sounds they heard from her were frightened, confused screams.

"Julie!" The Guardian's hat blew off as he rushed into the smoky battlefield.

But they all stopped as a swell of putrid air sprayed out. It was intense, scattering the heavy fog, lifting the blinds. The creature had grown larger.

A third and fourth pulsating tentacle, drenched in blood and the bright jade of something else, had jutted even taller from the stump of its head. Bony extensions, no, the echidna's ribs, had broken from the sternum and pointed outward. There was a cage of flesh, some sort of craving, hungry red mouth in it, glowing excitedly the same colors of the laser fire. That was why the cease fire was ordered. It had _absorbed_ the energy. Rouge dropped to the ground in a glide, fluttering her wings as the logical conclusion.

The Hydra was still in Julie's arms, though she strained to hold its weight – something had crippled her arm. There was no blood. Thank every ounce of fate that she hadn't been pierced into by that creature. Propping it against the open window of one of the remaining vehicles, she continued to pump bullets into it, forcing it back with each shot, blowing off small chunks of flesh and armor. The tentacles lashed just out of her reach, making squeals as if speaking with every foul swing, oozing bits of fluid that turned to a dark pine when mixed with blood.

A few dared to advance with melee weapons, knives and swords. They were consumed, eaten through the top, screaming only until the barbed extensions cradled their heads then crushed them. Two ran, not looking back, dropping weapons and gear as the white bat dared to move closer. She trusted her skills, her speed. She wouldn't be caught.

The tentacles speared in to the ground, each trying to impale, their curved, slime coated tips sharper than knives. She somersaulted across, giving Julie the chance to reload her weapon then shatter more pieces of the monstrosity, but it continued to mutate, adapting to the wounds.

Rouge shouted, grazed in the back, dropping to a roll in front of it. The legs, the only thing still normal looking, were thin. Dodging one more strike at her side, she dove behind it, and when the steel heart of her boot struck the side of its shin, a sound, a shattering bone filled her ear drums.

A red blur. Knuckles was close enough to share warmth with her. A similar blow, fist to the other leg, crumpled the other leg, splitting the bone through the corroding flesh. They backed away, encircling it out of range. Rouge and Knuckles rushed for other weapons, finding leftover machine guns. Chattering in their arms, the weapons blasted piece after piece of the creature apart. Closing in, step by step, they punctured the creature's deadliest weapons, the flailing limbs, oozing emerald liquid, spouting pustules of fleshy matter.

Something lashed out, a vine of blood and flesh, entangling Rouge with speed that she couldn't react to, pulling her in quickly.

"No!" bellowed the voice of the Guardian. He repeated it, shouting mad as he rushed, soon feeling a massive strike against his face, the remains of one of the tentacles bludgeoning him to the ground.

She clawed at the dirt, hopelessly, bloodying her fingertips, hearing her scream, Knuckles' too.

The slash of a sword against flesh set her free. The fighting to pull away succeeded, and she rolled forward, turning to her savior. Not Knuckles, not Julie. Arm bloodied, one eye shut, the angel of crimson darkness cast a shade of protection over her, glancing in her direction with a look she had never seen, wide, powerful. Overflowing, she called his name.

"Shadow!"

"Stand back!" he commanded gallantly. A shining blade lay in his blood stained arm, long, transparent as if made of crystal, tailored with ribbon. The curved blades at the end majestically reflected the sun, casting a pattern of beauty over Rouge.

The mass of flesh began falling apart, but it hungered for more. It quivered, dragging itself toward him with extensions of flesh bursting from its legs. Shadow's stance lowered in anticipation.

A lance of purplish soft tissue shot directly at his face. He jerked to the side, almost surprised at his own speed, and carved it off with a fierce swing. Another came, another was sliced apart. He tore forward, separating one arm from the creature with an upward leap of the blade. His slashes arced wide, kneeling, dodging, twisting like a dance as he avoided being touched even once. A horizontal swing spun into a diagonal hack, and the move culminated into a spiraling leap, propelled over the creature as the blade struck once, twice, many times in his spin.

"Die!" shouted Shadow the Hedgehog, plunging the crystalline weapon into the ribs and mouth as it cried a shrill hiss.

Rouge saw a column of hot orange run from his hand to the tip of the blade, not knowing what it was, igniting the creature's flesh. It began bubbling, hissing, popping hunks of flesh from it. It dissolved, smaller and smaller, refusing to go quietly. Shadow did not resist as Julie-su unloaded more shells into it point blank.

One final shot, and it blew to pieces, unmoving, no longer reminiscent of anything but horror.

"Come on," Shadow urged the three of them toward a caved in mound of earth. Beneath it, a hatchway covered in dirt and rust lay open. They didn't argue, diving in, following his lead after he shut the entrance.

He wasted no time, speaking softly against a resounding echo that all could hear. "This particular sewer system is isolated, almost cut off from the rest of the grid. It connects to a remote section of Hydro City, and there are two old facilities built underneath here." The blade in his hand suddenly vanished with a flash, leaving momentary sparkles that quickly faded as well. "We'll hide in the abandoned one; no one should find us there. The other one, which is deeper and further toward the center of the island, is our target, but for now we'll want to stay clear of that."

"What the hell happened to you?" Knuckles dared, too loudly amidst their splashing feet.

"Quiet!" the hedgehog snarled at the echo. "We'll talk more when we're isolated. Just keeping moving."

Rouge picked up her pace, elated to be at his side. It didn't matter if it was sewers, but she pursed her lips tightly when she spotted the gash on his wrist. He reacted with a hesitant frown.

"Here," he said, showing his palm.

There was nothing in his hand. Nothing _but_ his hand.

She took it, entwining her fingers over his injured grip, radiant energy passing between them. Her heart raced, even more so from the fast pace they kept and the wound in her leg. But none of that mattered. Not anymore.

A brief glance of his crimson eyes shared a relief with her, his subtle but earnest way of expressing want for her presence. She knew to keep quiet, but the golden triangles on his other hand were new. Strange and mesmerizing, Rouge contemplated their meaning.


	74. Unexpected Light

**Chapter 74 – Unexpected Light**

Allowing herself to be medically treated was a strangely calming experience. As a princess, she received excellent care in terms of injury in her own land, but that was far more barbaric compared to the delicate handiwork of Cyborg's doctoring.

"You have a sensitive touch. The doctors of Hyrule could have learned much from you and your techniques."

"Thanks," said Cyborg, smiling at the compliment. "Hold still now, I need to cut off the bottom layer right near your collarbone. It's going to feel pretty stiff and sore."

Her teeth tightened as the scissors slid beneath the makeshift bandages, but aside from a fierce pressure, the agony she was expecting hardly occurred.

"I had an injury like this one time before."

"When was that?" the machine man asked, and Zelda watched him inspecting the sealed hole at the top of her chest.

"I took a sword just above my lung while in battle. They stuffed cloth into the wound, and before getting to know the incredible medicines and tools you have here, I thought that was a good idea."

"It's important to stop the flow of blood. Cloth would work ok for that."

She shook her head. "You temporarily pressed on my wound with absorbent material, but they literally put it _in_ the small hole. My wound is sealed with that strange glue substance you had, and it's healing well. In addition, the small pills you had me ingest have made me quite near free of pain, and pleasantly placid."

"You're actually pretty focused for someone with so many painkillers pumped into them," he noted, wiping off the stray blood and other fluids that had seeped out in the past few hours. "This looks good. No infection. No reopening. Turn over?"

Zelda did as she was asked, turning to her left side so Cyborg could inspect the right. She grunted a bit as a twinge of pain managed to burn through the numbing agents circulating through her.

"Where does that hurt?" Cyborg pulled away the bandages over the top and back of her shoulder.

She felt his large fingers wiping more vigorously at the back, and that was uncomfortable as well. A particular spot that he pressed over felt painful every time, increasing with each rub until she leaned away.

"Sorry, you've got some blood coming out here. It needs to be resealed, and I did a quick x-ray with my mechanical eye. There's a piece of shrapnel that broke off from the rod that we missed. I'll get it."

Zelda's finger's clamped to the edge of the table she lay on. "Nggghaaa!"

"Done."

A tiny clink and a cold sting were the after sounds of the momentary strain.

Injured by a shopping cart. Though it wasn't a familiar device in her own world, Zelda had the idea that it was a silly thing to get impaled from, perhaps like being splintered with wood from a wagon of chickens, but it was probably more attributable to the explosion than the cart itself.

The Titans' city and the surrounding areas hadn't been any better with the extra three of them. People continued to experience the hazardous and unreal, either of their own accord or by the accidental bits of the life's little events. Abilities similar to the power of materia had cropped up in a couple of small, isolated areas. One young girl could throw tiny fireballs, and her father somehow could summon dogs in the vicinity to him. The combination was not fun when the eight year-old became a bit frightened by a few of the larger animals. Fire plus fur… it was a hideous scene.

Zelda held still while the hulking Titan resealed and wiped clean the back end of the wound. Really, it was just remarkable good fortune that she hadn't already been injured. Robin had broken two fingers the previous day, and Cyborg was forced to replace an entire leg after another crime spree erupted. Another small group of thieves with the will to take advantage of the emerald's power and the disorder of their metropolis learned that their desire to flee a scene could allow for quick bursts of inhuman speed. When Zelda and the special forces arrived, they hadn't counted on the technical expertise of the criminals. Small, portable explosives were piled into their pockets, more than enough to create a constant distraction. The princess had simply been too close to one of these explosions, and although the blast was minor, the cart it had been in splintered and hurled a sharp rail straight through her flesh.

"I still can't believe you managed to pull the trigger," Cyborg said. "I heard you wouldn't go down until the three of them were caught."

"I had to throw my gun at one of them," Zelda laughed. "Thankfully I'm ambidextrous."

"I heard you hit him right when he sped up, nailed him good!"

"I've never seen someone drop to the ground so quickly," she continued chuckling. "I wish I could see that again."

"Well, in a few days you might be able to. You're a fast healer, like Raven and Starfire."

"I need to be prepared in _less_ than a few days," the laughter faded, and she stared emptily ahead while the hole in her back was repaired again. "We were supposed to obtain the chaos emerald today. It can't be left where it is."

"We're still holding out. It can wait until you're better. X wants you to be on this mission, and Robin agrees that you should be there since you have more experience with the emeralds."

"What about the people?" Zelda carefully rolled over as he finished applying fresh bandages, and tapped her shoulder down. Her voice was tersely critical, having the effect on Cyborg she desired.

Humble in response, the abrupt halt in his steps coincided with a distanced shot of her dirty bandages into the garbage. The frown he wore sang out depressed elegies, and his simple shrug was too large on his robotic frame to hide how much space he wished to put between him and reminders of the suffering people. Zelda had witnessed how often he avoided eye contact with them on the streets.

Cyborg spun. "Don't think I don't know."

"I'm not implying anything of the sort," she regarded him at an uncomfortable angle. "But I do have to admit… Robin has been hesitant about the issue of the Maverick base since his accident. I think he has been delaying it for fear of what might happen to us."

"Maybe," Cyborg admitted as he sealed the frontal part of the bandages on her. "But you'd be an idiot to go down there in your condition, no offense, princess. We had enough problems with the Mavericks the first time around."

"We've grown since then."

"Enough to fight their hordes off? You can't even take pressure on this."

A single finger made all the pain numbing irrelevant, pointless when faced with the intensity of repeated harm. Clamminess set in her face fast, revealing the weakness beyond her resolve. Deep breathing became a necessity, but it aggravated the wound with each sobering inhalation, quelling her need to achieve the goals that had been set for her. But, only for a moment.

"X is counting on me," she forced herself to sit up, holding the sheet tightly in front of her. "How many times have you been injured and still strove to do what the Titans needed? Though your damage may have come in the heat of the moment while mine is after the fact and in the process of healing, the necessity is no different. I _must_ find the last chaos emerald, and I have to find a way to stop its spread from hurting your people."

Her voice was half pleading, motivated by her need to prove herself. She needed the chance to be a guide, a leader like X wanted her to be. Lacking a title like those around her, not Titan, not Sage, merely a fallen princess long forgotten since her planet's decay, she had to succeed to redeem some sense of self.

More than that, she longed to prove her worth again to the Sage of Light. His gratitude had made her feel alive, worthy of something more than the dead lands she had ruled over in the Dark World. Remembering how bitter she had been at first from her sacrifice to save him with the sky blue chaos emerald, Zelda found that she wanted to do greater things with the remaining one, the last chaos emerald not in X's possession. More than chaos control or the healing she had performed on the reploid sage, she was determined to find a way to dissolve the jewel's cancerous bind.

Struggling to get a grip on thought over the drugs swimming in her system, ideas trickled in and out weakly on how she might stop the infinite force of the emerald as Cy finished the last touches. How the emeralds worked was something even X didn't know well, and it would still be at least a week before the Hero returned. One week to come up with a solution to stop boundless force. Cyborg was trying to read the expression of her discontent and urgent need to remedy a problem that likely required months of psychological repairs to all the people damaged in the process. She smiled politely, and he returned it in passing.

The princess was free of her treatment, so she thanked Cyborg and she put her pink top back on, injured arm first with some stiffness and discomfort, more from the restricting bandages than from pain. The small heart-shaped opening at her chest was partially filled in with the white of the padding, and it snuck up above the collar of her top as well.

Cyborg politely excused himself to relieve Gizmo at the energy surge watch to see if they could get any better at predicting some pattern to where the incidents occurred. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about the subject of the people anymore. Other than population density, Zelda was convinced that their efforts were pointless, so she explained to him she was going somewhere else nonspecific. Reattaching her holsters and the guns in them, a small sigh escaped her, and a mechanical swish followed the machine man's exit.

The princess wished she had requested to keep an emerald, for what little it might help. She knew X could somehow manage the perfect tranquility needed to press through the unbreakable barrier. With a frustrated snort, she wondered how close she had gotten to actually succeeding. It was surprising how hard the simple lack of clothing was. Embarrassment made the first attempts fruitless. After that, her body's loss of weight, still not fixed since straining too far with the emerald for the Sage of Light's sake, was a point of shame and discontent, as well as the flux of heightened feelings of all kinds for that cloaked reploid.

No, he was not the focus. The goal was at the bottom of the ocean, not far off the coast, deep within the empty Maverick layer. There was too much at stake to be distracted by whims of fancy. He was following his own path for now. Once she found the emerald, then she could come up with a solution, even if it meant containing all the rogue emotions herself or bringing it where no one could be close enough to be harmed by it. After that she could tend to aiding the fight that the Sage of Light took elsewhere while the rest of the sages stayed with X.

She stopped, uncomfortable with that sudden choice. X was the Hero. Though the Sage of Light was undeniably the strongest of the eight, Zelda knew that it was her family's duty to assist the Hero. But was aiding the Sage of Light synonymous with doing the same for the Hero of Time? The princess scrunched her brow contemplatively at that.

The air was cool in the Titan common room, empty and quiet, but it still was brimming with signs of their togetherness, conflicting her even more. Robin and Raven were best at laundry for them all, Cyborg was 'Master Chef,' which apparently was a title that held some significance with a video game of Beast Boy. The Tamaranian girl was handy with heavy lifting and seemed to take delight in cleaning the tall walls of their giant 'T' home, and Beast Boy was often their clown healing amusement. They depended so much on each other. Their unnecessarily large red couch, the strange game systems and the monolithic television never were used alone. They all worked toward the same purpose. In a short walk toward Robin's room, she found two different allegiances stirring within her. Both reploids, ironically. Could she balance X and the Sage of Light? Two masters... it went against her teachings and principles, and imagining defiance of that churned unpleasantly in her stomach.

She resumed her pace. That decision was a later one; it didn't have to be answered with immediacy, not with thousands of people tormented by the emerald. That was cause enough to serve X's wishes alone for the time being.

The princess took a medium breath, feeling the mild sting of her injuries at the peak of her inhale. Robin had enough on his hands, but this was too important to delay. As much as she hated asking for more after being provided extremely comfortable accommodations and generous support emotionally and physically, the journey needed to be made.

A few tiny raps against the metal door. No response. She sighed. Once more… a faint rustling of fabric coming from inside. He had been sleeping, Zelda sunk. It was foolish to expect otherwise, but she still experienced a guilty hold in her throat that she fought to clear before he opened the door.

His eyes opened wide, surprised. "Zelda?" the Boy Wonder stared, hair poofed up from an odd sleeping position, clothed in plain grey sweatpants and a thin white tank top. "Is everything ok? Do you need something?"

At first her inclination was to say no. This already felt like a terrible, selfish idea, one that would put the Titans through temporary hell worse than what they'd already been battling with in the violent city streets.

"Yes, I do need something. I need the Titan's ship so that I can take Tidus and Terra with me to the Maverick base to get the chaos emerald. This suffering needs to stop, and we can't allow Mavericks or anyone else dangerous to get it before we do. Please, I beg of you, allow me to do this, and I… I promise this will be over within a day."

A promise? Immediately she felt like a fool. It was a promise with ill-odds of being able to keep. The first difficulty was getting the emerald. Finding a way to contain its infinite power – a delightful contradiction – forced her lips to turn inward when Robin rubbed his eyes and considered it.

He hesitated for some time, taking many deep breaths and occasional paces to spots in his slightly cluttered room. After a time in which Zelda stood perfectly still, he turned to her.

"Anyone show you how to start the coffee machine?"

Blank, stunned by the question, she eventually nodded. The gears of meaning rotated, and her smile began to grow ecstatically when the implication sunk in. Chest puffed with excitement, bowing in praise, she received a grin from him as well.

"Get the biggest pot brewing you can, and you've got a deal."

She bowed again, rushing to complete the shore, thanking him until they were out of sight of each other.

* * *

Loyalty dictated that Cloud keep close to those involved in the Triforce, those being the Sages of Earth and Water, and Princess Zelda Hyrule. Practicality suggested that he might be more useful on the surface. With just four Titans left to patrol, it was likely becoming nightmarish above the dark surface of the ocean, and a coming rain, however gentle it was predicted to be, would soon dampen spirits and inflate the fatigue, worst of all with Beast Boy whose furry or cold-blooded transformations would become bogged down far quicker than the others resistant to it.

Of the five detachable compartments on the orange bodied jet, three were filled, the front, and the two sides. The center spot, as well as the back one near the large thrusters, remained empty, at least from the perspective of the living. Cloud sat comfortably in the rear, giving him freedom to inspect the nuances of their physical motions, little discomforts, frustrations and the like.

Terra, their dual sage and Titan, thankfully could navigate the odd spaceship that was the Teen Titans' submarine without having to drag another of them away from the city, so she rode front. Gizmo even proved to be helpful, keeping in radio contact with them while pulling double duty as the newly titled 'chaos monitor' for the other Titans. There wasn't anything pressing as they made the journey to their diving spot, so the miniature technician spent his grouchy attitude on directing the Titans where to go. Since his voice periodically transmitted to all of the compartments as well as to each Titan individually, Cloud patiently listened, his countenance stark with grim knowledge of the emeralds and the streams they created.

He sighed to himself. Emerald or not, these powers infused into the people of Earth had already been set too far into play, and they were being overused by the greedy, the confused, and the plain unfortunate in circumstance. Their emotions had reached a binding grasp that would be hard to pry apart. It was more likely that the effects seen would die down, but not go away, and that magic would soon become a cultural force that would spread, eventually becoming as genetically normal as the determined color of a newborn's eyes.

The rumble of the engines through the water created a soft sensation that Cloud perceived in his back when he allowed the molecules of his body to interact with the upright seat in the enclosed space. It grew steadily darker as they gained depth, and occasional creaks pressed at the hull, growling the distant threats of a breaking point, one that they were still far from. Still, it grew more ominous as they neared the emerald, closing in from tens of miles to just a few, silently approaching less than a ten minute walk in terms of distance.

Beneath them, the looming crevasse was black, resisting the forward lights that Terra swiveled. Zelda and Tidus each controlled an auxiliary set, though the water sage was more adept while the princess fumbled to work the controls smoothly.

"Aim it downward," Terra commanded. "Scan the edges of the crevasse. If there's any Mavericks left, they're probably ready for us after last time."

"I've got a bad feeling," spoke Tidus hesitantly.

Terra hummed a weary agreement. In the other side cockpit, the Hylian pressed against the glass, squinting. Cloud followed her gaze, seeing with the stream what they could not witness eyes. A subtle glow, faint and fleeting.

"Zelda, I said to aim them downward."

It was an annoyed Sage of Earth. The tone sounded icy to Cloud. That wasn't necessary.

"No, Terra," Zelda bit her tongue. "Look."

She pivoted the ship; they stared for a moment, drawing out more aggravated gestures from the Titan while Tidus stayed relatively quiet, stirring in his acute perception.

"Zelda… that's an eel."

Their hiding Lifestream spirit ignored the blatant harshness in the blonde sage, again impressed that Zelda, not a sage at all, had been most perceptive, brining out a smile of his once again. Tidus was not far behind, sensing the thick presence of those faint sparkles, of an infant Lifestream on Earth. The chill crawling up one's spine or the strike of an epiphany without reason, both traits of a young essence of Mako. Only those particularly attuned chose not to dismiss the alien sensations. In that, Cloud frowned at Terra's lack.

But her eyes were sharp. She caught the wisp after more grumbles and nearly erupting at Zelda.

"Oh… man. This is bad."

"It's still small," Zelda commented. "See? The sparks don't last. If it's just beginning, we might be able to stop it from latching to the environment itself."

Cloud knew that those words were poor ones. He braced for the reaction.

It came after a few minutes of surprising silence, filled with soundless tension that the princess, too, anticipated. She was hopeful to keep her foolish promise to Robin, but it was already on death row, nearing execution as they dove further.

A small crystal came into view, marked by each passenger's spotlight. Flat, shimmering with a faint rainbow of iridescent shades, the greenish plate embedded into the rock was an infected piece of land.

"The emerald is already changing the land itself. I can't manipulate it," Terra groaned, holding her hand up to the area not far ahead. Bits of rock crumbled around it, but the infected piece held firm.

A creak pressed hard on their hull, making only Zelda ill in the stomach.

"We've still got depth to cover, _princess_," Terra remarked snidely. "So you can expect to see more of that. There's no chance we're reversing what the emerald has done. Nice try."

"I think that-"

"What you think is completely pointless," the slender Titan halted their ship and spun, confronting Zelda with the boundary of water and bubbled compartments separating them.

"Pointless? You think that what I have to say on the matter of chaos is pointless?"

"You're talking people who _lived_ in the Lifestream. We all know the emeralds are responsible now, but Tidus and I were there. You couldn't hope to understand a fraction of what we do, and I'm telling you now to abandon your stupid, idealistic hopes."

Zelda's face remained constant, though Cloud could see the whitening knuckles that she held beneath Terra's view. The princess' patience eroded another layer, but without a solid retort, Cloud knew she was forced into a cramped, volatile silence. Even the arches of her feet tensed, throbbing wherever she could direct her anger. Hey eyes bored into Terra, snake-like slits of seething contempt.

The craft jolted. A proximity alarm sounded, and all eyes aimed at their readouts, flashing with tiny bits on sonar, dozens of them, popping up without warning all around them.

"What was that?" Tidus alarmingly switched to manual view. With his eyes and the camera pivoting below, he saw nothing but tiny, sparking explosions of green rattling the under-hull, jostling them toward the crevasse walls.

"I'm zooming in," braced Terra against the class cockpit as another volley of blasts prickled against them.

"Switch to my camera!" she ordered. "Do you see that? They look like… little mines?"

Zelda's chest clenched, sucking in a clumsy breath. "They're infused with Mako, I can feel it. It'll infect the ship itself if we're hit too many times!"

"Idiot!" roared the Sage of Earth, struggling to stay put, breathing heavy with panic. "I know what'll happen if we're hit with materia bombs! Tidus, can you shift the current? Make them fly against the walls?

He was all too inclined to respond, siphoning adrenaline for an excited grin. "You got it!"

"Good, I'll stop any debris that falls from the canyon edges."

Zelda sat still, inflamed with her helplessness, knowing that the barriers of glass separating them and the lack of help she could provide gave her no option but to stew unpleasantly. Regally frozen, hiding further signs of her fury, the princess held to youthful teachings of restraint, taking some solace in that as a swell of weightlessness began to rock them.

Palms against the bubble holding him in, Tidus was willing the waters to rage around them, impaling the depths below with splitting currents that could felt but not seen. Only the tiny Lifestream sparks showed movement, and the debris was shoved away and above them as they bobbed and twisted downward, falling rapidly as the pressures grew. Warped metal sounded, compressing, hissing dangers, and a crack formed toward the back where Cloud sat.

Bits of the crevasse began breaking off, and all gazed upward before ignoring the threat, knowing that it was an easy job for Terra to handle. The Titan's eyes resonated a faint aura of yellow, and with hands raised, the rocks slowly… did nothing. Amidst the continuing bombardment of microscopic detonations shattering the heights above, some of the rocks had adapted a faint but worrying strain of emerald cracks.

"They're tainted," remarked Zelda. Her eyes went level with Terra's, cheekbones taut with fright. "You can't move them."

Adjacent to her, the Sage of Water's skin was reddening, stressed enough from moving water at such depths. "I think I can slow it down," he huffed. When he shifted his stance, it came with strain, aiming one of his arms upward. The chunks of rock began shifting slightly, but few of them out of the way as the larger, dangerous ones closed in. Terra also continued to press, but few of the stones would obey her any longer, evolved with Mako, superior than before, improved killers.

They were still more than a minute from the bottom, with almost nowhere to go but down, and lateral movement meant more assault from the mines. The first of the stones began striking. Smaller ones made dents or did nothing but frighten and shatter focus, drawing out yelps of fear.

Zelda, useless, could only think about how she was about to fail, let down X. Two sages would die in the process. The emerald wouldn't be recovered. They would all die in the cold, crushing darkness of the hidden deep. Everything, all the suffering would amount to nothing. She placed her hand against the glass, bracing herself, fighting to maintain composure.

A curious sensation touched her. Two things struck her. The Mako in the water responded to her thoughts, like many faint thoughts gathered into soup, interspersed in ocean flows. Strange than that, a singular presence, like the Lifestream, but completely whole and coherent.

Cloud frowned at a loss. How? She was far away from discovering the truth that he was a secret stowaway in another plane of existence, but she had sensed him so easily, even if only for a moment. He watched her for a few breaths longer, and the princess continued to feel the pulsing Lifestream through her fingers as the boulders closed in, more deadly than mines. The entire craft began barrel rolling to Zelda's side, the thruster on her side smashed. A chain reaction, crunching the metal near it, the princess veered toward the center of the craft, fearing that she would be next.

A glint of light reflected. Cloud could see it, the Mako green blazing in her eyes, cast over her crimson pupils. She touched the reflection, and both she and the Lifestream Spirit felt once more the reaction of the stream's knowledge whispering.

Terra's aura and the princess's became a match. A boulder had crumbled greater than the entire sub, and with the bottom in sight but mobility weakened, they couldn't outrun it. Both the sage and the Hylian woman forced their will, the knowledge of the ancients long past, on the stone. It continued its descent, building ever larger, blotting out what little light they had on the sea floor runway of the Maverick base. Was it slowing? They hoped, prayed that it was, so dark even with the lights that they had no knowing.

"Tidus!" Zelda called, "I think we're holding it! Use the currents to push it out of the way!"

Sweating, already strained, Tidus roared, and his aura danced like splashes of liquid around his skin, turning his eyes pure blue.

They all heard it scrape, digging at the narrower canyon edges that it barely fit in, moving ever so slowly.

"Push, you can do it!" Zelda called. Terra was caught in pain, her arms trembling to help hold the resistant stone aloft.

Finally, light waves poured in. With one violent push from all, the slate of rock landed on one side and toppled over on the far end of the landing bay area lined with cold steel, ocean rock and sand.

Cloud Strife poised himself more comfortable in the back seat as they approached the entrance. It might have only been for an instant, but he had been worried that he might have to expel a great deal of his power. Fortunately, it only took a little of it to hold back the large stone the rest of the way.

Expecting more trouble on the inside, he phased through the submarine as if it was not even there, heading with Buster Sword in hand to the Maverick stronghold, hopefully abandoned.

* * *

Emergency lighting, pale reds and blues, formed a quiet reception for the two sages and the princess. A spherical security camera not far above them hovered quietly, inert, non-functional.

"The whole left side is trashed," Terra kicked the Titan craft once she was sure there was nothing immediately threatening. Sighing, not making much effort to be composed, she whined. "I hope you have good ideas on how to get us out of here. Unless there's something we can steal from the Mavericks, we're stuck until help comes for us."

"We'll deal with that when the necessity arises," Zelda ordered. For the first time, though reluctantly and half-ignoring, Terra didn't put up a fight. After sharing the same powers, perhaps a tiny bud of respect was growing, but the princess reminded herself that it wasn't worth getting her hopes up. With regards to that, it seemed more likely that Terra would be bitter that she needed help moving that deadly rockslide at all.

"Man, I can feel the emerald," Tidus shivered. "I don't know why, but it's weirding me out pretty bad.

"Me too," Terra stole an affectionate squeeze of his hand.

"There is a presence guarding it, I think," the princess hypothesized.

"Oh, and what makes you think that?"

Zelda, as if contaminated by Tidus's tremble, mimicked the motion, suddenly colder than what was tolerable. "The waves of emotion pouring out are erratic, some good, some bad, but constant and powerful, amplified not just by the emerald."

They began prying the door open with Tidus's blade, Brotherhood. It creaked and resisted, but eventually the three of them forced open the mechanical clamps, and it sluggishly pushed apart, stuck in that position.

Zelda's borrowed guns aimed straight, then swept from both sides back to the center, using small flashlights mounted on the tops to scan for anything threatening, a Maverick or lesser mechaniloid. There was nothing at first, and the hush was pristine, not disturbed by even a humming engine.

"I think we're in a cargo bay," Terra examined all around, twisting the neck of her flashlight so it emitted something gentler. "Stay on guard. Keep your voices down and your lights as dim as you can."

Zelda and Tidus nodded to that, slowly inching out, keeping close to the plastic, military crates that reached just short of the ceiling, about twice their height. A long hallway proceeded in either direction, and despite its size, the once thriving base for the Maverick threat was an eerie ghost town. Zelda sensed not a single living soul, and other than the last few rocks tumbling outside, the earth sage felt nothing but stillness when she placed her hands against the cold floors and walls.

The temperature was arguably unpleasant, almost chilling enough to hold frost. For Zelda, it stiffened the already cramped movement in her arm. It was likely the natural temperature in the caverns that the Mavericks had found or created, reverted to that state from unuse. That was a curious wonder too, as each inspected the contents of the crates, finding simple but firm button clasps. Tidus and Terra were best able to identify what some of the mechanical components might have been used for, the thick copper tubing designed for conducting plasma currents, armor fragments that would likely be found in a reploid medical facility as well, and many parts for weapons and ammunition.

One particular crate was labeled with a 'fragile' Maverick equivalent, crimson cross over a pale tangerine X. Carefully handling it together, Tidus and Terra backed away from the hissing steam that swept out, and small capsules were neatly arranged inside, each containing gelatinous, colored substances. Most were neon blue, but a small grouping was slimy green. A single capsule was black as night.

"We should stay away from this stuff," Terra shuddered. "The air might not be safe in here, either."

"Yeah, reploids don't need air," remembered Tidus. "What about her?"

Despite going separate ways, Zelda heard the faint echo of his words but was too preoccupied with what she had found on the opposite end of the cargo hold. Lack of understanding for technology was a pointless inferiority as the green glow of Mako highlighted the soft flesh of her face. Fragments of incomplete materia and condensed Lifestream filled many small containment units, a dozen long, wide and high. Thousands of pieces, enough to compose super materia. Was that what they had been trying to do in the presence of the chaos emerald? Create Mako fuel that could last for ages in these fragments? Or form a weapon devastating enough to level a continent?

A sharp pain stung her eyes shut, irritating them to tears. It spread to the inside of her head, throbbing a single time, prodding at the injury near her collar bone as well, and then it faded. She had to crouch, to take a deep breath after that feeling of illness that surrounded her. What had caused that? It still tingled unpleasantly. The princess pressed her palms against the cold floor for a few moments until they were chilled, then placed them on her shut eyelids, soothing the odd attack that materia had made on her.

"Hey…" Zelda began. She thought better of it and decided to seek it for herself. Fortunately, neither of them had replied, and the darkened facility made them invisible, too far away around a bend, while the dead end to be on Zelda's side.

She sought the container, feeling ill as she looked upward to the top of the stack. "No, not there, but…"

The wall.

She shined her flashlight across it, almost within arm's reach. There was a thick panel and a keypad with symbols she couldn't read, and they didn't look like the others she had seen on Earth or Gaia, in the future or the present.

Her chest clenched, unable to breathe for a brief second. It was tight, fiery. A potent darkness climbed her throat, burning. She eyed the panel, clutching the flesh over her heart.

"To hell… with diplomacy."

Light shells shattered the lock and the edges of the safe, showering embers of hot metal liquid at her feet. The handle sluggishly inched outward as she tugged it. As she yanked, it slid further out, heavy and uncooperative. Her bandages were constricting as she tried to force it out. Grunting, one foot flat against the wall, she pulled as hard as she could, and a slab of heavy metal flew out, chiming with demon scream echoes, too heavy for her to pick up again.

She heard footsteps rushing her way – Tidus and Terra.

"What is it? Where are they?" the two shouted.

Tidus helped Zelda up, noticing quizzically the square hole where the chunk of dense metal had been forced out. Nothing was inside it.

"What happened to keeping the noise down?" Terra snapped.

The lights came on forcefully spreading . Sirens, fast-paced. A hissing sound… gas?

A reddish cloud puffed from the ceilings.

"Run!" Terra ordered. Rocks hovered out of her backpack, orbiting her. Ready to strike and form at her will.

"Run where?" Zelda retorted, face scrunched with the rush of panic. "The gas is all over!"

Tidus sliced chunks of his white hood, shearing off pieces of his yellow sleeves as well with the Brotherhood, soaking each of three, handing it to them so they could breathe into it as they crouched low.

"Wait, we need to take this with us!" the princess urged, insistent at the heavy metal box, scarred with feeble burns from her light guns. She could barely drag it.

Terra screeched a response, ducking down. "Leave it, you don't even know what's inside!"

"It's important!" she yelled back, getting her firsts gasps of the horrid fumes, hot in her nose and salty on her tongue, blurring her eyes as she inhaled a mouthful.

There was no time to argue. The fumes were closing in, more potent at the dead end they lingered at. Furious, Terra jerked her free arm at the heavy box, and Tidus took her signal, grabbing one side of it while Zelda held the other. Straining her arm to keep pace, acting like it would rip her arm out, she fought to keep pace with Tidus's powerful grip, sprinting down the halls recycling breath in the damp cloth over her face.

Terra came to an immediate halt, holding a hand back at them. Around a bend, heavy bangs struck the metal floor, perfectly synced with each other, militaristically marching. As her eyes flashes with her magic, the stones hovered at eye level, sharpening into stone knives. A pair of guardians followed by many more emerged, entirely black. Their limbs were blocky, with thick bodies and treaded feet. Their was no head to be seen.

"This is not going to be a melee fight," Zelda insisted. "Go back to the water lock. I will hold them off!"

Muzzle flashes erupted on both sides, and one machine quickly fell backwards, merely stunned as the energy from two large streaks of light dispersed from the core of the body. It dripped a small stream out ochre fluids as it recovered and opened fire with sprays of azure flame, slower than bullets, but not slow enough to keep Tidus from being hit in the knee. He fell down, clutching it as blood oozed out. More shots battered him backwards, reflecting off the oceanic Brotherhood.

Terra's stones did little. Up close the mechaniloids had surprising reflexes, and some of the rock spears were shattered while others pressed fire. They didn't have the piercing power to cause much damage separately. Ducking behind a huge stack of cargo, the three heard the firing cease. Terra leapt to Tidus as she gathered her earth with the other hand. All of them had begun coughing.

"Damn it, this looks bad," said the young girl at his bleeding leg, burnt and cut open.

His face was scrunched tight behind the cloth. "Gotta keep moving. Won't be able to breathe soon."

Zelda was fixated on what they had stolen, left to be shot at. She cursed herself, not knowing why it was too vital to leave behind, and she knew it was too heavy to carry without help. She inched out. A blast ripped the metal in front of her, not unlike those from X's Buster. It could've taken her hand clean off.

"It's not worth it!" Bellowed Tidus.

Zelda prepared to fire again, realizing how stupid it was, how dangerous and deadly it would be. They would fire in an instant, scorching her open, killing her instantly if she was hit in the head. But her insides screamed. Could it have been the emerald itself?

The princess rose. Her eyes stung from the smoke, but she didn't care, exhilarated. "The emerald! We're close enough!"

"If you're gonna do something, DO IT!"

She needed more emotion. She needed fuel, anger, pain even.

"Tidus, stab my leg!"

He stared up with watering eyes.

"I said stab my leg! I'm ordering you to, hard, in the thigh!"

Even though she asked for it, she hadn't been prepared for the sharp, cold thrust. It went almost to the bone, plunging her into screaming pain, and her throat burned, shrieking madness as the watery sword pulled back out, hooking flesh with its jagged edge. Her half skirt's subtle pink flooded with red, and she roared with all her agony into coherent words.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

It was weak, slowing time only marginally, but the shockwaves of distortion were enough for Terra to leap out to the metal box, diving and contorting in avoidance of the scorching plasma volleys that burnt the unbreathable air. Slowed down, she concentrated her hunks of earth into a single battering ram, smashing the firing arm off one of the monsters, and Zelda, bathed in a bluish chaos aura, fought her pain as her fingers squeezed again and again, her collapsed torso sticking out from their hiding spot.

With enough streaks of light, many of the machines fell. Others came. The three were coughing worse. Two of them could no longer run.

They all sensed the impending switch in time. Rolling back, Terra dragged Zelda to safety, and a blast of plastic and metal splintered, taking some of Terra's hair with it.

"That didn't last long," the sage heaved with sweat, dousing the burnt edges of her hair with her cloth. "They're scattered. Now's our chance to head to the sub and get some air."

Terra hurled her stones forward, only a distraction to afford them the extra time they needed. With an extra thrust of water, the mechaniloids were knocked back, and the crippled slid past, passing through the open gate, and to Zelda's shock, the Sage of Earth yanked the metal case with one arm into the docking bay.

It bought them little time, but their beliefs about the fumes were true; freedom of breath, but the uneven steps of the Maverick automatons trampling over their fallen copies. Zelda cradled her leg, dazed and still bleeding, and she eyed Tidus, making sure he was alright. It was quickly apparent that his injury was lesser, tolerable enough to stand on. What a stupid mistake that had been. Stabbing her leg. There had to have been a better way, but no one argued over that, gasping for fresh air.

"We're cornered, get ready to fight!"

The Sage of Earth held her ground, pulling up mounds of slushy dirt from the water below their ship. It began filling the room, and the three of them hid to one side, leaving a small choke point. Knowing better than to assume that they weren't water proof, Tidus was ready to slash while Zelda labored heavily, trying to use what meager power she could from her days of the Triforce to mend her leg. Taxed already, she felt her face grow clammy and weak. The half skirt attached to her short denim bottom was useless, so she ripped it free and tied it tight around her leg while eyeing the entrance, stunned at the mountain of sloshing muck Terra had amassed.

Zelda was barely focused in the fight, sucked dry of energy from the use of chaos. She was still amazed at herself. Chaos had obeyed her, even at a distance. The powers of infinity had heard her call and obeyed. What would the Sage of Light say to that? And what of the small box? It was near her, close enough to touch. It wasn't the emerald sealed inside, but it had called to her like a living thing, ruthless and mighty, but not evil.

Tidus and Terra pressed the machines back, first by toppling them with enough soaked mud and water to encase them, and before the mechaniloids could pull their way out, the Brotherhood impaled the most vital parts.

A violent splash consumed the Titan vessel, dragging it down. It was subtle, there one moment, sunken before eyes could absorb the severity. It collapsed on itself, compressing into scrap, shooting stars of fire and needles of metal. Ooze layered on top of it, a pale magenta spotted with acidic green before it was gone altogether and the bay doors shut above the wreckage. The sting of fate struck Zelda hard as she breathed deeply, clutching her leg, fearing entrapment in a tomb that would soon kill them anyway. If the machines did not do their jobs, then the gasses would soon.

Once the doors had begun shutting and the two sages had finished with their massacre, the lack of weaponry plucked at their attention, shearing off enough to make them stare frightfully at what they could not prevent. Tidus was disbelieving. The skinny blonde was horror-stricken, a sunken, fretful collapse in her eyes hunched her inward.

"I can't move my leg," Zelda winced, not knowing what provoked her to say it.

"We'll find another way out," Terra huffed. "They have another ship somewhere."

To her side, Tidus grunted, biting hard. The two women stared at him, frozen in husks, hopeless shells that hid only more fear. He couldn't stand much longer, either. Though the halls were blocked with a mound of sand, the reddish fumes were beginning to seep through. They backed away from it instinctively. It didn't matter, anyway. Soaked in ocean floor sand, there was little hope for an escape.

"I can carry you," Terra said to the injured Hylian woman. "I can use the sand and make a platform. It shouldn't be too hard."

Zelda stared up, smiling before their eyes met at how pointless that seemed. Feeling kindness from Terra for the first time, seeing the way that the Sage of Earth wanted to save her, Princess Zelda soaked in the way it felt in her heart, knowing that it might yet be her last. They had been doomed the moment they entered the Maverick lair without the help of someone who knew them, like X, or the Sage of Light, whoever the mysterious reploid was. Would there be a rescue from him this time? Might he, with his reploid strength, come from the depths of space for her?

There was no emerald this time. No magical force to reverse a death that had already been earned many times over for all the foolish transgressions and weaknesses she had. Zelda knew he wasn't coming, the he couldn't for some righteous, just reason of his own. Dying was her own fault, nothing more.

She glanced from the strained Titan to the metal box they had stolen. "We need to open this. I just… just know."

Terra shook her head. "It's made of metal. I'm sorry, there's nothing to break it."

"You feel it too?" Zelda asked them, hopeful for at least that, a sense that she was not out of her mind. If that contents of that boxed had nothing worth truly risking…

"Yes, we both feel it," Tidus eventually eased her suspicions. "There's something powerful inside, but if it's materia, then you have to touch it. You can't use it at a distance like the emeralds."

Yes, the emeralds. As weak as she was, what chance did she have of being able to tap into that illustrious strength again? Tidus and Terra had never touched an emerald. They couldn't do it. But chaos control couldn't help, and the chaos blast would kill them all. She searched her mind for the traces of it lingering, having made a small but noticeable imprint in her memories and thoughts, opening up a place for only it to reside. Whose souls had been strong enough?

Words echoed inside… "_chaos abyss, chaos break, chaos control…"_

"More," she demanded, feeling her vision blur and her head throb. Terra muttered something about being delirious. That she was, suffering from loss of blood, the gasses punishing her neural strength.

The next ones came more slowly, pulling, stretched to the limit, barred in too small a gap to proceed, like her mind itself was bleeding. Yet, the words came… "_chaos… blast… heal… SPEAR…"_

Golden rays encased her face and flesh. A great beam erupted from the back of her hand, glittering the wall with the three great triangles.

"Might of the forge, face the breaking lance…"

"Zelda?"

Tightening into claws, a white glow formed in each palm, and she set her struggling gaze on the small metal box. It was pure heat igniting her from the elbows to her fingertips, agonizing, breaking her inside. She squeaked the last words out weakly, crackling in her voice.

"…know the light… of infinity! _Chaos_ _SPEAR!_"

Her hand clapped together clumsily, and a visible spectrum of colored rays bolted from her veins into her hands, shoving her forcibly backward as a great burst spewed forth, splitting the nearly unbreakable metals in half. Molten liquid dripped, hot and orange. The javelin of pure chaos light had torn clean through it, melting a hole on the far end of the docking bay.

Inside, a small red orb of materia sat, unperturbed by the spots of lava dripping down its sides.

Zelda felt the aeon's call.


	75. The Race

**Chapter 75 – The Race**

Mega Man X found it a little awkward, feeling the emotion of nervousness. It was something he hadn't felt quite like this since back in the academy days during some of his overly realistic holographic training. The instructors had insisted that it was entirely fake, but the minor wounds that you get even from a holographic weapon were scary at first.

Now entire crowds were chanting or booing depending on who the emcee was focused on. Floods of change rippled across the many thousands of spectators as different drivers, all unimportant to X right now, were mentioned. It was really a shame that he was looking for a single person who wouldn't be riding in anything, but on foot against some of the most innovative technologies that Mobius had to offer. For those interested the Floating Island Derby was more of a technological expo before the race actually began. X would have loved the chance to study some of it, even though the majority was vastly inferior to his own.

It really was too ironic that they had all come to the Floating Island, a place they had hoped to avoid until necessary. Knowing now that the chaos emeralds could advance their Mako poisoning, traveling to a place that had seen and felt so much of the emeralds' presence was concerning. All had been exposed to materia and the Lifestream either recently or at other points in their life. With two already heavily afflicted, X wanted badly to not add a third.

The reploid stood at the front of the pack, dwarfed by some of the vehicles participating. Hovercrafts, according to the rules, were allowed as long as they remained no more than ten feet off the ground on flat terrain. One such device was floating at X's shoulder level, comprised of two large, sand brown engines connected by a magnetic current that also provided some of the lift, and they were attached with sloppy metal cables (he thought so, anyway) to where the driver operated the main hub, a device shaped with considerable amounts of aerodynamic flaps and narrow passages. Seemed like it would make for a jerky ride, but the ability to detach easily could be useful, X considered, and with the math and science invested, the designers appeared to have done a good job fashioning it so that the sleek cockpit needed little if any additional propulsion.

It had not been easy hiding the Dreamweaver, X thought as his mind turned inward again. In the sandstorms that frequented the western most portion of the massive continent, the outline of the silver ship and its slender appendages would have been very easy to see despite cloaking, and the sheer force of microscopic grit could have damaged it as well. Opting for something with a little more distance, they had decided on a small, deserted inlet near active volcanoes that the Floating Island was almost directly vertical to. The water displaced by the wing tips at the front of the ship dipping into a rocky coast would have caught a blind man's attention, but the lack of population in that area put X's mind at ease, as well as the sophisticated sensors that would take the Dreamweaver elsewhere if threatened with discovery. From there, it only took a short period of time for X to take Saria and Raven to take Nanaki with their swift means of transport, dissolving molecules into energy streams of light and darkness, respectively.

Getting Red XIII in had been rather easy, X noted with a touch of irony as he thought of his personal spectators, those who supported him so willingly and completely. Raven and Saria were a little more difficult to pass, as well as himself. Resembling Mobius's Terrans, a number of suspicious, glaring and also frightened glares had darted their way. And as a last minute entry, X had been forced to cough up a considerable sum of replicated money as a bribe, something he didn't enjoy doing, but at least the seating was open and only designated by row for the other three. That gave the sorceress, the fire wolf and the Forest Sage some space higher up, not quite nosebleed, though not far from it. Using Raven's mind as a perspective point, he was able to tell that they were comfortable enough, and eager for the race to start. They thought they were eager? They had no idea. Nervousness or not, he was excited, and that they shared that made X's heart leap with warmth. They were all such good friends.

The most important friend at the moment, the one he sought to meet, was missing. As X sensed Raven, she felt his rebounding concern for their target's absence.

"Damn it," he said to himself loudly, but the crowd drowned his voice out better than the revving engines. He wondered where Sonic was. There was barely any time left before the race began, and after that it would be pointless. X huffed in frustration, knowing that his assumption of the hedgehog's whereabouts was about as brilliant as his lack of a plan to convince him to join the sages.

When the planet had grown from a tiny speck to a reasonably sized marble, they had opened up communications with the princess of Mobitrobolis, the largest city on the Mobian part of the planet, Sally Acorn. Resembling a squirrel in terms of anthropomorphic connection, she had been as refined and charming as X had remembered. Brilliant, a fighter, and gentle with wisdom despite her land being ravaged by the twisted Doctor Ivo Robotnik, X would have suspected her as Sage of Darkness had he not already met the current one. When asked about Sonic, she, hiding her concern well as a leader, could not hide it from three telepaths and a wizened wolf. Sally had no clue where he had been or where to begin searching for his trail, but she had heard the same rumors that many others had; Sonic the Hedgehog might be headed for the Floating Island Derby.

The stretches of desert, scorched and tormented by heat, lacked any hedgehog of valor.

Maybe Princess Sally had been wrong. Too long after the fact, X recalled the many instances where Sonic's free will could change his course in a drastic and unpredictable manner, making schedules and concrete plans things of fiction to the hedgehog. The hopeful Sage of Wind could have been on the opposite side of the world by now. Worse, rumors of the 'blue blur,' as his world often called him, were used as a way to boost sales at major raceways, and then they almost always turned out to be nothing but false. Sally knew Sonic well, but her guess wasn't perfect, either.

There was no choice left when it came to the races. Likely heading for a breakdown or major malfunction in armor that had barely been tested, X rubbed the sand out of his face with dual intent, mimicking the human motion of being too tired of inconveniences to see straight.

The gusts became more persistent gradually ramping their annoying itch. Dealing with that would undoubtedly make the first leg of the race difficult. The history of the Floating Island Derby was not laced with foul play, but it certainly wasn't known for being cuddly either, especially right out of the gate where crowding on the road produced the same effect as it did in a city or even an entire planet. Fighting, bickering and eventually violence over lack of resources – literal space being the commodity in need – would make the beginning interesting for a runner surrounded by larger machines.

X noticed he had been tapping his foot impatiently. Normally the sound of him making the motion would cause him to stop quickly, but he had been doing it for several minutes, drowned out by all the commotion and the continually growing engine roars. There were many ground vehicles, some four-wheeled, others with two. X made a mental note to keep an eye on exposed drivers. They would be at greatest risk for injury.

A giant silver wheel had a Terran woman, one of the few Terrans at all - himself not included - in a matching suit and visored-helmet on the opposite side of the huge hover craft. It appeared to have some sort of circular impact system built in beneath the layers of metal tread. Unorthodox and flawed in terms of general safety was the best way X could think of to describe it, but it was a curious little vehicle that he regarded with approval. It was as if he was experiencing a potential history of his own planet. How many got the privileged opportunity to feel that sort of trial-and-error process of before one's time? It was comical when he had read and studied history of machines, but this was invigorating, to be able to reach out and touch the past.

The driver stared his way, and although X's telepathy was too jumbled by excited contestants and riders both nervous like him and others cocky as hell, he still snagged a brief bit of verbal thought when he made the effort. Something about "freaks on foot." Jealousy apparently made poor Sonic the Hedgehog fans.

A growl turned into a sigh as he realized that being angry at rising wind speeds was childish. It was bound to happen on a small continent that floats in the air. Mostly, he was still furious that he hadn't come up with a way to prevent sand getting in his eyes, and the race would be starting in minutes, or less. Why was he so nervous? X put his hand over his face and easily blocked the debris that was all too common in the Sandopolis region, trying not to think about how he was about to compete and put himself up for such public scrutiny. So much for the technological secrecy that he was so insistent on in other worlds. If he were still a Maverick Hunter he would have been court marshaled.

More sand blew into his face. A sudden gust? No… it wasn't a normal wind. It felt different. Alive.

Cheers came from all around. It was deafening, but from the mess of emotions he could feel overwhelming excitement. As if it would help, X clasped his hands around the side of his head, trying to quiet all that he could hear. Amongst all the machines, riders and spectators, X could feel the emcee's rumbling voice beginning an announcement. The reploid's excitement reached new heights, and the trepidation climbed in tow.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I can't believe it! Coming in the distance, kicking up a storm, we have a new contestant! In his first appearance in the Floating Island Derby, people have called him the fastest thing alive, the one, the only, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Saying that the fans went wild was a gross understatement. Their screams were unreal, and X had to clasp the sides of his head even harder to protect himself. Some of the drivers shared the excitement, hooting and hollering in their own way. A gruff, short echidna on a small motorcycle shaped like a black bullet with wings wasn't so pleased, smashing on his instruments beneath a wide and thick hood of transparent metal. There was no chance of first place for him.

X smiled, amused for a different reason than anyone else while impaired vision continued to sandblast him. The tunnel of grit climaxed into one final burst, jolting the hovercrafts and forcing Mega Man to adopt a more defensive stance so he wouldn't be swept off balance. A plume erupted several feet away to X's right, hosing sand across a few of the other vehicles.

The one he waited for appeared from the falling dust, raising a white-gloved hand to the crowd. People of all kinds, the Echidnas, a small handful of Terrans, and many other Mobian animal-humanoids were ecstatic. It was too hard to get a feel for Raven's consciousness with so many other intense ones blocking the way to her, but he hoped that she was watching, paying attention. X needed her help to search for that essence of the Triforce inside the new challenger. Like the others, his mark was liable to appear after X reunited with them

Sonic the Hedgehog was not even as tall as Raven, but he was exactly as X remembered. Hooked clusters of bright blue spines that were fine like hair grouped into blade-like extensions at the back of his head, and his eyes were large and pine green, conveying incredible warmth for such a sharp color. Thick black goggles were banded around his head, clearly making him the more prepared for a desert race than X.

The rich blue hue traveled from head to toe, with only one simple, circular patch of tan around his frontal area. It still amazed him how slight and even sometimes out of shape Sonic could look to the uneducated eye because Terrans could be so muscular and defined in comparison, but Sonic the Hedgehog had the strength and endurance of hundreds of people and wasn't to be trifled with.

The darker green irises rose a bit in curiosity when Sonic looked in his direction, ignoring the madness of the stadium's cheers. Carefully being inspected, X stood tall and firm, returning the eye contact despite his concealed jaw and nose.

Sonic smiled but didn't say anything, not that X would have heard it over the mob of spectators. The hedgehog glanced out to the desert as if pointing at it. X then watched as Sonic returned to looking at him with a wry grin and a friendly-sarcastic stare of 'you're joking, right?'

X felt like all of his microcircuits might wrap into a tight knot of opposite feelings. A slow shake of his head made his intentions clear to the hedgehog that the crowd's riotous cheering continued for. X did intend to race against Sonic despite how many times he suddenly began chanting 'stupid, stupid, stupid!' inside his head. Too many of the enhancements he had been making on his Shadow Armor had barely been tested, and definitely not in the conditions that he would have to create to match Sonic's speed. Realizing how bad an idea the whole thing was as he stared out skeptically into the sand wastes, Mega Man was hopeful to finish the race at all, let alone dead last.

"Don't go losing your cool now!" Sonic shouted, his voice a high but pleasant baritone with a lilt of lighthearted attitude in every syllable. "That's not the X I know!"

They weren't given any warning for the blast of engine roars as the emcee called for the operators to start their vehicles. X's cheek twitched upward as he tried to drown it out. Sonic just smiled ear to ear.

The ten-second countdown began. For the first few, X wasn't thinking about much of anything. Then the halfway point came.

Five. If Raven wasn't laughing at how nervous he was, then the only other possibility was that she shared in the worry two-fold.

Four. "Racing on foot against Sonic the Hedgehog. Yeah, brilliant way to get his attention," he thought. Sections of armor from his feet to his knees began to detach and extend, both at the front and back. Subtle hisses were felt, but not heard.

Three. "I'm practically asking for my entire legs to short out and explode if I've got any chance at beating him," the reploid panicked, breathing heavy. An oval compartment to release heat and create more propulsion ejected at his back.

Two. "Holy shit."

One. X dropped to one knee and charged his thrusters, the hot fire sizzling the bottom of his boots.

"Chill out!" Sonic whacked him on the shoulder, to which X jumped and shouted, very, very loudly. Only a second after did he realize that it was muffled a hundred percent by the eruption of engines and spectator insanity, and almost every single vehicle careened out into the desert past the two of them.

"What's this?" the commentator had the audacity – in X's opinion – to do his job, "Sonic the Hedgehog and another contestant on foot appear to be having a conversation!"

"What are you doing?" X shouted, his fingers tightened into startled claws. "I almost jumped out of my – the race – grah!"

Sonic shrugged with an amused tilt of his head, and his hands opened as if exonerating himself casually.

"You were just way too tense. Let's do this for fun. Now, you ready to race, or do you need to calm down those shaking metal bolts of yours some more?"

X didn't know what to say in response. He felt an emotion in the crowd. Looking up, he saw the tiny face standing still amongst the others so high up. Next to Saria and Red XIII, Raven wished him good luck.

Mega Man took a single, deep breath. "I'm ready," the reploid lowered down, feeling Raven's encouragement.

Sonic adjusted his goggles with a massive grin as he restarted the countdown with his hand. Three fingers. Two Fingers.

One. In that tiny gap between calm and madness ahead, X whispered to him.

"I need your help."

Together, "GO!"

A snap of wind and a tidal wave of sand. The audience vanished in their wake, and the concept of anything but the race was gone. Footfalls were impossible to count. Dunes were rising and falling in blinks.

Racing hearts beat, machine in X, flesh in Sonic. Swaying rhythms above the torso led their way, but beneath it was pandemonium. Flame licked the sand when the reploid traveled uphill, and it faded into rapid treads against the ground when descending the other side.

Some were already broken down, swearing and cursing. Not one but two streaked past their messes, illusions in the heat stunning the fallen drivers. Great vehicles were close, growing from pebbles to fists as the two sped by. Their wakes of deformation annihilated the desert; speed became destruction, and the two runners grew faster, vying for the lead against beasts of metal. Only one thought crossed X's mind.

Keep running. One step, then the next.

Pillars of tan rock speared the sky ahead, crushing the side of a poorly maneuverable hovercraft. The driver ejected, others evaded his debris. Two runners angled toward the wreckage. He was safe. They returned forward, ignoring each other as the flecks of sand attacked, stinging azure quills and emerald armor. X fought wildly to see through the unending wind, dragging him back. Still gaining ground on the others but losing it on the blue blur, he let his thrusters replace his sprint, keeping him low to the ground and free to shield his face.

Deadly friends of the stone pillars came into sight. A narrow canyon reaching up to the midday sun threatened those with width. The thunder of their legs craved it; others pushed their engines to the breaking point. For the unlucky or unwise, break they did. Harsh cascades of blinding sand ceased in a flash. Into the canyon, cracked mud and dirt were bullets, but X knew his armor could protect him.

The hedgehog had fixed another path. Above all heads, he ran along the canyon sides. His tiny shadow mocked gravity.

Faster, faster. Gotta keep up!

Chorus of bellowing motors and humming rockets reflected a shell of sound that rippled the canyon itself. Clods of cracked dirt ripped to all sides, vicious compared to its thin, gritty companion in the open sands. Dodging bullets of muck surprised the reploid – detailed focus was a constant surprise, stretching reflexes beyond limits he had once known.

Nearly blinded by the speed, his curiosity needed satiating. A moment later he spotted the circular silver disk and its exposed driver. He had to read the speedometer, to know the simple number he had reached. How fast? How fast was he going, and how much more could he achieve? The sweet candy of knowledge pushed him faster, harder, closing the gap.

X read the number, having to stare at it, startling the driver as he repeated it again and again, converting it in his head to his own measurements, then reading once more to see if the number was accurate.

One hundred forty miles per hour. He was moving faster than that. A massive and amazed smile lit up his entire face, and he pushed even harder, scorching across the canyon with an opening to fresh desert in sight.

The exhilaration was unreal, coursing through him like the wildfire of the sun. He pushed harder. Even faster. Another wonder struck him. The air's blasting force garbled his vision, but he only saw three massive shapes in front of him, plus the small blue speck that was Sonic.

"Fifth place?" he whispered beneath his face plate. "Only four spots behind Sonic the Hedgehog?" Unable to utter anything else, he wondered where the other dozens of vehicles had gone.

The rising sensation of flames rose to his chest. He had no idea what was happening to him as they exited the canyon, the silver disk falling further behind him. Grafted in his chest, the white diamond began churning, radiating a prismatic light. The sun struck with full force without the canyon walls. X saw his own shadow and two brilliant lights, one from the diamond, the other cast from the small ruby in his forehead. Each gleamed with incredible energy in the reflection cast on the bright sand, but the sensation in his ruby crystal was shifting, moving. It felt alive.

Another swell of emotions came over him, all kinds frightful and joyous. The familiarity was unmistakable. As he passed another large, hovering metal mass with jet-like engines and a shape like a bi-plane, the intensity was even more amazing. Just three spots beyond Sonic the Hedgehog, still gaining slowly, X's green-gold blur of legs continued to beat harder, faster and hotter.

Without an emerald, he could feel the powers of chaos reaching him, and he had no idea how that was possible.

No, not just that. Mako and chaos at the same time, melding somehow, joining together for a common purpose. A purpose of unsurpassed speed.

Mega Man X leapt, blasting a small crater in the sand, unleashing a tremor that even Sonic turned over his shoulder to acknowledge. Slowed for a tiny moment, no more than a few blinks, X obeyed the urges calling in his mind.

"Chaos... BREAK!!"

There was a snap. A literal snap of sound that deafened all those behind. Far ahead, leading the pack, Sonic spun and stopped, narrowing his glare beneath his protective goggles. Seeing the sand waves suddenly rip apart from the force of acceleration, the blue spiked racer knew the gap would soon be closed. Grinning at the odd new challenge, he spun and vanished, bursting to rapidity as if a land mine had exploded where he had just stood.

Angel Forest's lush greenery and tropical plants began appearing, first sparsely amongst the sand, trickling up through the eroded rock matter. Like the rest of the course, it did not last, and the last browns of sand were flooded with crystal lakes, foliage of all greens and yellows.

X had almost caught Sonic. Somewhere in the uncountable moments, the other two vehicles had fallen behind. The reploid had no idea how fast he was going, and he could barely keep his eyes open. His footfalls, hammers into the earth of the Floating Isle, were like horizontal leaps, one after the other, with such speed and force that the green grass and tropical plants unfortunate enough to obstruct them were reduced into great paths of biological confetti.

"Here!" the hedgehog shouted. X looked, keeping one eye on the visual massacre of images that were constantly discarded by such wild movement. Hanging completely horizontal from two of his white-gloved fingers, Sonic's goggles stretched to the breaking point.

"Come on, take 'em! I don't need them anymore!"

That wasn't the issue. Sonic still had free range of movement by some miraculous and scientifically impossible strength. The burning fire of chaos still propelled X, driving him to unstable lengths, and he didn't know what would happen if he interrupted it. At possibly one-ninety or faster, he had no idea what simply reaching out would do.

His arm moved, glacial as his legs continued their piston strikes. The goggles were right there for him, and Sonic held them very still, granting X the time he needed. They could only see each other from the waist up as the laughable transaction proceeded.

A sharp through a tunnel of gargantuan trunks with giant boat-like leaves separated them, and the terrain became uneven. The tiny jolt of his arm returning too fast tore at him, instilling a fear that it might rip clean off. His legs continued, panicked, matching speed with Sonic. The pain continued. He was going to have to ignore the goggles, he realized, because they were long gone, lost from Sonic's fingers in the same instance that jarred his arm in its socket.

Then X realized what Sonic was doing. The hedgehog was running backwards. His hands were propped up amidst the spines on the back of his head, feigning relaxation as they narrowly navigated hairpin turns and dodged small stones that may as well have been grenades, ready to burst at slightest impact.

In spite of the raging fire burning in X's chest and head crystals, the reploid realized he was improving at seeing what was ahead of him even though great distances shrank before thoughts could form. X wondered if perhaps, somehow, there was a chance he could win. The very notion, as he stared at the 'blue blur' beside him showing off with zeal and racing comfort, was absurd. He remembered Sonic's other nickname, 'the fastest thing alive.' Perhaps it was possible that all his power from the Triforce, emeralds, and materia could be enough.

A massive boulder appeared out of nowhere, as everything at blinding speeds did, and X panicked. His legs were tight, stiffening. Unresponsive. The chaos powers mixed with Mako was failing. In the few squinting blinks of time he had to think with, he witnessed Sonic face forward, dash further ahead without breaking the smile on his face, and scale the rock in an instant. Red sneakers with a large white stripe and trim tore above the tree line as the hedgehog vanished head first.

X had no time to turn. The rock split as his foot connected, and the thick trunks and massive leaves overhead became sky. To the reploid, whose eyes shot open as much as they could, the Floating Island appeared to be falling, collapsing to the ground below. Almost the entire majestic continent was in his eyes. Reef Volcano, the vast city of Echidnopolis in the distance, and all of the many climates that surrounded the home of many echidnas and Mobians alike, they all showed themselves. Over his shoulder, the edge of the continent was shielded by a storm, but it felt so far away. Few vehicles were within sight.

A short distance ahead, aiming for a different point of landing, the Hero could see Sonic curled up in sphere form, ready to shred the foliage on his return trip from momentary euphoria. X was just as prepared this time.

The branches closed in. A shining ray shot from X's Buster, clearing the greenery with a body-sized plasma sphere. Momentary flames of sky blue spit up, but the minor singe was nothing. X's impact was loud, jamming the gyros in his legs with an echo that split into the miniature crater he had made. The residual heat couldn't bother him, because in another instant he had surged to near-full speed with much more fire inside.

X still held the intensity, the drive, the exhilaration as he spotted Sonic amongst the swerving trees. Was he even going the right direction? It didn't matter. But the machine part of him, that irremovable bit of logic programmed within told him that his legs might not be able to maintain speeds that he never even expected to be possible for him.

'Might,' he thought. That's what his inner-mechanisms had communicated to his emotionally driven mind. That he might damage his legs. His internal sensors did not know for sure. When Mega Man repeated the word again, clustered with all its synonyms, 'possibly, maybe, might, could,' the lack of a definite conclusion amazed him.

"I'm going to win!"

He gained on Sonic, striving against the fire, knowing that the subtle inches were significant. Yet he urged more out of his body, out of the strangely evolving symbiosis between the emotions of chaos and the physical presence of Mako. How, after all this time, were they working together? What sparked it? A simple race had turned into a journey.

Nature's hot jungle dispersed, revealing a short trail along the Marble Garden Grasslands that they were to follow. Merely chasing after Sonic, it was by accident that he came back to the guided race path through grassy hills that continued to thin out the trees. The blue blur seemed to know instinctively where to go, and X followed.

Burning rose up to every part of his legs and lower torso, climbing his spine slowly with the uncountable streaking precision of his legs. His eyes still burned with a chill, stinging with more microscopic debris and the pressures of air that could be nothing but chilly pressing through at unreal velocity.

He was still gaining.

The top of a great, steep jade hill guided by arrows became a too-short marvel. In the far distance, past the great green plains of the Floating Island's hills and the autumnal Mushroom Forest beyond that, Echidnopolis had a faint silver glow. The goal was within sight.

At the bottom of the massive round-top, a straightaway lined with people in stands cheered for the two in the lead, for Sonic the Hedgehog, and for the unknown man in armor nipping at his heels. The difference between what they saw and what was true was that the two runners made it look easy, and although it was easy for the small Mobian, X's pain was climbing higher, intensifying at the origins until it spread like a mad plague. His breath, churning in artificial lungs, was hot like coffee sucked down too soon, too fast, except there was no escape, no cold beverage to soothe him as long as he continued to give chase.

The screams throbbed in his head, raging in all places, side, front and back. Vision was not just obstructed by wind. It was blurred with strain.

"Keep moving!" roared the reploid. Why he needed to he didn't have an explanation for. His recklessness was obvious but unceasing, acting as another person inside him.

Sonic was no longer a speck, having become a full sized shape easily within Buster-shot. The reploid's approach made the hedgehog increase his speed, making it more and more difficult to close what little was left of their separation. Somehow they had long since passed Marble Garden Hills and were stamping through the softer grays and autumn tones of Mushroom Forest. The slight chill in temperature was refreshing, but the pain of fire still tore at Mega Man.

A strange obstruction of giant mushrooms with spotted; orange tops were downed in the middle of the path. Finally, Sonic turned back to make a quick nod, which X returned. Interpreting the downed mushrooms – trunks thick and strong as logs – as someone else's deliberate actions, the two widened and shifted into parallel sync.

X, slowly moving his arm from a trailing limb to his Buster, began to feel his legs buckle. With his arm unbalancing the movement, a terrible crunch & twist of steel dropped him to the ground. Careening like a missile, he couldn't be stopped.

The reploid roared in pain as he toppled again and again, too violently for him to upright or compensate for. His limbs bashed and slammed on dirt, trees, rocks, but nothing seemed to stop his carousel of destructive momentum. Parts were breaking. Movement systems were shorting out as he suddenly hit pavement and saw sunlight through blood that had sprayed into his eye. The echoes of smashed body parts rang in his ears, intensifying his torture. People screamed. Red brushstrokes of echidna faces were soaring by, and all those immersed in the wide crowds reacted with inhales of breath or violently opposite shrieks, mortified either way.

X screeched across pavement, grinding to a calamitous halt some distance further. Broken and immobile, his one solace was that the fire had been extinguished, both the chaos and Mako doused away. He couldn't move a muscle after that.

A loud sound somewhat like a plane's roar, but higher pitched, approached him from the direction he had been coming from. Sonic.

"Hang in there, buddy," said the hedgehog, loud enough to fight the sound of those watching, too filled with dread to approach.

A grunt was all X could manage in response. He was too busy crashing emotionally from his drained euphoria. His damage assessment was automated and underway as he felt his useless limbs lift, draped over the hedgehog's shoulder, head facing forward despite how much smaller the Mobian speedster was than him.

The flight of velocity came again, but the burning continued to simmer away, and the cheers of the crowd grew into an incredible applause and frantic, jubilant screams.

"He's... taking me to the finish line?"

A ribbon of soft silk rubbed past his fingers, and fireworks shot off overhead.

The race was over. Throngs of people in a stampede rushed the lightning hedgehog and the strange Terran in the green metal suit. X, slowly put down by Sonic, sputtered a laugh, and his tongue reached out to taste the metallic blood dripping from his forehead.

"Move it!" cried someone with urgency above the rest. "Medic coming through!"

"How about a little space for me and my buddy X?" Sonic casually suggested, and amazingly, most backed down, and X, though slightly blinded from the impact, could hear the roars subside. He chuckled again at how easy it was for the blue blur to manage a crowd. It hadn't changed in the year since X had left from Mobius. Through the pain, as serious as it was, Mega Man knew it would heal, and a soft contentedness eased his worries. Life with Sonic the Hedgehog was often simple, a trait he had missed in his absence.

"I'm alright," X pushed feebly at the hands of the medical staff.

"Please, sir," said the voice that X still couldn't see through blurred vision.

"No, really," grinned the reploid happily, and he heard a subtle hum of amusement next to him. "I'm great."

Both of his legs were covered in dents, and minor parts were sticking out from holes blown in the pure overload of speed and energy. They also appeared to be bleeding, which he knew was cause for concern, but he assured them that it was just the fluids of the suit as he hobbled to a standing position, worse than an arthritic old man. He assumed balance and stood upright, and the ovation he received went on without end for minutes. He couldn't even tell for sure how long – one of the blows during his tumble jostled his head in such a way that his internal chronometer had shut off completely.

"A Terran almost as fast as me," the hedgehog inconspicuously jabbed X in the side while soaking in their cheers. "Or at least, that's what they think."

"It would do wonders for international PR," said Mega Man. Sonic smiled wide with the same idea in mind.

Hand in hand, they declared their victory to the audience and to the sky above, locked fists raised high, Sonic barely able to reach up beyond the reploid head from such a difference in height.

But the audience had no eyes for height at that moment. They screamed for more than the adrenaline or for X's accident that those of a shallow nature found entertaining. Hidden, dormant pieces of the echidna kind and all of the other anthropomorphic Mobians watching had those lost fragments rise to the surface in an unusual and uncommon sensory burst that demanded their applause. For the first time in many years, the angst and prejudice associated when dealing with other cultures outside their xenophobic Floating Island began melting. Camaraderie spread faster than a forest blaze, but it harnessed togetherness in place of the destruction that these crowds so often craved. Perhaps it would last only a short time, but as they faced the crowd, balancing their modesty with how effortless it was to be ostentatious about the fantastic, possibly history-making victory, the two knew that it was worth it.

"Flashy exit?" Mega Man requested. Little could be heard over the screaming men and women, but Sonic nodded. As he did, the security and medical attendants were shoved aside, and many, ladies at the front, rushed at the victors.

"Now's the time!" Sonic backed away from the incoming stampede looking for a piece of a hero.

Knowing what to do, Sonic kept hold of X as the tugging, dragging sensation like being pulled through a too-small hole overtook him. They flew far away, merely streams of matter, and vision ceased to be, replaced by mental blurs and the imprinted images of what they had escaped from moments ago. Their journey was short, to the top of a small metal structure that jutted out a couple of stories from the Mushroom forest. The view stretched far, and they could still faintly see and hear the madness of the crowd through gaps in the skyscrapers.

"Just like riding a bike!" Sonic spoke with amusement as he landed with grace, his molecules fusing back together as if he had experienced it many times.

X's experience wasn't as fluid. With fragments of metal and other matter jutting out the side of his legs and blood coming down his face, X realized he was not quite as 'great' as he said he was. The damage was severe. Self-repair was going to take too long once he realized that his entire leg and motion systems would need to be realigned, being both a lengthy and painful process.

"Damn it, this is starting to hurt like hell now that I'm off that adrenaline kick," he said to the hedgehog. "I don't suppose you have any reploid painkillers?"

Sonic shrugged one of his casually nonchalant but grandiose gestures. "I think I left it in my other skin." The joke made X laugh as he toyed with different position, eager that something atypical could be more comfortable to his wrecked armor.

A Mobian with nothing but shoes and socks was not particularly unusual, but for the speedster it was also a matter of practicality. Most upper-garments unbalanced him while running, and ones on his legs had a tendency of bursting into flame or tearing apart. Only his shoes, a custom series of intertwined, nearly indestructible, heat-dispersing polymers were of much use to him. X noted how popular the simple red design with a white stripe from left to right, fastened with a belt-like gold buckle, had become. There had been at least a dozen pairs that X had seen on the feet of Islanders and Mobians alike before they had teleported.

"Can't believe you were almost going faster than me," Sonic grinned widely. "Guess a lot changes in a year."

"From what I've heard, I could say the same of you."

The hedgehog's expressions unchanged, he had nothing to say to that.

"Sally misses you, Sonic." X waited, hoping that would sink in unpleasantly. Despite telepath sensing a hint of change, outwardly there was little change. "So do Tails, Bunnie, and everyone else. Why are you wandering like this?"

He plunked down at the edge of the lookout tower they hid atop, expression still neutral.

"I know," he said simply, with a heavy burden adding weight to his words. "Life isn't the same back home. With Ro-butt-nik rotting in prison and Mobitropolis back in the hands of all the people who fought for freedom, I'm not really needed."

"But what about all the work to fix the damage that Robotnik did? That could go on for-"

"You said you needed my help?"

Mega Man was taken aback by the tone, but he soon realized how foolish it was to expect that nothing had changed. After all, it took a mere two months since first meeting Raven to completely transform his life, drag him across the cosmos and unveil some of the most incredible forces in existence, both incredible and nightmarish. As X and Sonic avoided eye contact for a short moment, the reploid wondered what he should say. It was clear that Sonic was running from something, literally and otherwise.

Mega Man pressed some of his loose wires and semi-organic parts firmly back in place with a painful cold sting, better preparing them to heal. Quickly losing the thrill of the race and the enjoyment of seeing an old friend, X chose recklessly to be blunt.

"Zero's turned into a monster, infected by the virus."

The hedgehog needed a long moment to process what had just been said. X felt it repeat in his mind many times, as if it had to be understood one syllable at a time. Sonic's eyes went wide. The reploid had earned his attention.

"It's bigger than it was before. It involves the chaos emeralds, materia, and another power called the Triforce."

"Sounds bad," the hedgehog sighed, knowing full well what materia could do from X's last visit, and the planet Mobius had also been the home of the chaos emeralds for many centuries. Needless to say, most everyone on and off the Island on Sonic's planet was quite familiar with what they were capable of.

"It's a long story. Really long," X admitted, and he made the awful effort to stand out of respect despite the pain. "I don't know what's going on in your life right now. It must be important to make you distance yourself from everyone so close to you, and you might not even be the one I'm looking for."

The hedgehog tapped his foot, unable to decide whether the forests in the distance or the simple metallic floor were more tolerable to stare at. Away from their perch and opposing the cheering fans, he leaned far over the railing toward the mountains, the jungle, and anything else he could see. A subtle fog was rolling in, and it obstructed the pleasantness of the sights for them both.

"I guess I could use a good story," he frowned.

X felt another small piece of his thoughts. It made him feel guilty to probe Sonic's mind, something he never would have done in the past, but now the challenge came with ignoring the things that seeped in unwelcome. Like the fog, the details weren't clear, but X grasped enough to feel his pain. Beyond the horizon, there was a definitive and harsh end to the Floating Island. At his speed it came torturously fast, a cruel comparison to every other person around him. While others could spend a lifetime exploring the tiny nuances of the Island or some other continent alone, Sonic was cursed with having seen more marvels across the entire planet than most, and at a very young age. Lacking the extravagant ship that X suddenly realized he often took for granted, Sonic was quite trapped on Mobius.

Mega Man saw it as a crisis, one he felt compelled to fix despite how important finding the sages was. He felt a tingle on his hand; the Triforce mark resonated lightly, and he sensed the presence of the specific sage making it react that way.

"This most recent chapter in my life was started by someone who I've grown very close to in a short time. She means more than anything. And she's about to be pissed."

"Uh… you mean that dark, sinister looking thing flying our way?"

Like a black fireball through the sky, fanned flames of emotions turbulent and furious engulfed X's mind while her great bird form neared, forcing him to push the anger back with concentrated shielding of his thoughts. It strained the sides of his head, and the red oval crystal above his brow pulsed, stinging at his helmet. As Raven's form shrank and drew near, he realized that whatever she was about to say was fully earned out of his reckless ambition and drive.

Rising from of a pool of shadows, she stood, face absolutely livid, eye twitching with angst.

"Are.... you... inSANE?" screeched the dark sorceress. "The use of chaos alone could have paralyzed you, or worse!"

At first, the reploid was vacant of response. "…Sonic the Hedgehog, meet Rachel Roth, also known as Raven, the Sage of Darkness."

She glanced to Sonic, then back to X, and Mega Man pivoted his legs to hide the damage.

"Idiot, you're bleeding everywhere!"

Sonic took a step back, but he smiled at the whole interaction. To tell the truth, X was slightly enjoying it too.

Raven knelt down to X, hiding beneath her hood. "Hold still, and stop trying to hide it with your hands," she ordered, and there was a tiny shake in her voice. Her palms pressed against the gaping break in his right leg, and the flesh of her hand was chilly compared to his hot blood. Her palm found the hue of Mako, and an ironic reversal emerged from their memories as Mega Man flinched from the pain.

"You learned that quick," he winced.

"That's because I learned it from you," she sighed, still angry. "There. Try that."

X knew that materia's healing had never worked very well on him, and with someone so inexperienced, he wasn't expecting a drastic improvement. The gaping, warped metal with the blood flow finally clotted and was chilled and slightly desensitized, but when he put pressure on the leg it responded well. The metal was nearly bent back into place. He stared up, and Sonic looked on with lackluster curiosity.

"How did you..."

"Mixed my powers with the Mako," she finished the thought. "I warped your broken metal with my power, while using materia's energy to heal."

"Wow. I'm impressed," X rubbed his other damaged parts.

"And I'm confused," Sonic grinned toward the dark woman, "but either way, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The blue hedgehog took her hand, and although he was almost a full head shorter than the dark sorceress, her hand was small and delicate in his oddly huge white gloves.

"You're an excellent racer," she said. "And it's very nice to meet you as well."

She then turned back to X, halting him with a glare. "I'm still angry with you."

"The pleasure is mine," Sonic chuckled warmly. "Now, I don't mean to be too impatient, but how about this story of yours?"

"Agreed," X leaned against the edges of the lookout tower, knowing full well that the blue blur was involved in it whether he wanted to be or not. With six of the chaos emeralds returned to Mobius within the hull of the Dreamweaver, Zero was likely not far away.

"What would you say if I told you that Super Sonic is might make an appearance?"

The hedgehog's expression froze. His casual and carefree attitude was sucked out of him. Both telepaths were overrun with a blast of emotions, twisting and pulling in conflicting directions. Raven didn't understand what 'Super Sonic' meant, but its importance was clearer than the crystal in X's chest.

"Come on, we'll talk over a private dinner," X suggested. "I know a great Sushi place in Marble Gardens. I'm sure the others would like to meet you."

Sonic didn't say anything and just nodded, mindlessly. Stunned, consumed by thought, it was difficult for Raven and X to get him to speak. Soon, their telepathy sensed incredible excitement, and dreaded fear.


	76. Light and Spirit

**Chapter 76 – Light and Spirit**

"You!" the Light Sage roared.

The creature merely stared, burrowing into him with powerful, glowing eyes. Its tail waved slowly behind its tall body, and a small knob began to twitch lightly at the tail's end. With intent reflected in the pile of blood at his feet, the telepathic stranger threatened him with a subtle change in stance, setting one powerful looking leg back and bending carefully at the knees. The creature – the Sage decided it was a 'he' – was lightly covered in very short fur with a bleached violet tint. A discordant hue cast a bright shine as the creature held up a hand with three large fingers ending in round knobs, waving the Triforce mark as it radiated.

"Why do you have that?" the cloaked reploid demanded. "You have no right."

Hoping for a response and getting none, the sage clenched his jaw. He was unnerved. At the mercy of his enemy, inside a mind that could likely tear him apart, it was the lack of action that was worse than anything. The sage suspected it might be another stalling technique, but that had only seemed to be the goal when he was trying to force his way inside the telepath's mind. What would be the point in that now? As he had thought before, if he was wanted dead, he would have been already. The Ultima Weapon or some other agent of Zero would have seen to that swiftly. No, the name was what was of consequence. His name.

The creature cocked its head, and a great blade of energy extended from the sage's retracted hand instinctively. Seemingly unafraid and looking almost with amusement at his saber, the creature narrowed its eyes.

"Say something!" the sage pulled a bellow from deep inside his chest.

"_What is it I should say_?" came a deep rumble. It forced the shrouded sage to shut an eye, squinting it as if the voice had come from within his skull.

"_Your thoughts are quite correct_," the creature's dominating voice continued, and it rattled the sides of the sage's head this time, bringing more pain. "_My words pass through you because I am a telepath of unprecedented ability, and you, Sage of Light, are an unwelcome intruder into not one mind, but two._"

Two?

It was a tangled statement, one that the Sage of Light was hesitant to accept. The reploid paced slowly, brandishing his energy blade at a ready angle, lighting the air amidst faint sparks and small fires with a luminescent magenta hue of carnage. Blood from enough victims to stain the wide hexagonal space was everywhere. Walls, the ceilings, machines, and other large things that resembled giant test tubes.

Like capsules. Hibernation capsules. The Sage of Light had an idea of what had been going on here.

"Genetic experiments, artificially grown creatures," he breathed heavily, refusing to lower his blade from his captor, but his gaze was drawn to the dead... things... mashed amongst the rubble. They were not just unnatural. Abhorrent freaks, never supposed to have existed, they were grotesque masses of organs and deformed limbs, at least what he could discern amongst the slaughter. Each creature bore a shade of fur similar to the deep purple of his telepathic captor, and it made his wires crawl with tension. The reason for reploids despising humans was right before his eyes, and the demon they had spawned delivered their punishment.

"You killed them all," his face burned with anger.

"_Yes, many years ago_," the telepath spoke with resounding echoes in the sage's head. His voice was oddly majestic, and very calm. "_You are experiencing what happened at the beginning of my life. It is my 'cross' as it is called on some worlds. My burden to repay until the Triforce or some other power far greater than I considers my debt paid_."

"How does aiding Zero, absolve you of the dead on your hands?" the sage pressed, hostile with sarcasm. He studied its subtle tail movements that he saw in the dim, flickering lights, wondering if he used it as a weapon, an extra limb. The creature's feet didn't have the same spherical knobs that the hands had. Instead, each one was split, and it reminded the sage of humans he had seen wearing socks along with simple footings that separated the toes. Glancing back up, he observed the curiousness of each word the creature spoke. Though its mouth remained shut, a faint sky tint highlighted its narrow, piercing eyes with each syllable.

The genetic experiment, confusing the sage, almost appeared to grin for a brief second.

"_I know of Zero, the King of Evil, and much beyond that. I am Mewtwo, the Sage of Spirit, and I, like you, am an unwilling victim trapped in Zero's impenetrable hold_."

The blade dared to hover closer, making Mewtwo follow it with his eyes as he continued to push powerful, thumping words into sage's head. "_You do not trust me. Something I expected. Then do you wish to hear my story_?"

Pursing his lips angrily, the sage could not ignore the malice of his surroundings, pungent and foul with death. Trust was scarce in such an environment, and the self-proclaimed Sage of Spirit acknowledged it with a slow, gentle bow.

"_Let us turn to a different memory. One that does not reek of such ancient deeds_."

The three-fingered, sphere-tipped hands of Mewtwo slowly rose, and the dark, bluish metals melded into watercolor. Intensifying into nearly all white, the absence of scenery began to tingle with chilly blasts of air. Snow began to melt around the Sage of Light's feet, soon hugging his knees with a wintry touch. Though the scenery adopted the white powder all around, falling furiously from the sky, darkness also spread across the landscape's ceiling as far as the reploid's eyes could see. Few places were graced with shelter from the blizzard, almost invisible in the icy sky wash, nothing more than black splotches of stone.

"When are we? And where?"

"_Foolish questions. You have lived for many revolutions of your planet, and you are unable to produce anything more pertinent to ask me?_"

"But..."

His lips were forced shut. At the same time, Mewtwo had held up one of his hands, and it had completely stopped him from talking. Uneasy and at the new sage's mercy, the reploid wondered if it was telekinesis or something else that backed the strange purple creature.

"_I have traveled far and wide, learning all there is to know for far longer than you have. Although the depths of emotion seem to eternally elude me, cursing me with weakness, they have also freed me of many trivialities. In that respect, I am far your superior, and thus am able to rightly criticize your poor attempts at improving the knowledge base you command. Is that not what you did with the Teen Titan, Robin, and the Princess of Hyrule herself when you first met_?"

"This is not about them."

"_You mean 'her'? This is not about _her_? T hat was what you were considering saying._"

Through the freezing barrage of dark snow, Mewtwo remained plain faced while the reploid flushed with anger. They waited for a while, and the Light Sage surveyed where they were, latching to the lack of countenance he forced, a borderline to fury. Their setting was many white mountain ranges, inhospitable, and hopelessly indistinguishable from many others with such poor visibility.

A better question came to mind. More of a comment, but he spoke it.

"Someone unexpected but very important is coming here soon," he said to Mewtwo.

"_Correct. But who_?"

"There are only two people meaningful enough for you to show me here. One is Zero. The other is X."

Mewtwo bowed again. "_When I long ago began to realize that the winds of chaos were stirring, I happened upon a remarkable being, constructed by humans as a machine, but with all the freedom of a human, and all the emotions. In that respect, though childlike in knowledge, he was already superior to me. I sensed a strange aptitude, and decided that I would grant this 'reploid' as he was called, knowledge and power that would allow him to evolve even more_."

A silver object jettisoned through the clouds, falling with comet-tails of fire. It was easy to recognize the Azure Dreamweaver, X's ship, come to a dangerous, damaging landing on a steep slope. Plowing tidal waves of white, it continued to rip through the frozen wastes until, after much screeching rumbling earth and snow, it ceased to move, half consumed by the avalanches it had caused.

"You taught him telepathy," the reploid guessed, and Mewtwo's nod confirmed it. The Light Sage was still hesitant and leery of this telepathic being, and reevaluated the long, curving stretch of mass that went from the back of Mewtwo's head to part way down his spine. Like a connecting tube, it appeared to be pumping something with almost imperceptible motions. Regardless of what it did and how odd it looked, the reploid made note of it. The tail continued to wag suspiciously.

"_I did not teach in any traditional manner_," Mewtwo explained. "_I merely pushed him in the direction he needed, giving him a beginning. It was always buried within X, along with the rest of his endless possibilities... but that's an ironic subject for you, is it not, Sage of Light_?"

He scowled, snorting a brief fog onto his visor.

"_You know what I speak of_," Mewtwo pressed aggressively, releasing first inklings of forceful emotion. Though his voice coursing through the reploid's head was powerful, it was only now beginning to inflect in such a way that set this creature apart as having any emotion at all. The grim reminder of the carnage they had left behind was a clear indication that he was capable of much more, and withholding a tremendous amount of potential himself.

The Spirit Sage's drilling stare would not let up, nor would the glowing blade of the shrouded machine as he paced. What made him uneasy within wasn't the expectation of a fight, but something generally hostile coming from the ancient telepath.

"_Does it make you bitter_?" Mewtwo continued to provoke. "_You and the Hero of Time are vastly alike. Yet he holds the Sword of Heroes, the Master Sword. You are a sage. You are like a servant-_"

"As if you're one to talk about servants!" the reploid spat an icy breath. "The way you let Zero control you is cowardly."

Mewtwo raised an eye.

"That's right. I can read some of your memories now that I'm in your mind. You let him catch you that easily?"

"_It was far better a choice than becoming a part of his grotesque hordes_," Mewtwo remained the calmer of the two. "_The King of Evil possessed my body because I preferred that to complete annihilation or absorption. My consciousness has been sealed into a corner in my mind that he struggles to find. Before that time, I hope to be set free. More importantly, you are avoiding my questions_."

"To hell with your questions," the sage retracted his blade and hid beneath his cloak, tattered but slowly repairing with golden splotches brighter than the snow of the storm. "But at least it answers some of mine. I wondered how you could be a sage, but you met X here, years ago. All the sages have to know the Hero before his rise. That explains you, the last sage. Sonic, Shadow, you and I are all he has left to find, and I get the feeling those two won't be far off."

"_Yes. To ease your further curiosity, we are on Mobius, in one of the caves of chaos near the Master Emerald. Zero is using my powers to seal off the Mako reaction that provides the spectrum of varying light inside. If only the Echidnas knew how it poisons them…_"

"And X is on his way?"

Mewtwo nodded simply.

The blizzard intensified, and bright magenta bolts struck a mountain top with a blast some distance away. The hammer of thunder was not nearly as loud as some of the more fierce beats of language pumping into the sage's head from the forceful telepathy.

"Tell me everything," the Sage of Light demanded.

The creature reacted to the demand with curiosity, perhaps amusement. "_I shall keep it as brief as I can._" Mewtwo sat in the snow comfortably, unaffected by any sense of the freezing ice he sat on. "_I came from a green and lush planet much like Mobius, where we previously resided, though we – the scientists who created me and the failed ones - were deep underground where no one could find us_.

"_My power was unreal, and I knew little of what to do with it after killing my creators. I soon discovered that I could defeat any creature on my planet, sentient or not. My telepathic and telekinetic abilities could have destroyed nations. However, I had no purpose. None at all. For a time, I only craved to satiate my pointless dominance over others, but I needed more than the blood I so easily spilled. I needed to fight the greatest that my world had to offer, and crush them. If it was not for one courageous boy... I might have never been given a chance to see what the heart was capable of_."

Mewtwo regarded the Light Sage strangely. His tail wagged up and down, slow and serpent like.

"What?" the reploid reacted to his stare.

"_Sit,_" the creature requested.

"No."

A small wave of his three fingers, and the Sage of Light fell to the ground with an engine-like hum forcing him down. He found that he was sitting upright after a few seconds of reorienting himself passed.

Soon, faint, ghostly outlines of people and places began to hover around the two of them. A scrawny looking teenager with ruffled brown hair and a red and white cap appeared, standing with arms spread wide.

"_I amassed an army of creatures similar to the ones you saw guarding my mind. I intended to strike down the greatest of humanity, beyond just my creators. But as the initial petty few stood up to me, something I did not expect or at the time understand stopped me_.

"_Powerful beasts that these few controlled were growing weak, and it was my intention to eradicate them with my own hands. Yet, when I threw a comet of psychic force, enough to shatter the arena and plunge it into rubble, killing my servants and those of my enemies, that boy stepped in front of one he did not consider a servant, or even a partner_.

"_This boy considered his small, yellow pet a… friend. Just a small, electric mouse, the two could not have been any different, but their bond was unshakable. So long ago, I never knew that it was possible to do the precise opposite of what I had chosen to do. To give all your power and sacrifice oneself to stop the death of another. My mind at that moment was torn with contemplation of my earliest moments. Had the humans I murdered attempted to do the same thing? Had they defended each other without me knowing, too blind by my rage and madness to see truths other than power? It was an unforgivable shock to my senses, all of my might and superior intellect crushed by this boy's compassion_."

Hands on the knees of his crossed legs, Mewtwo shut his eyes and stared down at the snow. For the first time, he chose to speak with his mouth, in the softer, gentle tone tainted by afflictions of guilt.

"It is, as I said, my cross. I shall bear it until fate sees it fit that I have carried and repaid it."

And how long had it been thus far, the Sage of Light wondered? For a moment, they listened to the snow, silence between them. The Sage of Light then found the answer to something that hadn't added up until now.

"I get it," the crimson reploid stewed as he sat in the snow, cushioned by his cloak. "You're immortal."

Mewtwo met the assumption with vacancy, head still downward, unwilling to look anywhere but at the cold beneath them. "You… are correct. Over hundreds of years, I have discovered that never dying is much like these mountains. They are never free of their snow, but sometimes the load is lighter, and other times it is painfully heavy."

"Except the mountains can't fight back if someone tries to increase the snow. You can."

They both sighed rigidly, and the Sage of Light retracted his energy blade finally. To be immortal… sometimes for the reploid it felt that way, but wondering what another hundred years could bring was torturous. A thousand years, even that was possible for a reploid given the chance and the maintenance. The corridors of time were cruel, only allowing the hand of another to end those punished with never ending years. Allowing the end to happen without fighting against it was impossible. To cheat, to forfeit – only the greatest cowards and weaklings took the easy way out. The Sage of Light realized that several of the others sages defied their death, teetering at times on the line of self-destruction. But Saria, the last Kokiri, endured. Nanaki was, likewise, part of a dying breed, yet he continued. Tidus, the false being, the creation of the Lifestream, was likely an eternal creature as well, but he still sought purpose. It was something too many sages seemed to suffer in their own ways.

Dwelling on their unfortunate and unbalanced condemnation, the Sage of Light reminded himself why he did not think about these things often.

"Those of us forced to live on forever have to choose a long and wide path, one that diverges and converges with others constantly. If we do that, there will never be an end, but there will be no need for an end until someone kills us. There are too many worlds, too many places, and with that in mind, I find the purpose to move on."

"_If we encounter each other far in the future,_" Mewtwo transitioned back into mental expression with a grim countenance, "_then I think you will realize the difficulty in that optimism_."

Cornered into a pointless argument, the reploid sage merely shrugged. "I don't care. If it's that bad, I'll find out for myself. And with so few people living as long as we do, I don't think you can pass your experiences off as typical. There IS no typical for the immortal. So put your past aside and make a new life. That's what I had to do."

Bated by the honesty of the last sentence, the telepath raised a brow, and the knobs of his fingers tapped together, damp from half melted ice crystals.

"_I cannot leave my own mind, but you may be able to find a route,_" he said, deep in contemplation, fighting an inner battle that the reploid knew was not the most important thing they needed to focus on.

The change in scenery was fast, more of a snap than a transition, and the pangs of sudden light gave a momentary throb in their eyes. Sweet and fragrant smells arose, and a canyon had risen around them with a sun baked color. A fresh oasis, chilly but not frigid, hid amongst the mountains. The flourishing petals mingled without envy or greed, sharing space with all colors and sizes. Great stalks with flower clusters treated all visitors with a gentle scent, delightful but not overpowering, like a subtle mix of lilacs and fresh grass. They swayed in the breeze, talking to their legs in faint caresses almost unnoticeable.

Sunlight was shining in abundance, and Mega Man X sat, legs crossed, with a younger Mewtwo of identical appearance. A space and a path had been made for each of them to to sit while still allowing the flowers to go undisturbed, and the Sage of Light could see a spot where X had stumbled and crunched a single yellow one. It made the sage grin momentarily.

"_How long has it been since you last spent time with him_?" Mewtwo probed telepathically again. His manner was inquisitive as he hovered a short height from the ground next to the Sage of Light looking over the memory.

"I..."

The cloaked machine's tongue caught in his mouth. To answer that question would cause him to think back to a time when he spoke his name. Defensively clenching his arms, he stared elsewhere.

"_This is no time for dishonesty_."

"I know," the sage snarled. "I think it's been... about a hundred years. At least mutually."

"_Mutually,_" Mewtwo repeated. "_You spent time with him, but not he with you_?"

"Yes."

"_You went to see him in his capsule before his world fell into destruction, plague, and the fires that spread across continents? All the while, you were training in the arts of light, absorbing all you could learn of justice, the heart, and the evils that you must compel with force. And yet, you often seem to be such a dark presence protecting those on many worlds. Why_?"

X seemed to be squeezing his eyes shut in the memory. The Sage of Light was focusing hard, fighting to sense the telepathic pieces that Mewtwo hid from him, intentionally or not, but he struggled with the image in front of him. Too many memories came back. Particularly of Roll, but of others too, painful ones, coercing him toward thoughts of that unacceptable forfeit, of ending his own time. He had, at first, longed for it himself, and the fury of losing all those close people to him started to spread its infectious influence, touching his joints so that they raged tightly, unstable even in the calm of the oasis and its flowers. It was potent, the mental plumes of darkness, often more compelling than the light.

"Let me go," the sage commanded. His eyes had shut. He had refused to look at any more.

"_Can you not bear it to see him? Are the two of you not-_"

"Quiet!" he said. "Utter another word about that and I'll kill you."

The Sage of Spirit was not stirred.

"Do we have an understanding?" the sage breathed heavy.

Mewtwo bowed deep. "_Entirely. But… regardless of the brief interactions you have had recently, I must ask your intentions for Mega Man X_."

"That's simple," the sage replied. "After I escape from you, or Zero-you, or whatever you are, I'll do what I've always done. Crush the darkness."

Mewtwo's next words were slow and cautious. Each syllable released a resounding light from his eyes, far stronger than they had thus far. "_You... have a specific darkness in mind._"

"Darkness exists in everybody, which I'm sure you know well," eyed the Sage of Light at the telepathic creature. "It can corrupt and poison. Even in heroes."

The Sage of Light figured it should have been clear at that point, but Mewtwo was staring at him quizzically. Almost with fear. Flower petals and colors melted away as the strings of dangerous chords strummed in their false mindscape of memories.

"You already admitted it yourself. You can't allow yourself to die unless something stronger does the job with you at your very best. But I won't allow idleness to do me in, either. Letting inaction pave the way for time's end would no different from allowing the Ultima Weapon or Zero himself to win without a fight. So… If the Hero of Time fails to show me light greater than mine, I will take his place by force."

Mewtwo opened his mouth, speaking true words again. They were heavy, burdened by what he had just been told. Striking all memories away into a black night that encompassed them fully, only the two Triforce marks continued to give off light.

"If you should lose, what then?"

"Then he will have proved himself worthy. But I doubt that will be the outcome. I am far older, more powerful, and highly evolved to the forces of chaos, materia, the Triforce, and other things that I'm sure you don't understand. I have bathed in light that I have withheld for decades, and as you can see," he lifted parts of his cloak to display the golden patches, "that power is finally surfacing again. As Mako infects and weakens him toward the moment when the King of Evil makes the final move, I will only grow more powerful. I already know who will replace the sages disrupted by the fall of Mega Man X. This coming struggle has been part of destiny for over a century, and we shall see who the better reploid is. That reploid will hold the Master Sword and lead the sages against Zero and all his incarnations, and refusing to test him, allowing a weak Hero of Time to fail against the King of Evil, would make me just as guilty."

Instantly, with a small echoing pulse of sound, they returned once more to the ocean waves and the small metal cottage. Neither one had to shield their eyes from the swift change, but Mewtwo paced toward the water's edge, staring out at it, narrowing at something out there.

"_I think…_" the psychic creature began, losing some of his grace as he thought, "_your intentions bear much more than you are willing to tell me_." He dipped his fingers down, seemingly quite vulnerable. Slowly, a path began to stretch out, freezing the water into floating bricks of ice. "_Be prepared for resistance. Though I will let you out of my mind, I have no intention of allowing you to harm the Hero when the time comes_."

The Sage of Light scoffed.

"Head out to the ocean," Mewtwo pointed. "After a great distance you will see an opening. Be prepared, Zero will not make it easy for you to escape my thoughts."

Before The Sage of Spirit had finished speaking, the reploid was leaping across the floating path, not wasting any time.


	77. Escape to Rising Night

**Chapter 77 – Escape to Rising Night**

The scarred tissue on Shadow's arm was mending faster than he expected, and he assumed it was Naminé's doing. He found it relatively easy to build a small stack of lies to cover her up, as she had requested. Knowing that she was limited but at a powerful position inside his body and head, he did as he was asked. But of course, she could hear his thinking, couldn't she?

"_You don't trust people very easily," _remarked the strange spirit.

"As if you need to ask," Shadow murmured.

The small bunk he laid on was not the appropriate shape or firmness to be accommodating. It was too simple, vastly generic – a pitiful excuse for comfort, but it was undeniable that the cheap bed was an improvement from underwater caverns, bodily imprisonment, dismemberment, and that horrible stench coming from the mutated echidna guards under Balk's command.

Rouge, Knuckles and Julie-Su were in the next room discussing the rogue echidna politician. Their voices were nearly silenced by shut doors to grant him some privacy while he rested. He had refused at first, knowing it was impractical to leave him out of discussing what to do next in a game plan that was likely ill with impending failure, but they had all insisted that he take the time to rest while there was an opportunity. It was vastly dull and unnecessary, but Rouge wouldn't have it any other way after he had explained all he had been through, minus the possession by Naminé. The last of his chemically charged energy had expended itself in his fight to escape, and he did eventually agree that he needed rest and rejuvenation after the drain of having his power distributed so unevenly.

Attempting to make the best of an unsuitable spot to lay, he listened carefully, most of the time with eyes shut. Every so often he would glance in Rouge's direction through the dusty glass of the shut door. There was no return from the glances, friendly or otherwise. Was she avoiding him? Or perhaps it was simply too difficult to see through the layers of dirty neglect of this abandoned habitat from her side. What he was sure of was that Rouge was completely avoiding eye contact with both Knuckles and Julie as well. Odd. But her choice.

Much of their discussion had focused on the creature on the surface that had mutated from one of Balk's guards and how incredibly powerful it had been. Shadow had also explained the mutated soldiers that were in the facility. That, they had all concluded a short while ago, was probably one of the goals of what Balk was attempting to do, create super-soldiers and biological weapons. But to accomplish what? It was too difficult to speculate beyond the general reasons for soldiers. Despite the lack of intelligence on the B.O.W's they had run into, it was far more concerning to contemplate the experiments that had given so much power to the fat old council member.

Shadow's pointed ears wiggled on the top of his head as they switched topics to the odd darkness that faintly covered parts of the city, a bizarre topic, one that didn't seem to have any connection. Granted, it was new to Shadow, and Naminé also expressed a considerable interest in his head. If the sun was going to go out, they were all beyond the point of any salvation. Scientists would have noticed. Eyebrow raised, curious for the significance, the hedgehog sighed quietly.

His ears perked up as Balk's name was mentioned again. Almost immediately, the faint remembrance of his sweeter chaos smell, oddly stolen but purer nonetheless, invigorated him. It brewed as if it had wafted into his very breathing space, and his urge to grasp a chaos emerald tightly in his palm became close to mouth watering. A second reaction, one of delicate surprise, interrupted his silence.

"You recognize that?" Shadow asked Naminé.

Patiently, though he grumbled, Shadow awaited a slow answer. Was she hiding something?

"_It's hard to explain_," she began, and her inward expression placed and odd torque on Shadow's jaw muscles. They pulled downward, frowning.

"_You can smell that, taste it even, and that's very uncommon. I wonder, why can't you do the same when I'm around?"_

Shadow's eye widened. "Are you saying you're a part of the emeralds?"

"_Not exactly,"_ hesitated Naminé, again trying to find a way to explain it that made sense. "_The emeralds are responsible for the existence of the Lifestream, of which I belong to. The Lifestream is like a harbor for pieces of souls leftover from the departed. Balk is different, still a living thing, but he is infused with a very similar essence to mine, the kind that composes me and others like me. We've theorized that the corruption of a living person gives of a sort of negative radiation, different from pure beings like myself, but Balk contradicts that. You just might be the evidence to rely on that theory."_

"You're saying that he shouldn't smell like that. He should be like the monsters who stink if he's got that much infused into him."

Naminé hummed agreement.

"What would we _do_ with that piece of information?" Shadow growled. His mind was not up to metaphysical guesses, but rather beating Balk into paste. The fat echidna deserved far more than that, but he was a threat to everyone, not just Shadow, and the black hedgehog wondered how far that could go if Balk showed whatever real strength was growing beneath the surface.

Pain shot through his wrist, mildly, but with force behind it.

"_I'd appreciate it if you could keep your violent thoughts to yourself._"

Snorting, flexing the sore limb, he took slow, deep breaths.

Listening at a distance revealed more interesting things, particularly from Julie-su, who insisted on the sky's darkness, making claims of a distortion wave over the Floating Island. Just as he considered the cause of a phenomenon like that, he saw her mouth the words 'cloaked ship.' It was exactly what he had been thinking, and he grinned at the faster conclusion. Living on the ARK gave him a technical edge.

"_I know she told you to rest, but I can sustain and heal you at the same time, at least a little bit," Naminé_ empathized. "_You ought to help. I'm worried about what Balk might be trying to do."_

Shadow's brow rose, deciphering the meaning between her words. Without her emotions entwined with his, he might not have noticed the intensity of concern coming from the young spirit.

"Damn, I should have thought of that," his fist dented the rusty frame of the bed, catching the attention of the two echidnas and Rouge. He spoke loud enough to pass beyond the glass before opening it forcefully. "The whole island is in danger. Balk is at the end stages of whatever he's trying to accomplish."

Before anyone could question him, he continued. "He wouldn't have risked a public incident otherwise. He's getting confident that no one can stop him anymore, so he must be almost finished."

A subtle growl seeped through the teeth of Knuckles. "That makes sense after fighting that… monster. But do you have a plan for how to stop even more of those things? I don't intend on running in and getting slaughtered. We're all injured here, Shadow!"

"You don't understand," the black hedgehog leered, knowing that raising his stress would aggravated his injured skull. "What he's doing involves the Master Emerald."

At that, all three were at perfect attention, faces widened, fearful for what Shadow was implying. Of all the threats against Knuckles and the people he protected, any instance involving the great jewel, the one keeping all of them aloft and alive on their utopia, was the greatest and most important. A bright, shimmering green, indescribable and infinite in ways that the chaos emeralds were not, their Master Emerald was more important than life itself to Knuckles. Eyelids shutting, forming narrow slits, the Guardian glared with long, unsteady puffs passing between his teeth.

"What does this have to do with the Master Emerald?" he questioned. Shadow was one of few who would not have backed away from the intimidating approach. Perhaps Sonic the Hedgehog might stand his ground as well, but even Rouge grew small as the Guardian's temper bubbled at its most passionate.

"I could sense it in both Balk and that monster that was with him. There are others in his facility that are mutated. They all reek of chaos."

"Are you telling me you can _smell_ the emeralds?" Knuckles glowered accusingly, the look in his eyes brutal.

Shadow stared, unshaken. "I can sense their presence in every way. I was designed for it, moron. You know that."

Knuckles huffed hot air from his flared nose at the black hedgehog.

"Knux," Julie called to him, prompting him to look away from Shadow and the topic of his rage. "Please," she added to the black hedgehog, "Tell us what you know."

He nodded to that, quite willing to recount the details more fully.

"The soldiers under him are corrupted, mixed somehow with too much energy from the emeralds. It's not literally from the emeralds, but from something similar. It's somehow been processed, changed into something foul. How he did that in the first place, I don't know, but if he's been using power similar to the emeralds, then the ultimate goal would be for him to get the Master Emerald."

Rouge made as if she wanted to speak, and Shadow shot a brief look of irritation before closing his mouth graciously, once again noticing the scars above her breast. They hushed him to uncomfortable silence.

"Balk is different, isn't he?" the white bat guessed with worry. "You met him face to face. What do you think he is?"

Shadow opened his mouth for a moment, but he shut it again with a grimace. They waited for an answer, but Naminé suddenly wanted out of him. Surprised, Shadow contemplated why she needed permission; the spirit was in control of the body, not the reverse. She communicated softly that it was courtesy and respect for him, warning him beforehand that his pain would once again intensify as she left.

As the anxious faces waited for their answer, Shadow gave a curt nod that no one understood. It began with an odd haze in his head, the separation of their thoughts. Then it was painful. More painful than the previous time she had left merely his arm. As if the length of their attachment had a connection to the experience, Naminé left slowly, phasing through his skin with a noticeable lift in his fur. Shadow struggled to stay on his feet as various parts of his body began weakening and throbbing.

A gentle, soft pair of gloved hands came to his side. As the bright sparkles composing the spirit girl left him, no one should have been focused at him, and yet, Rouge's eyes jumped between Naminé and him. Mixing her fingers riskily amongst the lower spines on his back, her strong yet gentle touch let him lean enough to ease the strain. She watched Naminé's limbs leave his, the spirit's face also passing slowly through gritted teeth and squinted eyes of the black hedgehog, and once they had become a separate two, Shadow felt quite relieved, but weak.

"It's… alright," the hedgehog winced as he saw Julie-su aim her Hydra shotgun. Attempting to calm everyone else, he allowed Rouge to help him to his feet. "There's no need to worry. I've been… carrying Naminé."

"I'm here to help," the faint outline of the blonde little girl in the white dress attempted to ease them, her voice delicate and soothing. "I shouldn't even be showing myself to you. Only minutes ago I was resigned to keep hidden inside Shadow, and I'm risking making things worse, but I need you to understand what it is you might be facing."

Knuckles and Julie stared at each other, disbelieving what they saw. Or rather, they disbelieved that they were seeing straight through a resplendent Terran.

"It would be most accurate to call me a spirit echo, something similar to a person who once lived, but that isn't important now," she explained as briefly as she could. "I am in touch with a force known as the Lifestream, a boundless stretch of knowledge. I have been in contact with it while inside Shadow, and I've learned some dreadful news."

"We can't trust you," Knuckles glared. Julie-su at his side didn't appear to know what to believe. The pinkish fur around her face began to look lighter, the skin amidst it possibly losing color with each unbelievable event that continued to surpass prior ones.

"Yes you can," Shadow huffed. The strain was growing more difficult, and his body felt weak. "I would be dead if it wasn't for Naminé."

A small gasp came from his side. As the hedgehog was forced back to his knees, Shadow looked up to Rouge, who was staring with a liquid glaze over her eyes at the young Terran girl, or at least to the faint, greenish glow that composed her floating figure.

"You have my deepest gratitude," Rouge said, holding her limbs in close, unsure of how to interact or respond with an intangible person.

With a warm smile she responded. "You're more than welcome. I was happy to do it, but for now it doesn't matter who does and doesn't trust me. I've discovered something about Balk's mutation, his soldiers, and the darkness above your city. They are all caused by the same thing."

She had gained everyone's attention. Looking at each one in turn, Shadow too, she began an explanation that the black hedgehog sensed pain and fear in. "The emeralds, either the seven chaos or the Master Emerald, produce an essence over time. They create the Lifestream that makes us spirits exist. But sometimes it creates physical byproducts." She turned to the Guardian. "You know about the crystalline walls inside the Master Emerald caves, right?"

He nodded, and there was a clear spark of anger burning inside. Shadow recognized the violent, vengeful action, the same one that came from Knuckles every time his island or the sacred caves were abused.

"Creating those is one thing that the emeralds can do over time, but there is another rare creation that comes from it, one named materia. Materia is the source of incredible power, something that you might even call magic. Using fragments large and small, it is likely Balk has been injecting echidnas to create biological weapons, a forbidden act that other worlds have violated for disastrous consequences. Incomplete materia - most of what he has been experimenting with - causes dangerous mutations, but what Balk has is… it's very different. He has somehow obtained something more pure."

"More pure?" repeated the pink echidna, a chill seeming to catch her.

"Naminé," Shadow called, and she twisted in midair at the waist, a sparkle of green following her movements. "The emeralds themselves are the purest form… are you trying to tell us that he's creating an eighth chaos emerald?"

"No!" she immediately responded, and Shadow saw the damage he had caused from the simple suggestion. Rouge had gone pale. Julie-su wobbled at the knees, and her husband had tightened to the likeness of a statue.

"Most definitely not," Naminé assured them, sighing in Shadow's direction, chastising. "Pure forms of materia bring incredible power, but great danger as well. Too much exposure can kill a person in a just a handful of years, but they can grow incredibly powerful during that time. And worse, it can grow and consume, creating even stronger materia inside the person."

"Balk wouldn't intentionally kill himself," Knuckles glowered. The echidna's temper wouldn't subside.

Then what? Obviously Knuckles was right. Balk had been among the council for years, and his calculative nature was part of what got him that position. He knew as well as anyone else that the emeralds had dangers both obvious and hidden. There was clearly something deeper to his intentions than pure power.

A dangerous possibility came to Shadow. It seemed like a foolish mention at first. The thought was incomplete, but full of potential for something twisted. "What would happen," he paced, speaking mostly to Naminé, "if a person with materia infused in them were cloned?"

"Cloned?" Julie-su said with some disgust at the possibility. "That's relevant because…?"

Knuckles released a small rumble through pursed lips. He was volatile but still thoughtful as Naminé withdrew for a moment to let him speak. "Balk's been a major supporter of pharmaceutical and medical cloning. It's received a lot of ethical resistance from the people and many other council members, but what little has been allowed has been fairly successful." Conflict rose on his face. Shadow assumed it was because having to cease something that had saved lives because of Balk was more fuel for his frequent temper.

With more bitterness and anger, Knuckles continued. "Despite how expensive and delicate the whole process is, entire organs have been replaced without having to suppress the immune system for donors. I wouldn't be surprised if Balk has taken it further with the rest of it as a cover."

The pink echidna approached Naminé's floating, luminescent figure. Julie-su seemed timid in front of the spirit, and Shadow could see Naminé sensing that. The green mist that formed her hovered a bit lower. Confused, "Can you tell us what cloning someone with this materia might do?"

She had already been considering it, but from what Shadow could tell, the inward scrunch of her young eyebrows hadn't concluded much.

"You're not sure," Shadow supplied.

For the first time, the girl had a corporeal side, a lack of knowledge. "I'm not," Naminé looked regretful, staring toward the ground as her bluish eyes glistened sadly through the flow of condensed Lifestream. "I have a few weak ideas at best."

"You know more about it than anyone," Shadow neared her, attempting reassurance. "Any suggestion is better than nothing."

With a meager smile, she agreed.

There were three possibilities that they came up with. The first was the simplest, cloning organs to replace and thus decrease the amount of Mako in Balk's system. It would keep him alive much longer with or without materia, and it would give him more time to develop his powers. Since organs could be replaced every couple of weeks if necessary, Naminé explained that he could, with reasonable safety, develop his strength at an alarming rate without terminal risk. Shadow had grunted at that, feeling a small pulse in his head as he was reminded of Balk's impossible speed and brutal power.

Naminé had needed some help when it came to cloning for the other ideas. She knew what it was, in theory, but had never experienced it actually happening with or without materia. With blanks filled in, to the Lifestream spirit's unease, she came up with the mortifying possibility that Balk was trying to develop a clone or perhaps many with immunity to materia's harmful side effects while still empowering the user. If clones were created from a single embryo, Naminé was confident that they would likely die or mutate beyond anything useful from Balk's own contamination, but if one survived, there was a chance it could live in perfect harmony with Mako. No one but her knew what that meant, and it was enough to make the dead girl quiver with irony, being a part of the Lifestream's power that Balk was busy amassing. Beyond that grim, frightening thought, Naminé wished to say nothing else on the subject. Trembling, she finished her thoughts, and the girl hunched and hid back in a darker space for a moment, gathering a breath she didn't actually need, but somehow, as Shadow watched, it appeared to be helping her.

Rouge met the dark crimsons of Shadow's fierce globes, those silent colors of his eyes asking her to do something that he didn't have the delicacy or patience for.

"What if…" the white bat said, though she hadn't come up with anything beyond that at first. "What if they cloned an entire body? It would save the trouble of having to accelerate age. Could that accomplish anything?"

Hesitant, Naminé stared to Rouge, then Shadow, then the backs of her eyelids. Her voice was a whisper. Having appeared strong and dominant before, the emerald girl had become small with fear.

"It might… do the first and second possibilities at the same time."

A hole crumbled in the wall, Knuckles' outstretched arm dusted with debris of the abandoned quarters and its unclean atmosphere.

"Calm down, Knux," his wife, startled as the rest of them, said breathlessly.

Super-echidna speed and strength. Mutated soldiers. Toying with powers too powerful to be safe. It was all something to be angry and fearful about. Nobody blamed the Guardian for expressing what they all shared in emotion, but they all knew how personal he took the desecration of 'his' island.

For cautiousness' sake, Rouge tiptoed toward the one entrance, hoping to find no one disturbed by the sounds of metal and rock caving in around a jagged fist. Nobody, thankfully. Yet.

"We have a few working theories," Shadow closed the poisonous topic. "Solutions?"

Naminé's retreat wasn't nearly as subtle as she wanted it to be. Her fairy-like glow and chasing locks of energy allowed the slightest motion to be picked up in the faintest periphery. The Echidnas were at a loss to help, dealing with an enemy that only the spirit and Shadow knew.

A militaristic perspective allowed Shadow to absorb her silence. "They're varied in combat abilities, incredibly strong either way. Some of my technology…" he froze for a moment, his lip curling up towards his short black nose. "The big ones can move like I do. They have guns with hard ammunition, and the smaller ones have blades sticking out of them. It's wise to consider that the large ones also have brutal power with hand to hand, and Balk himself is the worst threat. There's no telling what other powers he has. Rouge, what would you suggest in that situation?"

She wasted no time, not wanting to disappoint. "We can assume they have cameras and other high tech to help with detection. If I was working with the Terrans and G.U.N., the first priority would be to knock out their security system, even if it's just for a few minutes."

Naminé's eyes reopened showing a faint blue past her jade aura. "I can do that. I'll go invisible, then reappear when I find the right spot and take out the security with my Keyblade."

"Invisible?" Rouge smiled at her. "Now that's a handy skill."

"We're counting on you," Knuckles dipped his head, his anger subsiding enough for him to unclench his muscles.

Shadow glanced at Naminé, acknowledging her task. Turning to Rouge, "What next?"

"Since we don't have the numbers for a full on assault, and because these things seem impulsive and not completely intelligent, the wisest idea would be bait tactics. That's where I come in, and Naminé, you can help with this too since you can't be hurt easily." She listened carefully to the white bat, and Rouge let out a preparatory exhale. "It would be better if we had one more to act in teams of three, but for now it'll have to be Shadow and I, and then Knuckles, Julie and Naminé on another team. Find a concentration of enemies and lure them towards an intersection where your teammates will lie in wait to ambush. If there are enemies in multiple corridors, run and wait until another intersection where you can gang up on the whole lot of them. Take the large ones out at the knees, then go for a killing move, the neck, the heart, or the eyes. Use the large ones as human shields after that if you need. Clear?"

"Got it," Julie-su said, appearing worried. She swallowed hard.

"No problem," Knuckles confidently cracked his wrists.

Shadow harrumphed, eager to destroy what needed to be.

Rouge fluttered her wings, nervous as she glanced toward the red fur that lined Knuckles' body and the white ring around his neck and chest, signifying his strength. Strength that she knew could get carried away and reckless. She fought to keep the corners of her eyes dry.

"Knux, avoid those smaller ones with blades as much as you can. Julie's Hydra should make quick work of them."

His nose rumpled. Softly, he answered, "I'll be fine."

Shadow scoffed under his breath, but he said nothing of their altercation, aiming his concentration toward subduing and destroying Balk. An echidna menace infecting the heart of the echidna nation, though most important to them, was not the concern that spurned the black hedgehog to fight this battle. Eyes shut, he straightened the crimson streaks layered in his fur and quills, reminding himself that he needed to find any concrete evidence of his stolen bio-technology and eradicate it. And, even better, Balk's sweet scent of chaos would be his to absorb once the fat echidna was a lifeless heap.

Knuckles. "I know the sewer system grid and the tunnels well. I can keep us on the right path while Shadow and Naminé help get us back to where they were before. But…" he eyed the remnants of dried blood on the hedgehog's fur, and the broken fingers were worse.

"You know I heal quickly," snorted Shadow, hostile. "Naminé can mend me even faster on the way. You should be more concerned about yourself. You were shot in the leg."

"I heal fast too," the echidna adjusted his stance.

Rouge cleared her throat. "If you boys are about done… Julie, how much ammo do you have left?"

"Nine shots. I can probably pick up another weapon on the way. Worst case scenario, I've got a bolt rod packed. I'm ready."

"We're all ready," said Shadow. "Let's not waste any more time unless we have to. Balk isn't waiting for us."

After a long hesitance and restrained subtle motions, everyone became still, contemplative. No one looked at anyone else. The imperative should have caused movement, but even Shadow barely budged aside from standing up a little straighter. Faintly in the distance, the sewer's trickle of liquid echoed into the abandoned factory bedchambers. Hollow pipes peeling with speckled brown clinked a pulse like sonar. Shadow rubbed his temples softly as if the sounds were too loud, and the others kept silent with their eyes pressed, holding breath until it demanded release.

Naminé, absent of things like lungs but tangible nonetheless, set her hand on Shadow's shoulder. Her Keyblade, the Diamond Mind, reflected her own light with its many facets.

"Let's go."

Looking up, Shadow held out his hand to her, and she took it, fusing into him again with a chill and a surge of strength. Then, Shadow reached out to take Rouge's hand. She accepted it happily. The crystalline blade appeared in the grip of his better fingers, and he headed past the others with the white bat's smooth touch carefully entwined with his damaged fingers.

"We have to stop him," Shadow repeated, but with more insistence. "There's something larger going on here, and we can't lose the Master Emerald to Balk."

Knuckles and his wife took each others' hands and followed, silencing steps so their collective movement was hardly a whisper.


	78. Increasing Chaos

**Chapter 78 – Increasing Chaos**

"That's one heck of a story," commented the blue hedgehog Sonic, mowing across his plate as if starved to death. After explaining the most important parts of the Triforce, the sages, Zero, the worlds they had been to, and the gist of what was at stake, the rest of them were expecting something more in the hedgehog's reaction.

X sensed that Raven had already made the connection between Sonic's absurd speed and the amount of food it took to replenish his burnt energy. The reploid felt her amusement toward the hedgehog's sloppy eating, impressed with how well she held it in out of courtesy aside from occasional but easily dismissed smiles. Devouring sushi with lacking manners didn't separate Sonic from his zestful nature; everything he did practically oozed energy, and it brought life to all those at the table. It was very welcome to all those injured or exhausted, bringing smiles and better moods to more than just Raven.

Saria and Nanaki were both still hurting from their injuries on the Dreamweaver only a few days prior, particularly the forest girl's slices and scrapes. The fresh scars were healing quickly between Raven's magic and an herbal salve that Saria had concocted herself aboard the ship. Raven, regardless of her apparent enjoyment of Sonic's eating, had not regained a full sense of normalcy, drained from her near-death experience. X, sharing the same Mako experience then adding to it what Raven considered complete idiocy, somehow didn't regret the race, even with the heavy damage to the armor and internal structure of his legs.

Maybe it wasn't important anymore, but all of the scars, bandages and clearly visible wounds frightened the few other customers. It made X feel a little guilty. On the other hand, contrasting with her acceptance of Sonic, Raven was stern in her indifference toward the Mobians, conveying to X's mind that their quest was more important, but so was the rare instance of relaxation and comfort that they were attempting to enjoy. X listened, but her standpoint didn't help ease him when their waitress returned.

The five of them looked up to the young echidna girl with brick orange hair and conservatively beaded dreads who seemed to want to vanish after the first stuttering encounter. Her name was Miral-lu. After having served them drinks and their first round of sushi, her meek voice was no calmer when checking on them. Exhaling with a smile, X wished sometimes that he didn't appear dressed for war by any other person's perception.

"Do you have any spiced jula?" X asked, suspecting that Sonic wouldn't be unhappy given something with a little extra kick. Jula was an expensive sushi that went well with the Mobius equivalent of wasabi, both sweet and nasally charring, something the hedgehog requested extra of. Neither Nanaki or Saria could tolerate the intensity of the smell of the globs that Sonic had already used on their first course. The fire wolf's glowing tail swung casually beneath his face like a pendulum, needing to singe the air enough to protect his nose.

"Yes... of course," she squeaked with a bow. "Um... how many?"

"Enough for all of us," X said softly, knowing that only two, maybe Raven as well, would partake.

"Cer-certainly," the echidna girl replied and scurried off before X could thank her.

Nanaki cleared his throat slowly, and attention was given to him. "We realize the magnitude of what we are asking," he spoke eloquently, with caution. Sonic continued to chew the remainders of the sushi they had been given, but aimed his large eyes at the wolf.

"I have been taken from my home, my cubs, and all that I know. Saria, Raven and X all face the same extraction from the people they know and places they call their own. As selfish as it is to ask you to cease everything you wish to do, it does concern your world, especially with the Master Emerald at stake on this very island."

The hedgehog grinned, a bit of raw fish in his teeth. It wasn't exactly gross, but amusing. "I don't plan much in advance, so you don't need to worry about that. But what about that Triforce thing? You said I was supposed to have it if I'm a sage, but my hands don't look any different."

"There have been other times when the mark hasn't appeared until later," X frowned, lacking a useful answer. "I still think you're the most likely candidate." To Sonic's shrug, he added, "If you're not the right one, we think it might be Knuckles or Tails."

"Good luck with Knuckle-head," the hedgehog taunted, amused.

Saria's soft voice prodded. "X mentioned that he was the 'Guardian' of the Floating Island. What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that everyone's favorite echidna is a workaholic for life," Sonic joked, then wiped his mouth clean to seriously explain Knuckles' situation. The mental gear shift he had to do was physically pronounced, resulting in an immediate slow in his devouring of food and a thorough adjustment in posture. He straightened up and kept his elbows away from the table. "Knuckles was born with a white ring around the front of his chest – right on his skin and hair – that goes up and around the back, kinda like a pendant or a necklace. I guess for centuries, whoever has had that mark is made Guardian, and anyone caught even imitating it can go to jail. I still think it's way past strict, but it's really important to them." His eyes scanned from sage to sage, and ultimately back to X. The tone in his voice still held enough that lilt of laid-back permanence to make him sound like the same hedgehog. "Anyway, since he's Guardian, it's his job to protect the entire island in whatever way he thinks is best."

Nanaki raised a thoughtful eye, the functioning one. The motion came with some discomfort, and he remembered the stitches hiding beneath the fur on his forehead from the incident on the Dreamweaver. "From what I've studied in X's computers," he began, careful not to expel too much technical information, "I understand that the Floating Island's police force is quite formidable despite low crime rates. Is Knuckles in charge of them?"

Sonic shook his head in swift response, and he signaled X to give the answer as the next round of sushi was brought out quite quickly by the meek little echidna girl while the few other patrons waited for theirs. She rushed away from sight after another bow somewhere into the kitchen, which was mostly open. That was one nice thing about Mobian and Island eateries, the reploid observed, enjoying it. You could almost always get a clear view of your food being cooked if you wanted. He acknowledged Sonic as the plate of jula started to shrink.

"Knuckles is more of an independent, but his case is quite special compared to past Guardians," X explained as Sonic's brief improvement in table manners reverted to normal – his normal being a frequent desire for food. X tried not to smirk too much at that and still didn't realize why it invoked more amusement than anything else. "When Knuckles was just a small child, his entire city was swallowed into a place called 'The Void.' No one really knows how it happened, but every echidna, all the buildings, and most other islanders there vanished, except for Knuckles, who had been the only one outside the radius of the event. Since his city only reappeared a few years ago..." he paused for a moment, realizing that Raven's imagination was distracting him, her recreations of a potential city-vanish being quite unsettling. She probably wasn't far off, X guessed. Even Saria's face was twisted like a lemon had been crushed inside her mouth as her curiosity ran wild with the huge idea, but it was most important to know the Guardian, not the city.

Sonic picked up the slack, wafting his tongue as his eyes started to water from the spicy morsels of fish, rice, and too much sashada – the wasabi equivalent. "He's not exactly – woo! – fond of populated places. Prefers a bit of peace and quiet, but with all the extra people, he doesn't have a choice."

"I see," Raven probed his mind unintentionally. It wasn't particularly difficult with Sonic's surface emotions, telepath or not. "He's got power, but he's also a figurehead. The people aren't completely used to him either."

"Yep," Sonic acknowledged, his shrug one of amusement toward the topic of their conversation. He leaned back carefully into their well-cushioned booth. Raven wondered if his spines were dangerous. X's catch of her thought inclined him to respond with a serious nod before Sonic continued. "I've known him for years, though. If I'm not the Sage of Wind or whatever, then I'd check with him next."

"But I haven't met Knuckles," X stated.

The wolf hummed an interjection as his tail grabbed one of the non-spicy pieces of food served at the center of the table on numerous platters. "You hadn't actually met me until just recently, but you _witnessed_ me and my actions several years prior. What's more, we never did figure out how you forged a connection with Tidus. What was the theory?" Red taunted with his wide-tooth grin. "Dipped in the Lifestream too deeply?"

"I get the point," X bore a half smile as he sighed. "Guess there's more possibilities than I'd like."

"We're lucky we've found some the way we have," Raven squeezed his hand happily. X saw her eye the spicy sushi, tempted, but hesitant. It was funny that the battle over food in her head was, at the moment, more of a struggle than finding the Sage of Wind, sixth of eight. "I get the feeling it's not someone who's too loose a connection. Tidus is the only one who's been that way so far."

"I hope so," the reploid returned the firm grasp between her fingers.

"I know so," Saria leaned forward. "The Triforce has always had a way of reuniting people every time the Hero has come. We'll run into a sage soon enough."

"Thassht sa right atschitude!" Sonic spoke through a mouthful of food.

A wolf's quick wit: "Graceful as the wind indeed."

X rose abruptly, Sonic only a moment later, and the rest spied out the nearest window, hearing the grow of engine snarls. Their meek waiter passed by a window with a solid view of the single, compacted dirt path that wound through Marble Gardens toward their isolated restaurant. Mega Man witnessed the echidna's dreads quiver as her eyes bulged. Only after a few seconds of panicked processing did she manage to rush back from the kitchen area and shout something about calling for backup.

"International media," warned the reploid, his senses detecting hordes. "This place is going to be packed. We should be going. Raven?"

"On it."

It took X only a moment to pay far more than was owed with a pouch of money that Raven had been carrying for him, slapped on the table with unnecessary force as Raven enveloped the wolf and Kokiri in the dark folds of her dark aura.

"Hey, wanna make it worse?" Sonic suggested.

X returned his devious expression. At first he was sorely tempted to join in, enjoying the idea of sending what was usually a rather tame media into a frenzy of journalism. Shortly, and sadly, his military sense of duty kept him from messing with what had already been stirred. "I think the staff and their cameras here will be enough to cause problems."

"You're no fun," he jokingly imitated terrible disappointment, "but I guess you're right," Sonic shrugged as he tossed one last hunk of sushi slathered with sauce and other additions into the air, catching and swallowing the expensive roll of fish and rice as if he had juggled his food many times before. Probably had.

X reached across and grabbed Sonic by the wrist carefully, dematerializing a moment after.

Nothing more than a brief stream of consciousness with a deep pine color, X and Sonic followed the black flaming bird as it streaked across the sky.

No one had chosen a landing spot, so X followed Raven's lead across the endless humps of rich green that formed Marble Gardens.

It was awkward to travel at her pace, knowing that his matter stream could rip across the sky at ten times the speed, but she could transport more people, so there was no point in griping. Especially not when her mind could hear his, even in the disconnected state. No solid anything, no flesh, no armor, no wires; why they could still communicate with telepathy was a convenience and a mystery that they had no time to study.

Raven aimed for the heart of the Floating Island, the massive spire that was visible no matter where you lived on the sky continent. Darkest brown, kin to black, there was a cluster of plateaus near the base of it and no residences within a large enough distance.

Thanks to Raven's improvised patch job, the landing was much smoother for X's injured leg. Sonic arrived with a huge, echoing belch, and startled stares came from all those returning to the plane of matter. Ah, awkward silence.

"Whoa," the hedgehog said once he regained equilibrium. "Remind me not to do that on a full stomach again."

"Mine's much smoother," Raven commented. Her tongue stuck out narrowly between her lips, aimed at X, apparently for the in-flight comparison he had been making. The reploid smiled.

Their hopeful Sage of Wind hunched over and breathed a short recovery. "Oh man, never again," Sonic insisted, but that ever-present grin was still there.

X gave Sonic a chance to recover with Raven next to him. Red XIII pawed across the flat rock surface, apparently curious about the rock itself and its differences from his Cosmo Canyon. Not far away, Saria had knelt down to touch the small shrubs and plants that fought the adversity of the stone. They were a perfectly curious couple. X found it a nice compliment, having them focused on the details of, well, whatever it was they were learning, while Raven and he dealt with the primary plan. Any sage was more than welcome to have a say in the major steps of their search, but the freedom to really absorb what fascinated them personally helped with survival. Mental survival, the level of emotional strength that could be seen on all their faces, even X's, whose flesh didn't show age or fatigue beyond the fresh scars of his wipe out.

The abrasions and cuts on his exposed features had quickly stopped bleeding and would be sealed in a day's time, but his face would still bear the look of war torn stress. Unfortunately, X considered with a grumble, the leg would take at least three days until it was fully functional, and one more to completely mend the fragile network of metallic fibers that would give it more durability. Making a mental note to protect it, X hoped to avoid battle.

Was it wrong that he laughed at that small odds of that hope?

The hedgehog had, with more deep breathing, regained the composure of his stomach, and was still playing it cool with his carefree demeanor.

"Down to business?" suggested the blue blur with mildly strained words.

X and Raven agreed, and the two observing sages gave a bit more of their attention, though Saria still rubbed at various plants she had never seen before. X could see that she only needed her sense of touch to focus on the mesa shrubbery – the Sage of Forest paid careful attention as they talked.

Business. That was a mild way of putting it. How do you go about determining who is the most likely candidate to help stop the annihilation of time? It had taken long enough to induct all those into the fold thus far, disrupting their lives, pulling them away from their planets, species, families. It would be a blessing for the addition of wind to go more smoothly, be it the speedy hedgehog, the Guardian of the Floating Island, or whomever else was destined to be so unlucky.

"Best bet would be at Knuckles' house," Sonic supplied after a bit more talk about the echidna leader. "It's a bit removed from the city, so we could probably waltz right there from the forest. Knux still doesn't much care for being around people."

"We'll be spotted quickly," X raised his brow at Sonic, always finding it difficult to tell how much of Sonic's optimism was ignorance, if any. "There's a huge amount of surveillance. We'll be spotted long before we get there, even with our abilities."

Raven considered. "Perhaps just you and Sonic? My astral form isn't so inconspicuous."

A quick disapproval arose from X. "We're the only two with any knowledge of the area. The last thing I want is to leave the rest of you without that sort of advantage if something happens. We'll all go. Even if we do get spotted, the echidna government probably won't make a move immediately. I don't think we have time to be gracious to Knuckles with regards to the social ladder. We can explain ourselves as an independent party after the fact if we need to save his reputation."

A small scoff of regard came from the fire wolf. "Desperate times?"

"With what's at stake," inhaled the Hero, considering the clear breach of his former Maverick Hunter protocol, "We can afford to be confrontational to save time."

"So we all go," Saria piped up, letting her fingers slide away from the plateau flora.

"We all go," X repeated.

Sonic groaned. "Guess I'm not getting a chance for my food to settle."

"I'll take you," Raven smiled. With a wink toward X, she teasingly added to it. "I promise it's not at all like being yanked through a straw."

No one laughed, but X and the others couldn't help varying smiles. They prepared to transport once more, Sonic and Nanaki with Raven, Saria with X.

When X held out her hand to the forest girl, she was hesitant to take it. Careful not to change the warmth of his demeanor that came with the gesture, the reploid observed the curious features that she also tried to keep steady. She was not wearing an uncomfortable expression or making any sound of disgust; X's calculative side merely picked up on the fractional decrease in the speed of her response compared to her intelligence and attentiveness. Her emotions were uncannily blank at his probing – a clear indication that she was hiding them very well.

A twist of his jaw communicated his awareness to Saria. She swallowed. She was frightened of something.

This was not X's first concern regarding the Sage of Forest's actions and behavior. As the one who had originally said she would stay behind in the Chamber of Sages, she had quickly changed her mind and had been with them for most of their travels since arriving on Gaia. Her telepathy was developing quickly, and her physical strength, from what he could observe, was also increasing at an unusual rate, almost paralleling his own growth.

"X, is everything alright?" Raven intervened.

"Yeah," he smiled sarcastically. "I was just making sure Saria was ready to be pulled through a straw."

Saria smiled at that some, which helped diffuse the tension before their departure. Her secrets were a concern, but other immediate matters took precedence, and the two teams vanished from their plateau into the sky, this time rising comfortably above the gathering clouds where they could not be spotted. This trip was slightly longer, but much quieter telepathically. Raven and X did not exchange thoughts, and X decided against interrogating Saria in such a vulnerable state. It would have been easy to pressure her, but cruel.

Since the blue hedgehog was with Raven, she could get their destination from probing his mind, making it easy for her to lead the way to a grove of trees at the edge of the Mushroom Forest. A grassy peninsula surrounded by an ocean of tall plant life, the Guardian's house was spacious but quaint, a modest two floor cottage without too much width or height to be an eyesore, and it was a plain but peaceful shade of dark brown, just lighter than some of the surrounding tree trunks.

Raven, in the lead, pulled back almost immediately after shifting out of her astral form, holding a hand to Sonic's chest, stopping him as well. X and the two other sages spied through the brush and mushroom stalks, checking the new situation and ignoring the unique colors of the towering fungi and trees.

Echidnas with black combat armor and weapons, three within sight, three more on the inside according to X's thermal vision, were searching the house thoroughly. They appeared to have no interest in the surrounding forest. Mega Man wore a fierce expression on his face, and he drew the Master Sword from his back.

"I take it that's not normal," Raven assumed correctly according to the defensive glares on both X and Sonic.

"I'm not sure what's going on," Sonic said as he crouched behind a thick tree trunk with papery bark. "But they've all got their weapons out. It looks like they're expecting a fight."

"We'll give them one if we have to," X signaled.

"I would caution against rushing into this," Nanaki commented.

"I know," returned X. "But if Knuckles is our Sage of Wind, we can't let anything happen to him. We'll deal with the repercussions later."

X partially took the wolf's advice. Before they passed into the open space between the forest and the Guardian's house, they watched the soldiers break open a locked basement door that led downward and out of sight. The only other exterior echidna had just rounded the corner toward the city-side, exposing the rear. X signaled Raven forward to take the lead, and the rest of them filed into the kitchen after her.

Before the soldiers had time to react, Raven's powers overtook them. With a flick of the dark girl's wrist, the three aiming guns at her head were disarmed and thrown back. X grabbed the armored jacket of one, hoisting him off his feet while Raven's shadows pinned the other two down. Nanaki, Saria and Sonic spread out to block the other entrances.

"Where is Knuckles?" Mega Man demanded.

The soldier swung a fist at X, striking him in the cheek. Pain sharpened on the echidna's face, but he chose to throw a punch with the other fist, faring no better against the metal skeleton than he did with the first one.

"Yeah, not gonna work. Tell us where Knuckles is?"

"Go to hell," was the echidna's loathing reply.

X began gripping tighter, but Saria's arm was suddenly on the crook of his elbow, coaxing him to drop the soldier. "I don't think they know."

"She's right," Raven sighed. "I can't get it from their minds."

X drilled his stare solidly at the echidna he held up. Piercing his thoughts, X found the same outcome. He dropped the soldier to the ground.

At the front door, another of the police team rushed through the door, gun raise. Sonic chopped at the guard's and kicked him to where Raven held the others. The dark matter binding their mouths and arms easily enveloped the new prisoner, and X nodded his thanks to the hedgehog's quick reflexes.

"Look," X rolled his eyes. "We need to find Knuckles, and apparently you have some interest in the same goal. Tell us what you're doing here, and we'll let you all go, and you can even continue ransacking or whatever it is you were busy at."

The soldier scowled and turned his face away, entirely contempt. X groaned, frustrated and impatient at the inconvenience. Probing his thoughts revealed nothing helpful – someone had ordered them break in and apprehend Knuckles and his wife, Julie-su, and when that wasn't successful, their task was to search for evidence of where they had gone. Both useless to X. Reminding himself that they were likely just doing their jobs might have made X less annoyed if finding the Sage of Wind wasn't so urgent, and the Floating Island was in serious trouble if the Guardian Echidna had gone missing or was under judgment of the law. The reploid decided to force his telepathy further, though he hated the idea.

"X," Raven called with panic. "X, I think this one is having a seizure!"

Their defensive formation half crumbled. Saria and Sonic both left their positions to see the echidna spitting out a froth around his lips and suffering violent tremors. Then, blood began to follow the spill of drool, and X sensed something much different pushing out the consciousness of the dread-locked individual whose life crumbled away.

As blood began to spill from his eyes as well, X heard a crack from the top of the echidna's skull.


	79. The Maverick Threat Returns

Hey everyone. To those few still miraculously keeping up, or to those new to this fanfic, I am finally updating after having not posted anything for just over a year (It's February 22nd, 2011 as I post this). It's not for a lack of writing - I've actually been doing quite a bit here and there, but a lot of things got in the way. One of which was and is my job. I love my job, but teaching full time and also being a dorm parent at a private school is a very time consuming thing. Second, I got married! We've been together for just over 6 months. Amazingly, she's the same person who encouraged me to keep writing, helps proofread my work, and whose sister introduced me to fanfiction in the first place 6 years ago. It's all quite wonderful, but maintaining a good relationship will always consume time, and unfortunately it leaves less for writing.

The third thing that's been taking away from my incredibly long fanfic is the true fiction that I've been working on, hopefully that I may be able to publish in a few years if I can get my lazy butt moving. It's called Esper, and it's about a girl who discovers that she wasn't born on Earth, but on a planet connected to it, and she learns of her true family and the other world that she came from. I hope I can complete it before I turn 28 (I just turned 25), but again, that involves finishing this and getting my brain in gear.

As a side note, my writing has been scattered everywhere recently. I have a grand total of 110 chapters on this baby, and all of them are at least started, but some are halfway or even near complete. As a result, expect to see a lot more posts in coming months. Hoping to have this finished before the summer ends, assuming everything goes well and there aren't any cataclysmic disruptions in my life.

Enjoy!

**Chapter 79 - The Maverick Threat Returns**

Zelda was stuck in a trance. The underwater factory and the two sages she was partnered with had left her sight. Everything had been consumed by a great wake of bloody waves, a strange portal circling out from a black figure on horseback. Twisted horns came from the shadowed head of the aeon, and the light behind him was too bright to let the princess see the face. She cringed from her bleeding leg, squinting from the pain, trying to see what dark creature she had summoned from beyond.

Delicate Hylian ears sensed the unusual hoof falls, pulling her narrowed slits down to where six thick equine legs moved with powerful grace, controlled by the rider's direct and subtle commands. The beast snorted a cold mist, and pale yellow eyes radiated a soft light through the icy breath. A growl from above - the rider - followed the animal's contempt.

"_What is the name of the one who believes they have courage enough to summon the knight of death?"_

The powerful voice carried loudly and vibrated in her chest, but the Hylian woman had become apprehensive for a reason beyond that. Beginning to see through the radiant red light, a curved sword as black as night hung several feet toward the floor, awing her with its intricate carvings and serrated gaps on the backside that could mulch flesh.

"Princess Zelda of Hyrule!" she let the air in her lungs burst with the declaration. Using the metal wall behind her, she fought her injury, standing to face the massive warrior.

Taller than her or Tidus by at least two hands, the knight's flesh was pale yellow, his body adorned in all black armor that did not glint like metal, the sole exception being the whitish horns she had first noticed at the sides of his head. She couldn't tell if they were forged into the armor or a part of his skull. Beneath was a heavily muscular physique that remained stiff and hardened – the aeon rider wasn't breathing. Silver plating covered the head of his animal, leaving small gaps for its wild violet mane to sprawl. The six-legged beast had the exterior shade of coming storm clouds.

"_Princess of the Chosen Land?"_ the knight subtly twisted his head, eying her face, then her injury.

Zelda stood her ground, using one hand to wrap her half-skirt around the wound, never breaking glance with him.

"Y_ou would sacrifice the gifts of health and life to use my power?"_

"Yes!" answered the princess as she tied the knot of her cloth tourniquet, still unable to avert her stare from the aeon. She tried to not to acknowledge the comment he had just made, not wanting to think of the illness that materia was undoubtedly seeping into her veins with the passing seconds.

"_Very well!" _a roar shattered the trance, returning them to the war zone of the submarine hangar. Tidus and Terra, backed against the opposite corner, froze at the sight.

"_I am Odin, the dark knight of legend!" _bellowed the aeon, extending a hand for Zelda. _ "Climb aboard my steed, Sleipnir, and watch as the enemies of the Triforce fall before the Zantetsuken!"_

Tidus and Terra knew enough of red materia to not let it distract them from holding their narrow pass. Spears of rock impaled the masses of robotic corpses. Water raged through the gaps, blinding and forcing back the mechaniloids it splashed against. Explosive rounds rang in their heads as they fought to hold the entryway that continued to contaminate their space with the foul toxins. Somehow, the steady stream seemed to be at an impasse, possibly dissipating as fast as it entered, and although difficult to breathe, they were getting just enough air to be able to see and focus.

Odin lifted his body-length black cleaver, and it hummed with an eerie red that lined the blade's front edge. The aeon roared as the sword came crashing down, cleaving through the corner of the passage, slicing far, and an explosion of metal clamored out, sinking into the depths. Debris scraped against Odin, and Zelda tucked close to his back for protection.

For a moment, the firing ceased. Odin spun toward the open space behind them, directing the tip of the Zantetsuken.

"_We are not alone. Show yourself, spirit!"_

There was a hesitance, and the three of them looked for what Odin was referring to, but soon, sparkles of green Lifestream took form. A slim but muscular man slowly pieced together with short but spiky clusters of bright hair, a young face, and a massive sword with bandages on it. His rounded shoulder pad appeared to be his only armor, with a simple, sleeveless fleece and baggy pair of pants.

"What the hell?" shouted Tidus toward the new arrival. Terra reached for his wrist, holding back his impulses.

Zelda could not believe it. A spirit from the Lifestream, protecting them all this time? Zelda praised it as a gift from the goddesses, a relief from their pain as their three had suddenly become five, far stronger, far more diverse.

"I'm Cloud," he said simply, a somber darkness in his tone. "And now that you know..."

Cloud stood just adjacent to the opening, lifting his massive, bandaged sword. He wielded it with the ease of a swordsman holding a small blade of wood, and bands of bright blue began to encircle it. He swirled the blade over his head, and the energy took the shape of a small cyclone, wrapping violently around the blade, tugging against his steadiness as it grew stronger. Tidus and Terra huddled back, but Cloud looked to the Sage of Earth and mouthed the word 'bullets'. With a wave of her hand and fingers aimed at the miniature cyclone, sharp mines of stone joined it.

"Finishing Touch!" Cloud roared.

The violent movement was hurled into the choke point just as the machines had begun to break through, hurling them all violently backward. The energy from the vortex consumed many of them, eradicating them from existence with crimson auras that reduced them to ashes, while other tank walkers were shattered by the stone missiles.

"_We must make our advance now," _the aeon commanded. "_Princess, hold on to my spear, the Gungir, and use it when I signal you."_

Terra, Tidus and Cloud ducked behind Sleipnir and Odin, and as Zelda was about to ask what spear referred to, the bright shaft of fire orange materialized in his hand. When he passed it back to her, it was light as a feather and radiated a tingling warmth that crawled up her arm. It was as long as the horse, as thick as her wrist, and emanating familiar light. Her light?

The Princess held tight as Odin kicked the sides of his mount, and Sleipnir thrust through the momentarily cleared passage while the rider cleaved the off-balance mechaniloids into pieces with effortless slashes of the hooked night blade. The powerful aeon deflected bullets and energy weapons with the Zantetsuken, protecting Zelda with his body when the blade couldn't suffice. She fired light shells to the left when she saw any mechaniloid on that side, and she held the Gungir, Odin's spear, tightly in the other.

A thick spurt of blood almost as dark as the aeon's sword painted her ribbon sleeve.

"Odin!" she shouted, seeing his knee broken open from a pulse rifle shot carried by a soldier on foot.

"_I am fine_!" he responded, cleaving the mechaniloid soldier and others adjacent to it cleanly in twain with screams preceding their deaths.

Zelda knew that her aeon's courage was a lie. Sensing his life force starting to weaken through the materia in her body, she knew he was already reaching his limit, having been sprayed with energy weapon fire, and it was taxing her just as badly. She released the latch on her left holster and began firing when she could, tucking herself in for safety on the spear side. Her light powers had never been this strained.

Weapons fire and the exploding death of mechaniloids overwhelmed her ears. The princess couldn't sense or see if the others were behind them either. Could Terra and Tidus make it with their injuries with Cloud's protection? She wondered even further if Cloud could be injured at all, but tried to hope that Terra's powerful earth could shield them well enough.

They had made many turns, dodged turrets and suffered more of the noxious gas, but somehow Odin was pushing the poisoned air away, making it more breathable. There was no time to wonder how, so she held the shining orange Gungir firmly as he had directed, forcing her eyes to stay open. She had lost too much blood and was strained further from the materia use. It was her first time using a summoning materia, but it was far more exhausting than she had imagined. She did not share Odin's pain, but with every swing and every bullet or volley of energy that struck him or his sword, it became more difficult to keep him there.

The metal hallways all looked the same, an endless storage space and dozens of soldiers that would not thin out. More of his blood splattered against her leg, hot and black, oozing thickly down to her boots.

They came to an opening, surrounded by enemies. Two giant pillars provided cover, and none to soon, as Terra arrived with a barrier of earth beginning to crumble and shatter. She and Tidus were huddled behind one as Sleipnir came to a stop next behind the other one. Cloud stood next to the aeon's horse.

"I know this isn't the best time," Zelda shouted over the ricochet of solid bullets and the sizzle of lasers scorching metal. "Why have you been following us?"

Peeking out past the pillar then quickly pulling back with disorientation, Cloud answered, "To help."

A large blast followed by a collision against the beam over Zelda's head frightened both her and the beast she was saddled to. The metal pillar bent over, hanging barely above Odin's horns. Another blast would...

Two of the larger shots rang out toward Terra and Tidus, and the meager shelter was warped above them as well. It held, but barely. It was too dangerous to risk waiting for another shot. Zelda took Gungir, watching its tip radiate with pulsing arcs of lightning as she prepared to throw the light-as-air spear. Odin sensed her movement, tugging at the horse's reins to put her at a more suitable angle.

She leaned and hurled it with all her strength.

Before it struck the center-mass of dozens of Mavericks, her elbow split open and sprayed blood down her arm. She cradled it out of instinct, but the white shock wave of force that blew the cannon Maverick into metallic embers threw every other mechaniloid to the ground and caused her to topple backward off Sleipnir. Without hesitation, Cloud lunged with perfectly fluid motion at the nearest enemy, one of the small soldiers in the mobile armor, and decapitated it. Terra crushed anything with a recognizable head, and Tidus cleaved the dense tank suits. Their enemies had been destroyed before they had a chance to recover.

"Agh! Damn it!" Zelda cursed loudly at the fresh gash in her arm, losing blood that she couldn't afford to. She hadn't picked herself up from the cold metal floor, and when coaxed by a mismatched pair of arms behind her shoulders, her legs refused to steady. Was it over? The dusty crater in the wall that the Mavericks had been guarding implied a brief victory.

Terra and Tidus were quickly on the defensive, and the Hylian woman pulled out a pistol with her good arm, cradling the other against her pink top that was now stained with her aeon's black blood and her own.

The alarms overhead had stopped. There was no toxic gas in this area, but the stench of burnt metals and mechaniloid fluids was constricting in her chest and nose. There appeared to be no enemies, no sound of tank armor barreling forward. No whir of turrets spinning.

Zelda collapsed, biting her lip as the pain exploded across her body. With adrenaline finally slipping away, the pain in her leg and arm was unreal. Her left calf was on fire. When she touched it, it was sticky with blood and hardened where a small spot had been burned badly.

"There's no way she can keep going," she heard Terra say. "These injuries are awful. She's so pale... none of us could spare the blood even if we had a way to transfuse it."

Her eyes were barely able to focus, but she could see trails of dark red drying on one of Tidus's arms and one of Terra's. Worse, Terra had a painful looking slice on her forehead that she had tied a makeshift headband around with gauze that she had packed.

"I think I can help," spoke the calm voice of Cloud, the Lifestream spirit.

His semi-transparent glow came near, and as he sheathed his large blade on his back, Cloud placed a hand just above the elbow that Zelda cradled. She looked up at him, seeing the blank stare in his face as some of his emerald glow trickled from his palm like glitter.

"Don't worry," he reassured, but blankly in expression. "I learned curative magic when I was alive. I know what I'm doing."

Zelda's arm began to mend seemingly on its own, but it was a slow, awkward process, painful as the wound slowly lessened in size. It helped her regain focus in her eyes, and she saw the weathered creases on Cloud's face despite how ephemeral his glow was. The name, _Cloud_... she remembered it, but there was little time to ask before now. She decided to wait as he healed her further, next moving to her leg, both the laceration and the scorched calf. Nothing healed fully. Nothing even healed quite to half its former strength, but the shrinking spread of pain was welcome in any quantity. Her dizziness lessened as well.

"Thank you," she slowly spoke, trying to breathe more deeply and wake herself more.

"You're welcome," he responded without inflection, but it didn't seem unkind to Zelda. Just very blank.

Being an emotional void was something she could relate to it, having been banished to the Dark World years ago. Dulling her emotions became second nature after the first year there, and even though that changed with her return, it was still like seeing an odd reflection of her past in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to stare," she apologized to Cloud as Terra and Tidus helped her up.

He glanced back oddly, as if her statement was obvious in some way. "It's fine."

The other two sages glanced at Cloud, seeming to want something.

"I can't heal the rest of you," the spirit stated, his attention headed toward the large hole in the wall. "If I expend too much energy, I'll be useless to you."

Frustrated, Terra and Tidus could only accept this.

"Your elbow is still pretty bad," the Sage of Water commented to Zelda. She noticed it, a bit ill at the sight of dripping blood, but the princess glanced upward, certain that the curious sight beyond the melted slab of wall was too imperative to allow rest for her arm or any other wound.

Zelda thanked her two sages and dismissed their concern as she pressured the fresh wound on her elbow, sick in her stomach, and paced toward the huge, open space that Cloud was already entranced with. Once the princess reached it, she could understand why.

"The colors," she whispered. Long crystals, some small, some in fine clusters, others more massive than ancient tree trunks, displayed fine hues that enveloped their senses of sight. A completely natural underwater cavern remained almost untouched by the Mavericks, but only because its preservation was in this rare circumstance, much more beneficial than adding their machines. Each of the crystals was close to a shade of one of five colors, yellow, red, green, blue and purple.

Just like materia. That was the reason for Cloud being so transfixed on it all.

"The emerald..." he spoke hesitantly. "It's responsible."

Zelda heard Terra call her name and turned to her. She held out a long strip of thick fabric.

"I found it on one of the dead reploids. I don't know why they needed it, but..." the skinny Titan glanced between her elbow and leg. The princess nodded, allowing both to be bandaged as long as it was brief.

As Terra tended to Zelda's remaining wounds, Tidus approached her with the tip of his blade not far from her mouth. Like a spout, he dripped very welcome liquid onto her lips until her tongue felt comfortably wet again, and he then used some of it to clean other burns on Terra's arms and legs that Zelda hadn't seen until now. They were numerous.

Cloud continued to stare into the cavern, his oddly large sword drawn, and Odin paced toward the empty hallways of the intersection, luckily finding no more enemies.

"Most of them must have gathered here for a final stand," Tidus suggested, and it helped take Zelda's mind off the pain of Terra tightening the bandage around her leg.

Exhausted, she agreed. "I sincerely hope that any others we encounter are of the same low caliber."

"Expendables couldn't keep this place running without a master," Terra pointed out, and she adjusted her forehead bandage with a wince that the princess suspected was from more than just discomfort. It wasn't a happy thought, but Zelda and Tidus both knew that Terra was right about a leader. There had to be one, likely a Maverick of some kind.

Another small machine, very reminiscent of a small spider, crawled up through the freshly melted opening, tilting tiny antennae from side to side as if inspecting the unusual happening. It looked up at them. Terra crushed it underneath her foot.

The soft glows lit the way as they stepped through the opening onto greenish rock that almost looked like it had been splattered with artificial coloring. It was too bright and neon to be like that naturally. Curiosity tried to calm their strained muscles, but they all knew that allowing that to happen would make them feel the pain of their bloody injuries. They kept moving.

Massive, disc-like slabs of stone served as comfortable stepping stones, spiraling down as far as they could see. The shallow grade of each step made it possible for Sleipnir to go with them as well.

And no Mavericks.

Zelda, the worst injured, was pulled back up onto the six-legged horse, just behind the massive Odin. She didn't have much of a choice with the crippling laceration on her bandaged leg, but she kept her eyes active, searching for any threat as Sleipnir made its first steps downward. Terra could have plucked a huge rock from the cave walls and used it as a levitating platform, but she knew just as well that it would be better to suffer on their wounds if they could manage it. Cloud, on the other hand, merely floated in the rear of the group, his spectral green almost identical to the shade of some of the crystals.

Terra, covered in cuts, burns and grime, had trouble leaving the minor gash in her forehead alone. She wore a very unhappy expression as she readjusted the bandage again and then checked Tidus's upper arm where a particularly nasty burn was oozing down to his elbow. Zelda figured it was from energy weapons only partially making it through Terra's rock armor, and that Tidus had not been quite as well covered. They were all deliberately silent in the mending of their wounds.

Zelda didn't like it. She had questions. It still wasn't the time, but there was no telling how long the trip to the bottom would take.

To hell with timing. It would at least take her mind off of how attempting to bend her damaged elbow made her want to scream.

"Cloud."

Aside from Odin and Sleipnir leading, all eyes looked up.

"You were from Gaia, right?"

"Yes," Cloud answered simply.

Zelda heard a clear hardening in his voice from years of painful experiences. As it had done to Saria, suffering had placed a sunken lilt in even a single word reply from the Lifestream spirit.

"I take it you've been there," Cloud continued. He tilted his sword on his shoulder, as if uncomfortable. "I died, so I don't remember a lot of things."

"What do you remember?" Zelda pressed.

He didn't answer immediately. They had completed a loop and a half of the spiral, descending far enough that the opening they had made wasn't visible anymore. The bottom still wasn't visible.

"I remember that I was fighting a monster when I died. I remember faces of a lot of people, but no names. I'm not allowed to go back to Gaia."

The last statement was forceful, angering him out of the blank expression he wore for a few paces, meant to stop the conversation. Zelda wasn't about to allow silence again, but she changed the subject.

"You also said that you're helping us. But why are you helping us? And _how_?"

Terra and Tidus wanted that answer just as much as she did. They stopped and faced him. Something about the question made Odin pull on Sleipnir's reins, pivoting the armored beast to listen as well. Zelda was thankful she didn't have to crane her neck as sharply.

Cloud was uncomfortable, but being stared down by two sages, a great aeon and his beast, and the princess of the Triforce's homeland, clearly left him no alternative. As Cloud exhaled his disapproval Terra leaned over the edge of their current platform to scan for trouble below. Zelda received a quick thumbs up from her, and all eyes turned to the spirit again.

"Sometimes when we die, if we were... close to the Lifestream, and if we left things undone, our reflections in the Lifestream can be... strong enough to take form. We can become conscious again, but it takes time."

He stopped his explanation, but even Terra looked up at him, insisting that he continue.

"If multiple spirits get together in the Lifestream, we can combine our strength to... leave into the real world. Some can even take physical form... for a short time."

Odin interjected. "It is not entirely dissimilar from the way you use my assistance, princess," still booming with echoes as he attempted a whisper. "My lingering spirit takes physical form in the orb of red materia inside of you. Cloud is composed purely of energy instead of having a solid form. We have found different ways to continue our existence beyond death for the sake of those who need us."

Tidus scoffed loudly, addressing Odin. "You took centuries to come back, Cloud was put back together quickly, and no one knows when the hell the Lifestream made me."

"Tidus, _don't_," Terra harshly scolded him.

"What do you care?" snapped Tidus.

Terra was shocked by his sudden hostility. She didn't need tears added to the physical pain.

"What's gotten in to you?" the Sage of Earth demanded, her eyes soaking with moisture that glistened against the reflective lights of the cave.

SHINKT. The aquatic sword sank into the surface they stood on. He found speaking more difficult. "Maybe I'm just... sick of not knowing what the hell I am or who's actually _with_ me."

Zelda deciphered the odd choice of inflection quickly, as strained as she was. He meant Yuna. And Terra. His emphasis meant the companionship that had been thrown into jeopardy upon release from the Lifestream, first when Gaia's future began to distort and Yuna became another person, dark and hardened. The second was...

The vibrating ferocity that seeped out between Terra's teeth unsettled the princess. The two exchanged clashing expressions, angry, frustrated, shamed, accusing. Apparently she had understood too well.

"Is this about _Beast Boy?_" The petite blonde spat with a sudden rage, siphoning the salty liquid of her eyes back in to where it had come from. The hurt had turned into anger. She shouted furiously. "_Well? Is it?_"

"I'd just like to know where I stand!" Tidus bellowed, and the cavernous space echoed, altering the pace of the resonating crystals. As they all noticed the change in the living stones, it became silent again. Sleipnir snorted angrily in the silence.

Zelda glanced at the horse, then ordered firmly, "Settle this later. We're finding the emerald now."

The princess was not sure if it was the expression on her face, the forcefulness of her voice that surprised even her, or just the practicality of the command that got them moving, but regardless of the details, it was effective. Terra paced ahead much faster, irritating Sleipnir, but the armored, magical steed quickly got over not being the lead car in their train. Zelda couldn't see Odin's face to see if there was a reaction, but with his materia orb lodged firmly into her flesh, she could sense his subtle changes of thought. It couldn't really be called emotion – it was probably part of Odin's rigid demeanor, but the simple fact that he was not exactly a living thing also might have contributed to why the aeon's thoughts were relatively blank most of the time.

Zelda wondered if Cloud was the same way or if he was more coherent and whole as a living being than the aeon. He didn't seem more coherent. If anything Odin appeared to be the more capable of the two. As she glanced back, the princess could see that the spiky-haired spirit bore a slight resemblance to Tidus, though his hair was a bit shorter than the Sage of Water's, and he definitely did not have the same muscle mass that their Sage of Water did. Remembering Gaia's difficult state of affairs and the poverty that Midgar had faced, that made sense. He appeared just as he had before death, strong, but afflicted with malnourishment like many under the thumb of Rufus Shinra.

Cloud had locked eyes with her, wondering perhaps what she was staring at him for now. Despite his regular unease and the way he distanced himself emotionally, Zelda could not help but feel that there was much more to him.

It had become both dimmer and brighter as descent barred them from seeing the original opening and the light it had given. It was that absence of mechanical light that made them see less of what was in front of them. With each stone disc that they traversed lower, the crystals compensated, shining brighter, illuminating the path with short-reaching glow.

Testing if it was just fault of perception, Zelda stared upward, then downward, comparing them. They all agreed that, despite the darkness, the crystals were definitely getting brighter with depth.

Still perched on the saddle with Odin, the Hylian woman experienced more abstract evidence of the jewel's nearing. She remembered the soul swelling power and the pain that chaos emeralds could cause. Sucking out life and flesh when emotion could not sustain, she felt conflicted by the tremendous power in her mind and the dread of events surrounding her times of contact with it. The more she tried to ignore the disturbing sensation crawling on her skin, squirming in her stomach, heightening her brain, the more it fought inward and intensified her anxiety.

She tried to be honest with her thoughts. The first that came was from in the Lifestream, traveling from Spira 1000 years in the future. Jenova had speared her apart for a moment, only to have that moment retracted by the sky blue emerald's power over space and time. To feel one's skull pierced, to achieve instant and ultimate physical death and have it turned backward...

Zelda fell from the horse, vomiting against the wall, retching with a horrible cry as she fought through it and felt the emerald's influence intensify the reality of the memory.

She thrust Terra's arm away, and Tidus's after that. She forced the nightmarish recollection to its end, to their eventual escape from the Lifestream, and then she traveled further back to an older memory, to when she had allowed the jewel to poison her with Mako. It stopped the agony on her insides enough to remember what she had done for the Sage of Light. She remembered her bitterness for sacrificing her body's strength, but how thankful he was for it as well, even though he still couldn't give his name. His caress felt real; Zelda could sense the warmth of his touch even if he wasn't there. She could still smell the dried blood on him, not at all like human or Hylian blood. Sweeter, a faint touch of something resembling sulfur added to it that didn't offend until it had dried and caked on the bed and the floor. His body itself had a scent that was a mix of steel and a faint sprig of something herbal.

"Zelda!"

The princess had her face forcibly pulled in Terra's direction, the young Titan's bright blue eyes frightened, scanning her for harm.

"I'm alright," she gasped, heaving for breath, spitting the acid from her mouth. "We're getting closer. I can feel the emerald."

She allowed Terra to help, trying to look thankful beyond the pain as she was carefully hoisted to her feet. A few unpleasant tasting breaths helped to calm her as well as the massive headache that she now had. Zelda then realized that Terra was still holding her arm.

"I'm fine," she breathed again, seeing white spots swim across her vision that slowly faded, but Terra still held on even as Zelda tried to pull away. The princess stared from the grip to Terra's blood-drained face. She was paler, like she had witnessed the reaper's judgment, and as the princess followed Terra's gaze downward, her heart began to thud against her ribs.

Vibrant, almost glowing green. That was what she had expelled from her stomach. She knew that it was reflected in her eyes as well, the Mako poisoning.

"We... we have to, to.." she nearly began to cry, releasing a single sob as her head continued to throb and her stomach churned with painful emptiness. Her jaw clenched, she gripped the handles of her firearms tightly. Refusing to think of the implications, she firmly sniffed and wiped her face off. "We have to keep going."

Everyone followed the command silently. Zelda took point, hearing no argument except for another snort from Sleipnir. She ignored it, but Odin tugged on the reins with a reprimanding tone. For the rest of their exploration downward, no one spoke.

The descent into the glowing cave continued for a long time. Cloud was first to notice an unnatural light from below. As they all leaned toward the edge, they saw a dimly lit surface far below. It appeared to have a silver sheen, not likely part of the stone or the crystals. Spiraling twice more, the pine tinted circular slabs of stone began to shrink until there were none left. They bottom was close, but still much too far to jump.

"I'm having trouble manipulating the rock down here," Terra whispered, concerned. With concentrated effort, she held her palms flat at the last platform that they all stood on. Cracking loudly, it dislodged and began to slide. The Sage of Earth pushed heavy breaths in and out of her chest, and her arms started to shake as the platform began to lower to the ground.

"You're tilting," Tidus mentioned.

"I know," she growled. Sweat began to capture the drying blood on her forehead beneath the bandage, turning a sickly orange color as it annoyed her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.

Terra centered the slab and lowered it more confidently, still strained as they reached the bottom where a flat metal surface resided next to a sparkling lake. As soon as the large rock touched the bottom in a far corner to be safe, the entire area became illuminated by lights in small, glass covered gaps on the metal floor, and a long wire began to shine bright blue across the land-half of their arena.

The light system could have been automated, but it set all of them on the defensive. Some of the stones were free of the Mako crystals, so Terra collected a fair pile of it next to her. Sleipnir whinnied angrily. Tidus held the Brotherhood sword tightly in both hands.

A massive wall of steel was built into the surface of the rock nearby, probably a hydraulic door, but it was sealed tight and didn't open when any of them approached.

"Be ready," Zelda commanded as she climbed down from Sleipnir with difficulty.

They fanned out, Tidus and Terra working on the door, Cloud following Zelda toward the lake. The aeon Odin and his horse waited in the center, keeping an eye on each pair.

"It's here," Zelda whispered as she approached. "Beneath the water somewhere."

It did have a strange glow, the water itself, as if it held a light source of its own, but there could have been any number of glowing crystals beneath the surface that were causing that.

"Look," Cloud pointed toward the center of the small lake. "A wire."

Zelda could barely see it, but it was there. Darkly colored and thick, it was dipped into the water to some unknown depth. Following it up with her eyes, Zelda saw no end to it upward either. How had they missed that after traveling alongside it for so long? It must have been attached above where they had destroyed the wall.

"Zelda, look out!"

She rolled backward from her kneeling position, careful not to hit her elbow but agonized by the strain in her legs. Zelda stumbled to her feet, aiming her handguns, charging them with light energy from her body, aiming for where she had just been.

Tidus made a revolted sound, and they all observed the strange puddle of dark, blackish matter crawling out from the water. "What... is that?"

It kept congealing, bonding each slimy trail together, growing huge with little time. It was shaping into a sphere, but something appeared to be pressing on the front like a creature sealed in a strange egg fighting to break free. Everyone gripped their weapons tighter.

What stepped out fluidly was humanoid, covered in sophisticated armor. The place it broke out from resealed quickly, as if the egg had never been breached, and the dark slime began to recede from the being. A hollow space opened in the being's helmet as more of the black ooze crawled back to the spherical mass. Shaped like a Y, there appeared to be nothing but a single glowing eye of pure red inside it. No head, no other facial features. The shoulder plating was so similar to X's, the metallic boots barely different. It was a reploid.

Zelda recognized the machine. She had seen images of him on the Dreamweaver's computer. Raven's memories that they had shared on Spira flooded in as if they were her own. A terrible sickness rose in her stomach. Was it really the Maverick that X had told her about, the one who had threatened them all when X first met the Titans?

"Odin!" the princess yelled.

The heavy hooves smashed against the metal, and the horned rider charged forward, waving the dark Zantetsuken blade. Odin aimed for the humanoid Maverick, swinging with vicious force that created a force of wind strong enough to blow them off balance. The slime-covered being slid to the side so fast that it appeared to be in two places at once, and the strength of the aeon's swing went forward into the center-mass.

Half of the massive slime egg was cleaved off. The remainder of it speared forward into Odin and Sleipnir, consuming them both in seconds. They aeon pair fizzled into a silvery mass, reduced to fleeting sparkles of Lifestream with prismatic streams. Zelda felt the pain in her arm where the materia orb resided.


	80. The Final Emerald

(Author's Notes) - Again, it has been far too long since I have posted. Work and married life keep me quite busy, as do other hobbies, but I've been writing like mad! During Nano-Wrimo this year (2011) I wrote over 30,000 words. About half of that was on various chapters of this never-ending fanficition, and the other half was on my publishable fiction work, Esper, which is still in early stages. My desire to finish 'The Legend of Zelda: Rise of the Reploids" will not fade until it is done, and you should expect to see a number of chapters posted by the end of the year, no less than 7 of them.

As always, thank you to my readers, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Chapter 80 – The Final Emerald

The crystals lining the towering walls of the cave... they were resonating, each its own color, humming a violin's tune.

Whirring above their heads, the metal cable began to wind upward, wrapping onto a massive spool somewhere beyond sight. It stirred the depths of the disrupted underground lake, slowly pulling something from the very bottom, buried in mud. As the seconds passed, the exotic, unnatural crystals that jutted through other rocks increased their reaction of light and sound. It was a signal.

The final chaos emerald was coming.

Standing between the excavation and the allies of the Hero of Time, Princess Zelda, Tidus, Terra, and the spirit Cloud, was Vile's visage, a mass of congealing and toxic black matter. He had completely consumed the aeon, Odin, and the severed half that had gone limp slowly rejoined the main body as Zelda readied her pistols again, just behind Tidus and Terra. Cloud hovered gently above, his Buster Sword ready in both hands.

They all knew what the dark Maverick had done to Raven. Responsible for nearly killing her and the other Titans, Vile's power was enough to have defeated Mega Man X more than once throughout history. This was surely the same being, the same Maverick whose humanoid image had been sculpted out of the poisonous slime that collected into a large pod just behind him.

Terra's eyes became slits, uncomfortable from the fumes being slowly released by the spherical compress of semi-solid matter, but also inspecting it. The color was wrong, but the way it moved...

"Plasmus!"

Her fists clenched, the rocks nearby crumbling from her will as a yellow glow radiated from her eyes. An enemy of the Titans, they had never discovered what had become of Plasmus after it and Cinderblock had both been released. Thought to have been lost in the frozen north, the Titans had abandoned their search for the gelatinous creature.

"Don't take your eyes off it," she warned to the others. "It can split apart, stretch far, spit acid, and who knows what else with a Maverick controlling it."

Vile crossed his arms, and the mass began moving, inching forward to minimize the already short span of metal platform they had. The boulder of slime also began stretching, expanding into a hideous boundary that grew in height and width.

"Don't think water will do much," Terra spat quickly, not meaning to belittle Tidus. A thin layer of dirt began attaching itself around her mouth, shaping into a filter of sorts to block the creature's stench. "Slicing or smashing mostly just slows it down." The rest of the stone around her was quickly cast into spears, shields, swords, and all manner of other weapon. "Keep your distance when you can, and make clean slices. You don't want any of that stuff on you."

The view of the lake was completely obstructed, a firming wall made of Plasmus was easily thrice their height spread from edge to edge, but as Vile stood at the center of their arena, wordless and calm, the wall continued to pulse with shifting motion. Five probing worms slid out, distributed evenly apart but at different heights, and an vein-covered eye popped up from each tip, leaking a tepid green acid. The eye stalks quickly switched focus from person to person, sentient enough to follow the movement of rocks that Terra wiggled at a distance.

The slim Titan adjusted her goggles and thought as quickly as she could. In the past, pieces of Plasmus that had been deliberately been ejected from the main body would come to the aid of others without having any line of sight or audible communication. Essentially, they had a sixth sense, a telepathy perhaps. The seeing stalks were new, probably a result of Maverick technology and enhancement, and Terra figured that Vile would be able to see through each them simultaneously in addition to his own if the past traits held true. Better than a mental warning signature, the five eyes would grant multiple angles of the fight for Vile, but at least the great wall only provided defense and support. The Maverick appeared to be the lone portion of Plasmus that was directly offensive.

Gritting her teeth, Terra knew better than to think that her assessment would be that perfect. She had to be ready for the unexpected.

"Terra, we must attack," the injured princess urged, wiping sweat from her face with her stained ribbon sleeves. Zelda had already guessed why the monstrosity was slow to engage them. "We'll never get the emerald first like this!"

Of course. The emerald. They couldn't let Vile get his hands on it.

The Maverick's arms bubbled, unfolding strange metal bars from inside his elbows. As if escaping a sheath of thick, poisoned honey, the weapons emerged with a gradual. The ooze of his fingers enveloped around solid black handles, and his arms became normal again as the devices hung from his grip, the one in his right extending twice as long as the other. A narrow slit at the top of each weapon faced them, and long metal guards curved down the front sides, protecting Vile's hands. The slime from Plasmus leaked through his squeezed fingers, dripping to the metal platform, but upon touching the floor they stood on, it crawled back to the main body.

_FZZISH._

Electrical pulses flashed out of the black handles of the weapons, startling them backwards as they faced two glowing katanas, one long, one short. Each jagged arc of energy was the color of a red rose, and the unstable energies crackled in the air. He began to lower his stance...

Shifting winds signaled the rush of Vile's movement, a massive dash to Zelda. Her finger pressed the triggers as she aimed for him, clinched with fear but reacting with instinctive prowess.

Vile's katana handle was thrust aloft, blade aimed downward as a narrow shield in front of his body, and Zelda saw her light shells fragmenting into nothing in the aftermath of their collision. With the smaller blade, Terra's spinning axes of stone were shredded without the Maverick ever turning his focus away from Zelda. She was the clear target, and the wall of eyes made sure that nothing from behind would cause a distraction.

Every time she pulled the trigger, another sharp twitch of his stance and the energy blades shattered the holy shot, never swinging, closing in as she backed into what little space was left. Each step brought her closer to a solid wall of crystal and stone, and the throbbing in her leg continued to grow worse despite Cloud's attempts to heal it.

Tidus rushed Vile from behind, cleaving at waist-height. The princess watched the Maverick bound into the air, somersaulting over a giant hammer of granite that narrowly skimmed over Tidus' hair. The water sage vaulted with a rising cleft of liquid from his blade that met the two curved energy swords.

Zelda took aim, seeing Vile's chest exposed and both of his arms occupied to deflect the Brotherhood's blow. The sizzle of the tiny white bolts concentrated their hums as they flew adjacent to each other. Vile needed both blades to stop Tidus, and the princess was sure of her success.

The Brotherhood's rich water alight with ocean hues frayed away from Vile as a cloud of green mist sprayed at Tidus. What resembled human ribs jutted from the Maverick's chest. The skeletal extensions clenched the aqua blade, freeing Vile's main katana to deflect Zelda's light shells again.

Gravity took them down. Tidus was having trouble seeing straight, and he backed away as Terra took his place. Her arms rose upward, ripping the elements from beneath Vile into an earthy palm that quickly closed over him. Bright circular slashes reduced the prison into fragments that the Earth Sage found she couldn't manipulate anymore, and the Maverick closed the distance to Zelda in a blink. His arms crossed, aiming both blades diagonally for her neck.

No time to aim, no space to escape.

She braced the guns against her wrists, taking the impact as the blades struck, chaining the strike from weapons to arms. The pain was like they had almost broken, the bleeding renewing in her hurt elbow, but Zelda held back Vile's pressing force as the beam katanas sizzled her skin and her guns.

A tiny mist, like dust shifting from a sharp inhale, appeared in the dark Y-shaped gap of the Maverick's head.

Zelda knew what was coming, twisted her stance to parry and send him off guard with her right pistol, then jammed the point of her other gun into his chest, firing a shot imbued with as much light as she could gather.

Her arm was instantly on fire.

Vile's body exploded above the waist, spewing the acid not only backward, but onto Zelda. Her eyes widened as the greenish fluid from his head and the darker ooze from his torso not only sizzled her flesh almost to the elbow, but also ignited.

A gush of water. The pain only slowed in its maddening ascent, tearing a scream from her lips as every moment of focus and adrenaline was used to create distance between her and the mutated machine. She couldn't spare the focus to comprehend Tidus rescuing her arm or Terra holding back the Maverick with compressed earthen bullets that he deflected just as easily as he did with the light shells.

"Go!" Cloud's voice bellowed to her side as her vision blurred. "Help Terra, I'll take care of her!"

The ghostly glow of the spirit's face nearly touched hers. "Let me in!" he ordered. Zelda didn't understand. Let him in? She writhed from the pain eating at her hand, spreading up further.

"Let me in!" he repeated. "Don't fight it. I can help you!"

Near hyperventilation, she nodded erratically, granting him his permission. Instantly, the aura of Lifestream that composed him began to envelop her, pass around and into her, his body and his thoughts merging inside. Injuries did not heal immediately, but the pain become tolerable once again. She felt focus. Her vision cleared, and the bloody, charred limb attached to her shoulder was squeezed tight like it was in a vice, shedding some of the cooked flesh, the damage becoming less debilitating to her senses as the revolting smell subsided along with it. Even her leg was more manageable, and the pierced flesh near her shoulder from days prior was almost unnoticeable.

Her guns had been holstered. The weapon she held was a long as she was tall and nearly as heavy, but it felt no heavier than the Master Sword. Though still old and worn, the bandages had fallen from the Buster Sword, and it was no longer a blade of spirit energy. It was solid metal, rusted and worn, but powerful. With Cloud bonded to her, she felt his knowledge of how to use it. Zelda knew what Cloud's intent had been as well, how he struggled to cleave the eye stalks and the Plasmus wall while she and the two sages had been dealing with Vile.

"We'll be able to attack him from behind," Zelda understood as she breathed heavily.

"_And we need to destroy Plasmus entirely if we're to get the emerald first_."

"Then we shall do that," the princess gripped the Buster Sword. She was full of strength and speed that she didn't have before.

She lunged for where Terra and Tidus held Vile, shoving in between them, swinging her sword diagonally to force him to block with both katanas, spinning and returning with a second slash, high this time, countering the thrust from his small one and forcing him back further. Circling a second time, she twisted the blade and hammered him with the flat of it, knocking him hard against one of the crystal walls.

"Terra!" Zelda shouted with Cloud's reserved baritone overlapping her.

The blonde Titan stiffened her arms and shoved as much earth as she could move against Vile's arms, pinning the Maverick as she toppled the cliff side on him.

Zelda turned to the wall, all five eyes glaring at her, bobbing up and down. She remembered through Cloud's mind just a few short moments ago what would happen when she tried to attack it. Spikes of slime hardened and jutted out as soon as she approached it, nearly catching her shoulder. Her slices were quick, and she had to constantly angle herself to dodge each of the long barbs. They were most protective of the eyes, and they retracted when the sword was close to cutting them off.

"Duck!" Terra's voice rang out, and Zelda dropped to the cold metal plating beneath her.

Discs of earth like boulders were heaved one at a time into the wall, ripping through, embedding in other places, but either way it stunned the oozing creature. The spikes that had stretched out had gone limp, and Vile was covered in a mountain of muck and stone, drenched constantly by a column of water shooting from Tidus's sword.

She dove for the nearest eye, slicing it in two and rolling away before it could recover.

Screeching, the wall pulsed and shook with the death of one eye, growing even more unstable. It began to vibrate and pulse with green bubbles where the eye had been destroyed. Zelda threw herself backwards as a cone of flame spewed out, narrowly missing her as spots of hot liquid dropped in front of her eyes. The hole sealed up, and nothing took its place.

Stone and dirt sprayed her vision. Vile had broken loose from Terra's hold, throwing both her and Tidus spinning on the metal floor. The Maverick screeched from the opening in his helmet, and he pressed his swords together, pitting the energies from them against each other. Surging out of control, an electrical field began to dance out and around him.. With careful steps, Vile moved toward Tidus first. The Sage of Water swung the sword at Vile's head. An explosive shock rang in their ears; sparks rained down as Tidus skidded into the cavern wall. His shout of pain drew Terra's focus.

"Ignore him for now!" Zelda and Cloud shouted.

Terra bit her lip and stole several glances toward Tidus as she and the princess backed away from the slowly approaching Vile.

The eyes were still watching. Four remained, supporting their master's every motion. Terra's stone spears were deflected, somehow captured and throw aside by the surging pulses that protectively caged Vile. Zelda held back the Buster Sword and took aim with her pistols. Her light shells fractured the energies, but she couldn't break through it aiming at his head, legs, or anywhere in between. It was a simultaneous sword and shield.

"What are we supposed to do?" Terra called out.

Zelda glanced toward the undulating mass of Plasmus. The wall of eyes – was it more important to him?

"_Princess, let me,"_ Cloud spoke inside her head. Before she could answer, her arm straightened, aiming toward the nearest eye stalk. It watched intently, as did Vile, while a radiant waves of energy began to emanate from her feet. Zelda recognized it, Mako energy, a power of materia that Cloud had learned when he was living. The hair on her head and arms began standing erect. An electrical field began forming around her arm, bright blue, illuminating her arm. The force discharged, a huge ball of lightning, exploding against the one of the eyes, incinerating its insides, blackening the wall.

Zelda saw the fierce red of Vile's katanas separate. It was too fast to evade. She was instantly slammed her with a force that sent her to the ground, tumbling violently backward until she hit the sealed metal doors with a hammering blow that knocked the wind out of her. Vile was coming for her, but she couldn't breathe. Terra struck him from behind, but he shattered the earth projectile with his katanas. When Zelda tried to get to her feet, her wrist collapsed beneath her weight.

_THWAM._

The metal doors behind her echoed from a horrendous blow. It rang in all their ears, and Vile backed away from it.

_THWAM, THWAM, THWAM, THWAM._

Huge dents appeared in the thick steel for each blow against it.

They ceased, but then Zelda heard a loud scream from behind them, and her eyes opened with urgency. She scrambled with her battered body away from the entrance as it was blown open, the metal completely warped.

"Starfire!"

She was scarred, burned and sliced, bleeding like the rest of them, but as her lungs heaved out the air that strained to go inward, Starfire stared down Vile for a brief second before the smoke cleared and the metal hunks of the door settled.

The tall Titan in her purple halter top and skirt became a wild berserker. She threw her bright star bolts with unrelenting fury. Unlike the shells of light that crackled away, Zelda watched Starfire's bright green energy bolts reacted explosively when Vile tried to deflect them with his katanas. The Maverick was hit hard, charring the residue of Plasmus that protected something else beneath. His energy swords held, but his hands became exposed. Zelda stood, using Cloud's power to help her see. Though Vile fought on, sometimes dodging the bolts and allowing them to strike Plasmus, his hands were skeletal – the inner machine.

The wall of Plasmus had grown even taller, stretching itself thin to keep them from the emerald, but it was panicked, fluctuating with an unstable twitching in the remaining eyes.

Terra hurled a chunk of stone to his side, but Vile was still able to counter, cleaving it into pieces and shrugging it aside, smashing one of the pieces with elbow. It deflected and struck Starfire in the stomach in the middle of throwing on of her ellipsoid bolts. Vile rushed toward her, swinging his blades downward at her shoulders, and the fierce clash of metal from Tidus's aquatic sword and the energy beams showered them in more sparks. A swift kick at the Sage of Water's ankle and a second one to his head knocked him to the floor, where he stopped moving. Zelda rushed to him.

"_He's alright, worry about the fight!_" Cloud insisted, and Zelda realized that Tidus was just unconscious. Then, the princess and the spirit looked up, seeing Starfire lunge toward Vile and the shape shifting wall that fed him power.

"Starfire, _NO_!"

But the young and furious Titan had already shoved Vile too close to the impaling wall of spikes. They lunged, and she managed to grab two of them, but several others stuck into her. She screamed in agony. Terra tried desperately to help, but the wall itself had suddenly chosen to move its entire being, stretching and closing in on Starfire.

"Star!" Terra called out, not understanding why she was suddenly weak in the knees, unable to comprehend what was happening.

"No," was all Zelda could whisper as she closed in, trying to get behind and be close to Starfire. She had been stabbed in the stomach, the chest, and both her legs.

"Stay... back..." she insisted, gasping weakly. "I... can take it..."

Vile stared for a moment, then, quickly, swung his blades down at her shoulders again, aiming to dismember her. She was forced to release her grip on two of the tentacles that burned her palms and instead grabbed the energy blades. Blood began to drip immediately, and the toxic spears she released pierced her collarbones.

"_I... remember you..._"Vile spoke with his metallic rasp. "_You were… one of the ones... I captured before I... was destroyed."_

"And I... remember... _you_," Starfire retorted, gritting her teeth, breathing dangerously fast. "I'm... going to... kill you... again!"

The Maverick leaned in, pressing the blades harder into her hands. _"I should have... sliced your brain open and studied it... when I had the chance."_

Starfire almost started laughing. Zelda couldn't break through the encasing wall of Plasmus, but she heard Starfire's strained emotional uprising.

"Too late!"

Zelda and Terra were blown off their feet. A green aura forced all of Plasmus backward, and the two shining rays emanated from Starfire's eyes wouldn't cease, conjuring winds that the princess and the Sage of Earth had to lean into. Spirals of radiant energy encircled the conic beams that incinerated everything in her gaze, and all of Plasmus became unstable as the final watching eye stalks melted away in explosions of fire.

"I have a present for you!" Starfire hollered above the chaos of bubbling, exploding fragments of the Maverick and his host body.

Terra had rushed to protect Tidus, leaving Zelda and Cloud free to watch. Starfire held out her arm toward Vile's limp body cushioned by the stunned amoeba, and her entire body began to glow with her signature green glow. A high pitched hum emanated from her skin, pulsing as a bright white light emerged in front of her blood-dripping palm. Tremendous heat brushed over Zelda's exposed skin, drying her face and eyes as the resonating sound affected her in a way she didn't expect. Her heart, already full of adrenaline, dipped into her recognition of the familiar noise.

Starfire's voice somehow surpassed the force of the winds and the high pitched hum. "Mega Man X would like you to have this!"

Released. A speck of silence.

Zelda sheltered her sensitive Hylian ears as Starfire's imitated X-Buster shot enveloped the Maverick in front of her with a deafening blast. The light was blinding, and the princess could barely squint toward the tumultuous upheaval of matter. Plasmus was sprayed across the lake, and metallic pieces from what was left of Vile shattered the stillness of the crystal clear water as the unrecognizable Maverick that had been there moments ago submerged and sank. A mound of the gelatinous black creature that had fused with him laid lifeless at the water's edge, slowly seeping in, dispersing into nothing more than a stain.

The ringing in Zelda's ears slowly stopped, but there was still one sound that persisted as she uncovered the sides of her head. The whirring cable had been rising, coiling somewhere above them out of sight as it retracted its sunken contents.

Starfire. As Zelda's eyes readjusted, she saw Starfire in a kneeling position, head slumped forward, and Zelda immediately began limping toward the injured Titan. Zelda glanced briefly at Terra, who was taking care of the slowly waking Tidus, but both of them seemed alright enough. When she reached Starfire's front, she winced at the blood dripping from her hands. They were incinerated, and Starfire couldn't keep them from shaking. Zelda quickly pulled off her stained, charred ribbon sleeves and wrapped them around Star's charcoal and blood palms as the young girl tightened her jaw.

"I'm alright," Starfire shuddered a weak inhale.

"You're far from it," Zelda said, but she recognized the same fatigue and weakness in her own voice despite Cloud's spirit supporting her. What would happen then when he exited her body?

She finished tying Starfire's hands, gave another glance to Terra and Tidus, who had created distance between themselves in the short time that Starfire was helped. Apparently Tidus was conscious enough to be bitter and frustrated again. He stayed on the metal platform, holding his sword with the blade jutting down as he leaned on it. Terra stood, her face remarkably blank despite the fact that she was injured and fatigued as well. The Sage of Earth was focused intently on the small lake that still rippled with Vile's destruction.

Diving in to go after the emerald was unwise. Leaving it and waiting wasn't a proper solution either.

"_It's close,_" Cloud whispered to her mind. "_I don't sense any other presence here."_

She nodded to herself, acknowledging his suggestion to wait.

As soon as she had made the decision, Zelda's keen ears noticed a chance. The cable was beginning to pull faster.

Pulses of emotion filled her intestines with discomfort. The emerald's influence was so potent that she began to feel sick.

Then, a bright light permeated through the dark clouds of dispersing ooze left by Plasmus. By the goddesses, it was right there, the white emerald, a short leap over the water.

Zelda used what little strength she could take from Cloud and threw herself toward it, touching the seventh jewel of chaos. At the same moment, Vile's headless corpse was at her side, one of its arms also grabbing onto the coveted jewel. An incredible light spread out between the two of them, and Zelda felt her eyes squeeze shut against her will.


	81. Flames of Jade

Chapter 81 – Flames of Jade

Some figment of the heroic reploid Zero, once one of the greatest Maverick Hunters throughout the endless reploids wars, stood alongside the fallen Hero of Time, Link. They faced a beast that resembled the crimson reploid, but it was only similar in the ruby hue of its metallic armor and the facial features of the head sticking out from its host's gory torso. Like the half-corpse that Sigma had been so many times, the incompleteness of the machines spreading out from Jenova's belly lacked cohesiveness and order, spitting blood and other soft organic matter as they changed shape and further abused the organic part of the symbiotic relationship. The alloys composing the parasitic Zero were patchy, discolored and warped, trying to imitate Zero's likeness but failing to do so properly. Link watched as the creature's face distorted from symmetrical as it imitated Zero's face. The discoloration and the jagged pieces of metal that continued to grow wildly, without order.

Jenova – what was left of her – lurched back violently, and her womanly chest and neck expanded, bulging dozens of swollen lumps in her bruise-colored flesh. The autumn glow of her eyes curled inward and faded as bloodied saliva and a greenish substance began leaking from the corners of her mouth.

SHLINKT-SKAASH.

The two swordsmen somersaulted back, landing amongst the shattered fragments of glass. Protected well enough by his boots, Link gave his legs a quick glance to ensure that none of the fragments had harmed him, but the being in the white cloak did not bother to assess his landing.

There was nothing left of the Jenova's head. It had exploded in a mass of metal tubes, damp with freshly skewered body parts and traces of liquid Mako. The white walls surrounding the monster had become stained with hot fluids of many dark colors. Jenova's long arms hung limp, swaying lifelessly as the Zero fiend in her belly pulled itself and the corpse host further into the opening of the white room, releasing a metallic screech that seemed to vibrate the whole light of the Lifestream and Deathflow. Both streams were actively fighting each other, clashing wisps of light together everywhere beyond the barrier of the broken white room. The Lifestream wailed in despair as Zero's insidious Deathflow slowly consumed it.

Link nervously watched the pale green sky grow dark, overtaken by the fiendish substances that colored their realm with sharp red pulses and charcoal streaks. The sight of it made the the former Hero unsteady and tense, knowing that there was no hope of escaping if they were completely surrounded by the Deathflow, but Jenova-Zero had to be dealt with before that. His Master's Echo was tightly in his grip, it's ephemeral blade ready to carve a canyon into the monster's face, but with five waving appendages beneath the demon Zero's head, all dripping Jenova's dark blood from sharp metal tips and swaying with living rhythm, he struggled to see a way to penetrate the defense. Another four of the metal limbs hung from Jenova's neck cavity, less able to reach than the lower five, but no less of a threat if they were to attack the Maverick directly. A small twist of Link's head allowed him to get a better look at the cloaked one with the green beam katana without having to take his eye off the monster facing them.

The cloaked one... it couldn't be Zero, but it didn't seem possible that it could be anyone else, either. Beneath the veil of white was answers that Link wished he had time for. Had a piece of the crimson reploid somehow survived corruption unlike the remnants of knowledge and power that slowly died around them? The idea was far from feasible. Link knew it could just as easily have been a trick to put him off guard. He resolved to keep his distance until he could be more sure. Regardless, the figure in the bright robe appeared determined to fight Jenova, and it confused Link even more to see that the focus of Jenova-Zero was clearly aimed at the veiled reploid, and not him. It had to mean that the shrouded one was more of a threat.

An uprising of lapis energy spiraled around what was left of Jenova: the preparation for casting magic. The former Hero lowered his stance. Link was aware of the time and space altering abilities that Jenova possessed, and the elemental diversity that she could destroy them with was also something he conscious of, but that didn't mean he could prepare for the innumerable possibilities. His muscles pulsed in their immobile position, ready to spring him in any direction or cleave any projectile she might launch, physical or magical, but as the spiral waves of materia energies reached their apogee over Jenova's spurting neck, a transparent shell of green screeched loudly, rippling the light in front of the parasitic creature. A short moment later the magical wall faded, but the subtle glow remained attached to Jenova and the parasitic reploid in her abdomen.

Link stepped back further, unnerved by the odd tactic. The spell was purely defensive, know as 'Mighty Guard' by the Gaians. It was a valuable magic that partially protected the receiver and those nearby from all forms of physical and magical harm, but it was exceptionally draining and restricted the user from subsequent casting for a short time. Of all the materia skills she could have used to annihilate them, 'Mighty Guard' made no sense. Not unless Jenova-Zero was buying time for something. Link didn't much agree with his own theory, because ravaging their battlefield with materia attacks could be just as defensive as offensive.

The robed Zero, if that's who he was, wasted no time, rushing toward where the nine mechanical limbs speared through the walls of the white room. The closest two swung like metal whips, one high, one low. He dove to the side, straightening his body to fit between the small gap as the attack scissored around him. Landing with a swift roll and spring, he rose to stance, immediately side-stepping a number of sharp thrusts after. The reploid moved with such little effort, only creating as much distance as needed and none more, allowing the stabs to almost graze him every time.

Jenova-Zero pulled back with all five metal tentacles in its abdomen, all thrusting at different angles. The shrouded fighter lunged forward, dodging three with the final one aimed for his chest. His energy saber collided with it, parrying the limb against the floor, but he was too slow to dodge another one dangling from Jenova's decapitated head, and the whip strike knocked him to the back wall with a painful thud.

Link watched, studying her limbs at a safe distance rather than charging recklessly. Their behavior was strange. The segmented arms originating in Jenova's belly were ready to attack, but the four coming from where her head had burst remained motionless and low most of the time, making no effort to attack unless the white-shrouded reploid came exceptionally close, well into their reach. She held the four limbs in front of the parasitic Zero, as if it were protecting the Maverick abomination growing there.

The reploid cloaked in white changed tactics, trying with less effort to attack the core. He focused on damaging the metallic limbs and was seldom touched by Jenova, occasionally grazed by a swinging limb or spattered with flecks of Jenova's fluids. Despite the many hits that the good Zero landed, the barrier erected across the flesh and metal of the creature was preventing it from receiving serious harm. Burns and superficial lacerations were the most damaging thing that the formidable neon energy blade could inflict. The sheer speed of his slices with the beam saber would have seriously injured the ancient Jenova without her magical defense protecting her.

Link watched as the cloaked figure miscalculated a parry and was caught off balance. A hard blow from one of the front limbs crunched the robed figure against the wall right next to Link, nearly breaking through it. Link sprang forward, leaping over a low swinging metal limb, side-stepping a second one that hammered the floor, shattering the tile. His sword was no more effective when he hacked at the tentacles, weakly cutting them at best, and Jenova-Zero continued to ignore him as a major threat. The mechanical aberration constantly attended to the figure shrouded in white, always making sure several arms were free to counter if they both attacked synchronously.

Then he saw it. Through the clashing mist of dark Deathflow and viridian Lifestream, Link saw a definite pulsing of energy and light behind the plated limbs held tight against the demon-Zero's face and Jenova's breasts. From Link's position, it emanated a low rumble that vibrated in his chest. Whatever Jenova withheld began escalating over time, its power growing louder. They could not get close enough to attack the protected parts and stop the strange buildup; the reploid head coming from her belly and chest were heavily shielded, and the huge spherical mass of flesh behind her body was well out of range. Making their task even more impossible, every time they sliced at the limbs, the monstrous face of metal hinges and wires screamed out, somehow healing the damage.

It wasn't the power of Ultima that grew in Jenova's open abdomen. Link knew the foreboding sensation of that cataclysmic and all powerful magic. The essence flowing out of her chest was nothing like that, but he couldn't focus on the sensation long enough to come up with other possibilities. Whatever the energy waves in Jenova's midsection were, they didn't seem intended for attack. At least not yet.

The white-shrouded Zero never once ceased, taking blows with grace, recovering immediately and continuing to fight his way through, only to be shoved back again and again by the giant limbs of metal. He kept reaching closer, learning the capabilities of the machine tentacles. He was relentless. Link watched his tactics and emulated them, side-stepping with ease, deflecting the spear thrusts when they came at him to slow down the creature's offensive recovery. He was almost within reach of the smaller arms protecting the metal abomination and the strange glow protruding from Jenova's belly.

Holes had been punctured into the floor. With Jenova affecting reality, there was no telling what might happen if they fell out into the open Lifestream with the Deathflow constantly warring with it, pushing back and conquering the peaceful ghostly matter. Link made each attack with care, his new goal to more clearly see what Jenova shielded while not making it clear to her that it was the intention. He slashed at one side while the good Zero – if that's who it was – continued on the other.

Each time he was pushed back, Link confidently recognized the steps closer he was getting, learning that Jenova would only effectively swing vertically, horizontally, or thrust at him as if the limbs were spears. He positioned himself in places that would necessitate a diagonal swing, slowing her ability to react. With each failure getting him injured, but closer, the demonic winged head of the machine beast screeched more angrily. The robed figure was also getting closer, still slicing at the machine limbs as he did.

Link swung hard at a limb that smashed into the floor beside him, but the metallic limb flashed away, retracting with blinding speed. He and the being in white were both taken by surprise as Jenova became fully defensive, every tendril in a protective stance weaving together to form a mesh of tentacled armor in front of the skeletal head of Zero. Between them, through small gaps in her limbs, they could see something bright blue and oval-shaped protruding from the corrupted machine's mouth inside Jenova's belly. It was shaped like an egg...

A twinkle of darkness – the magical aura surrounding Jenova faded. Her defenses were down!

Link was airborne, leaping with his blade overhead, crushing down on the wall of tentacles. He carved completely through one of them, spraying a dark maroon liquid over the rest. The Zero demon screeched as a second limb was nearly severed in the same swing by the crushing force of the former Hero of Time, and all of the tentacles flailed out in defensive response. Caught in the waist and chest, Link was propelled to the far wall, but not before he caught a clearer glimpse of the egg that Jenova was protecting. Through the semi-transparent shell, there was no doubt that a tall humanoid figure was inside it.

Link was forced to land on piles of scattered glass, slicing his arms and legs through his sky blue tunic, but not severely. His ally was against the wall, not attacking at all, but busy gathering a tremendous amount of energy that created tiny bolt discharges from the openings in the sleeves and hood of his white robe. The power was unstable, fluctuating wildly, and the Hylian spirit's eyes widened. When the glowing individual sharply turned his head toward him, Link threw himself to his feet, creating as much distance as he could from the shrouded being.

The white-cloaked Zero jumped for one of the far walls and roared with a voice that echoed across the Lifestream, "_Rakuhouha_!" and crushed his fist against the building's side. Spears of energy – mechanical, reploid energy – created a showering spectacle that launched in the opposite direction of where his fist had struck. Bright white, tinted with azure violet cores and tails, the dozen columns of plasma fire snaked rapidly toward their target. Jenova covered the Zero-demon and the egg with her limbs, bracing for the impact. From a safe corner, Link watched blue flames explode onto the ancient creature.

An instant later, Link was forced to shield his eyes from the plasma blasts and the resulting radiance of flames with his forearm. Unable to see directly ahead, Link braved forward. He leaped over shattered furniture and glass, hoping that Jenova had been badly damaged enough to leave the egg unprotected. His footfalls pushed carried into raging plumes of fire that began to burn his clothes, but the danger had to be endured. Before the cloaked Zero's devastating attack could fully disperse, Link thrust the pale and ghostly Master's Echo straight ahead, feeling it slow as a squelching sound echoed in his ears.

Pain rattled the strength of his entire body when a bone in his right arm cracked and the flames shrank from sight as he was thrown back once again. Striking an already weak spot in the far wall before landing and rolling on broken glass caused the fire attached to Link's clothes to suffocate, but he had lost his grip on his sword. With blurred sight, he saw his ally in the white cloak bent over on one knee, struggling to stand, perhaps still too drained from overexertion.

The tentacles, two less than before, flailed weakly in defense, and Link saw that many of them were mangled, burned or torn with bloody wounds. The blown off stumps of the two that had taken the full force of the attack called 'rakouhouha' twitched while dripping dark, viscous fluids.

Link narrowed his sight, seeing The Master's Echo sticking out from the egg.

When his own vision cleared well enough, Link's heart sank with failure, and he watched the terrible mechaniloid head of Zero unhinge its jaw in a victorious screech, almost seeming to grin with its blank, cold eyes. The blade was deep within the egg, but he had narrowly missed piercing the head of the creature inside. Painful burns had been scattered on his arms and face, and his arm was broken, for nothing. Jenova-Zero had successfully protected whatever had been birthed, and the limbs jutting from her torso and neck rose to the offensive again, minus the two destroyed ones. She no longer seemed concerned about protecting the egg, leaving it wide open, almost inviting.

Before they could attack again, the creature beneath the demon-Zero's mechanical head began to squirm and twist. An arm ripped through the casing. Bursting with light, the rest of the egg began to crack, showering the realm with clusters of whitened rays. Its milky exterior began to fade as fluids seeped out, allowing them to see more clearly through the blurry transparent wall of soft blue. The creature inside – it was human. Long, silvery tendrils inside masked the appearance, but the few subtle glimpses they caught as the wavy silver strands parted showed pale skin.

Another arm ripped through the egg, rending the front half apart, but unlike the first arm, it was far from human, covered in jagged blue crystals and sharp stumps of white coral, deformed by far from the perfect flesh parallel to it. Forcing itself completely free, a man split into two awkward halves staggered out, but despite the abhorrent appearance, Link easily recognized him.

Sephiroth. Rebirthed from Jenova, their genetic connection eternal. The hellish judgment that had once threatened to consume Gaia had been resurrected right before their eyes, their own essences feeding it the entire time. Somehow altered, the bony extensions of blue crystal and white coral had , like an untreated infection, overtaken him, stretching diagonally across his body, consuming his right leg, much of his abdomen, chest, and his left arm as well. Part of the mutation reached up and around one side of his face, turning one of his eyes into a solid hunk of jade crystal, and his entire presence was rife with the stench and aura of Mako. Sephiroth's silvery hair was unaffected, nearly reaching his knees, and many strands draped across his mutated arm. Link narrowed his gaze at the humanoid monster, seeking weaknesses. As horrific a presence that Sephiroth was, he was ultimately another host for the King of Evil, another living shell intended to protect the core. He had to be destroyed.

The two swordsmen didn't dare make sudden movements. Could they even attack him? What did the crystal mutations do to him? Jenova-Zero, no longer protecting the child, was clearly confident of her offspring.

Bright energies rose from where Sephiroth stood, lifting his long hair.

This time it would surely not be defensive.

The shining aberration of white sparks formed quickly above Link's head. Eruptions of lightning tore through Link's flesh, crushing the floor beneath him, and the former Hero felt his feet leave solid ground as he began to fall. His arms were too stunned to reach out from the crumbling edges. Below the white room, Deathflow and Lifestream still struggled against each other, and Link wondered which would take him. The floating white oasis was leaving his sight, and the oppressive burn overtaking, consuming his legs first let him know that the Lifestream had lost.

Jolting pain brought his eyes upward. Link could faintly see beneath the shrouded being's hood, where a tortured complexion stared back at him.

"Don't... let go..."

The cloaked man resembling Zero had dropped himself lower by using his blade as an anchor in his far hand. With a silent heave, Link rose above the Deathflow's grip and felt his breath return, and the next thing he saw was comets of flame hurtling toward them through the ruined ceiling opening.

The shrouded one threw Link again, saving him from the direct hits that pummeled the cloaked reploid to the ground and ignited his cloak in a deep crimson flame.

Then, all trace of the white Zero vanished, leaving behind fierce columns of flame with nothing to burn, so they slowly shrank and flickered out, leaving the floor charred. More than half of the standing surface had been destroyed and absorbed back into the two streams.

Link's ally was gone, and his only weapon was far out of his reach. It had fallen and was now just beneath the demon Zero's head, guarded by Sephiroth _and_ the metal tentacles that continued to expand the decay of Jenova's necrotic flesh.

The chill beneath Link's feet sparked his instincts, and he somersaulted back as plumes of ice jutted skyward, nearly capturing him in a frigid prison. Moments afterward, the frozen stalagmite shattered and snapped before fizzling back into nothingness. Link used the momentary dissolution of the materia ice to vault across the chasm in the floor. He twisted his body and dodged the swinging metal limbs as he reached Sephiroth, ducking beneath a cone of bluish gas spraying out from his crystalline arm. Thrusting with his knees and hips, Link landed his fist squarely against Sephiroth's chin, knocking the enemy back towards Jenova's belly so hard that Sephiroth crash against the face of Jenova-Zero.

From above, a streak of white came down on the abomination, reconstructing the image of Link's ally. He had used reploid teleportation! The neon beam saber in his hands curved around, hooking Sephiroth's deformed crystal arm, then impaled all the way into the temple of Jenova-Zero.

"Your sword!" the white shrouded one entreated him, barely able to rise above the monster's roaring screams.

Link dove beneath Jenova-Zero's screeching head and latched tightly to the handle of his Master Echo. He was recklessly swept away by an unfocused limb from the lower body, not hard enough to injure him, but he straightened out to roll and absorb the impact. When Link rose, four of the remaining machine tentacles had coiled around the white Zero. Sephiroth tightened his human palm, stretching his skin against his knuckles as he gazed with psychotic madness twisting his face. Jenova-Zero's limbs followed Sephiroth's command, tightening the white-robed swordsman. The neon blade pinning Sephiroth's crystal shoulder was almost free.

Two of Jenova's limbs swung for Link, but he detected them early. Heaving his chest out with the blade over his head, Link contracted his entire body and cleaved both in half with a single swing. The ghostly blade rose once more as the old Hero propelled himself with the metal limb he had just severed, above Sephiroth, aiming to pin him down once more. Sephiroth guarded his heart and face with his human arm, but the blade instead sank into the pale flesh of his shoulder, penetrating to the other side of the abomination-Zero's head. The machine beast in Jenova's belly screeched with fury, shaking wildly, flailing the two swordsmen on top of it.

The real Zero acted quickly. His head lurched backward, and he shouted through the crushing anguish breaking his limbs.

"_Chaos..._"

A swelling, fiery shell of pure power encased the shrouded one.

"Mother!" shouted Sephiroth, as if talking to Jenova's headless body. "Get out of here!"

Link knew he could not brace himself, but the final word did not come. The sound from his ally was a writhing rasp, the crushing of his chest so violent that he could not get any air to finish.

There was one chance before the vile hosts for the demonic Zero escaped. One chance that would likely kill all of them. Link used the last of his breath, every ounce of his righteous anger to channel power into the chaos that Zero exuded.

"_Chaos BLAST!"_

Bright, furious light and heat, everywhere.

* * *

_Where... am I?_

Faint whispers. Incomplete thoughts.

_Am I... still here?_

Dazed, unsure of the strange sensation washing over his useless arms and legs, Link wondered if he was falling or just floating endlessly in the Lifestream, no gravity or other forces to stop his path. He could barely think. All he could remember was the tremendous power of chaos that had come from the robed figure, the man whom Link thought had to be a shred of consciousness from the Zero that once had been.

Floating. Flying.

Link hadn't known if it would work. He was not a direct user of chaos, nor had he ever been, but somehow their combined strengths had succeeded. There was nothing left of Naminé's construction within the Lifestream. Hopefully, Jenova and Sephiroth were destroyed as well. He tried to see again, but his eyes wouldn't open. His awareness of the Lifestream around him was more clouded than it had ever been. What was happening?

Falling. Fading.

Strange, the feeling of needing rest. It was something that had always been absent from his spirit form. And yet, Link suddenly felt incredibly tired. He shut his eyes and let the world around him fade away.


	82. Catastrophe on the Floating Island

Chapter 82 – Danger on the Floating Island

"What the hell is that?" One of them shouted.

The echidna's head split with a spray of blood at the top of his skull. They slowly backed away as the jaw and the corners of his mouth ripped open into a forced grin of death. The ceiling and the space in front of where the solider had stood had become a splattered mess of flesh and bone where a colossal, wriggling mass began to flail like an extra appendage. Pustules of brownish matter ripped outward from the echidna's extremities, consuming every limb and any hint of sentience in a matter of seconds.

"Don't get too close!" X warned as the disgusting appendage where the head had been began lurching toward them. He turned to his Sage of Forest. "Saria, restraint!"

Stunned by revulsion, Saria hesitated, and she narrowly sidestepped one of the arms as it lunged like an unwinding coil. Saria became flushed with panic as an echidna soldier flew past her with his leg ensnared by the grotesque creature. She watched the soldier claw helpless against the polished wooden floorboards, and his screams became muffled by pustules thrusting through his flesh until his eyes dissolved and he became an indistinguishable part of the growing mass of crawling black feelers.

X fired several times with his Buster, and Raven added to his attack with small, explosive spheres of her telekinetic power. The heavy thuds of energy squished into the organic mass, causing insignificant damage beyond minor burns, but the creature's attention was drawn away from the remaining guards that it had been nearing.

Mega Man signaled them to surround the creature as he and Raven continued to agitate the creature with their attacks, but the sages and Sonic had already begun encompassing the room. Saria's palm was glowing with a soft light toward the floor. The monster's used its five full limbs dripping with black liquid to pivot itself, but beneath it, wooden snaps and splintering beams preceded Saria's power of nature. Vines began to ensnare the creature, spreading and growing, wrapping around it like snakes. It fought toward Mega Man and Raven, but Saria's bindings held.

"Shoot it!"

One of the echidna soldiers had run. Another cowered in the corner. The remaining two obeyed X's order, firing small caliber energy weapons that singed chunks off of the surface, but none of them registered as truly damaging against the abomination. X's released more energy from his Buster shots to keep it focused on him.

Saria shouted from strain as the creature tugged hard, snapping the roots that bound two of its limbs. With a deep bellow of strain, Saria removed one palm from the ground and launched fresh vines directly from various places in her arm, and her muscles visibly shrank from the effort. Her strength was enough to hold the creature's arm back, but she was struggling.

"Raven, support! Nanaki, burn it!"

The sorceress ceased her volley of dark energy bolts and used the extensions of her powers to grip onto the creature as it flailed, reinforcing the hold that Saria continued to weave upward until the vines growing from beneath the house had spread across the ceiling. Nanaki, behind the monster, expanded his chest with as much air as he could store. Adjacent to him, Saria felt her face become feel hot and dry. They shared a glance as his mane began to flicker wildly, and Saria retracted the vines back into her arm just as Nanaki's exhale spewed thick flame, igniting the creature and its tree bindings into a wild fire.

It wailed, throbbing as the heat grew more intense, catching the ceiling and the upper floor with flame. For a time, everyone fought the immediate exhaustion caused by the excessive heat and the evaporation of moisture. They kept their heads beneath the clouds of smoke, still attacking even as they began to cough.

X commanded to Sonic, "Everyone out!" and the hedgehog used his speed to rescue those who needed it, seizing two of the echidna guards in individual trips before anyone else had made it to the exit the first time. Mega Man cleaved off one of the creature's limbs with the Master as he dashed around the still-growing mass and shouldered the nearest window. A disorienting blast of cooler air stunned his face as he dove out and rolled to a halt. He wasted no time in sprinting to the front lawn where the others were safely assembled.

Smoke piled out of the Knuckles the Echidna's house, and the loud crashing of the creature could still be heard for a few moments until fire blew out the rest of the windows, flailing as it grew taller than the house itself. It was not long until the entire home was ablaze and blackening.

A quick head count... and X exhaled uncomfortably. "One of the other guards is missing," he remarked to Sonic.

The blue hedgehog stared at the crumbling, flame-swept house and wiped the grime and sweat from his brow. His expression was dire and angry. "He wasn't in there. I'm sure he wasn't there, not even upstairs."

The splintering of the wooden door frame throbbed in their ears. Brown-black waste dripped and melted the grass as an arm of the abomination smashed through the wall, covered in flame. It had grown even larger, hurtling toward them on three massive limbs while two more waved above its head.

"Don't let it touch you!" X cautioned, spraying it with Buster bursts, barely stunning it through the thick layers of organic matter shielding it from harm. Still, the charges from his gun arm distracted it from easy prey, like the remaining echidna guard who had the courage to continue shooting it. Sonic kept near the last echidna, dashing from spot to spot, leading the mutated creature while everyone else continued firing. When the limbs stopped following the blue hedgehog, he barely had enough time to dive tackle the soldier before he was caught by one of the dripping black appendages.

Although chunks of it were torn off by heavy blows, magic and weapons fire, it only continued to grow in size, irritated by the damage less and less as time went on. X could only guess that the extra echidna it had eaten was fueling the process.

"Give me cover!" Raven's voice rang out.

She began chanting incantations, something X hadn't heard her do in a long time. Immediately he positioned himself in front of her, charging an offensive spell of his own.

The creature ignored Saria, and, seemingly noticing X and Raven together, hammered its limbs against the soil, sprinting toward them.

"Freeze!" X bellowed, and his jade armor flickered with sparkles of blue, chilling the air around him. Raven pressed a hand on his back, channeling additional magic through him, intensifying the frigid matter forming around X's arms while she continued to chant. The reploid thrust his palms outward, flinging a wide cascade of jagged ice across that infiltrated the outer pustules of matter, freezing the front half of it solidly while the back half slowed to a glacial pace.

X heard a fast whirring sound from the other side of the creature, and a blue sphere collided with one of the frozen pustule limbs, shattering it into pieces. Shredding the soft ground, Sonic uncoiled and turned about, revving for another blow against the abomination's frozen parts. Just a moment before Sonic's attack could hit, Mega Man watched as the frozen limb began shaking, then cracking.

"Sonic, stop!"

The limb freed itself just as Sonic struck, causing the blue hedgehog to become immersed in the flesh-devouring pulsations of the monster.

Nanaki bounded underneath the monster and breathed roaring flames at the place where Sonic continued his spindash into the soft, crawling tissue. X saw vines reach up to constrict the creature's movements, and Saria, positioned on the other side of the mutated enemy, strained to resist fatigue. The combined assault ripped the mutated creature's arm completely off. It fell to the ground, splattering the grass, yet it continued to wriggle with life.

Sonic had pulled himself far away, but the severed bits of the monster burned his skin.

"Hold still!" Saria cried. She worked her hands through his spines, cutting her own arms as she soothed his pain with a balm that she excreted from her hands.

The mutated mass rejoined with the detached limb just as Raven finished the final words of her chanting. To X, she roared, "I'm ready, move!"

X switched positions, steadying her from behind with his palms supporting her lower back and shoulder blades.

Emanating outward, condensed streaks of all colors began to gather between Raven's palms into a grayish, unstable energy. Where the energy gathered, sight itself distorted. A swift gesture from Raven's palms flung the flow of power toward the foul mass of organic matter. "Gravity Crush!"

The shards of energy formed a sphere that rapidly darkened, piecing itself together from nothingness as it cast a heavy weight over all of them. It encased the stunned monster, crackling with bolts of stray energy as it began shrinking.

"Get back, everyone but X!" she ordered through clenched teeth, sweat covering her face as she fought to compress the sphere even further. Everyone obeyed her demand, evacuating the vicinity, and Mega Man needed to brace his hands agains her even more firmly, steadying her as she needed it. With their linked minds, X could feel terrible pain throbbing in her head.

"Keep breathing!" he shouted, and she listened, forcing each breath deeply.

As she continued to compress the sphere, the pressure on both her and the creature grew. The fleshy black mass of stolen bone and muscle ruptured and screeched, running out of space entirely. It fought, flailing without any room to do so, pulsing like toxic black waste in a glass globe. Despite being crushed to a point that most other living things could not tolerate, it continued to resist, pressing on the spherical barrier.

"Destroy it!" Saria shouted from afar.

"You've got this!" Sonic added, his voice supportive.

Raven gave one final scream and crushed the sphere rapidly. She felt the creature cease its movement. "X, on the count of three, I need you to teleport me away. Ready?"

X nodded confidently, poising himself upright, moving in front of her just in case it was timed poorly.

"Alright," she gasped. "One... two..."

There was a violent sound of dense glass forcefully shattered.

"…wait!"

Raven sensed her barrier being penetrated, and the stink of the creature flooded into her nose. One of the limbs had created a small opening. She repositioned her arms, trying to sever the vile limb and restore the barrier, but the pustule mass fought, pressing on the broken edges of the sphere no matter how deep they sliced. It reached for Raven and X.

Through watered eyes and the haze of distorted gravity, X was startled by the sudden form that appeared in front of him, Mako green, with long, lightly colored hair and a robe that shone faintly red amongst the jade of Lifestream essence. Whoever the being was, it stood between them and the mutated echidna mass, gripping with clawed hands onto the handle of a thin katana that was sheathed at his waist. As soon as the blade was exposed, it became an impossibly large saber as tall as Raven and wide enough that it could not dream of being placed back into the scabbard.

The Lifestream spirit stepped back and raised the sword above his head, holding for a moment before a growling roar erupted from his lips.

"_Wind Scar!"_

A bright yellow blade beam emerged that was so large and forceful that it besieged the land, ripping through the force of Raven's containment. The sight in front X and Raven blurred, but those standing at a distance witnessed the fantastic explosion of black matter and the shock waves of flame and light. All of them were all thrown back by the sheer force of the shockwave before scorched debris or oozing fragments struck them. Raven, X and Saria were quick to heal those who were burned by an unavoidable rain of toxic liquid, and they quickly directed their attention to the one who dealt the finishing blow.

Despite the dominant green tint that all Lifestream spirits had, they could see the faint red color of his loose, two-piece robe. His slightly unkempt, waist-length hair was pure white.

"Thanks for the help," X acknowledged the spirit. X quickly scanned him more closely. Judging by his pointed ears and the sharp canine teeth bared fiercely, Mega Man figured that spirit might be some sort of wolf or dog-like creature. Though the spirit's appearance was mostly human, X reminded himself that the person he stared at could be far different from any educated observations, especially as a being from the Lifestream.

"You probably could have managed, but you were definitely taking too long. I'm Inuyasha. Obviously you know what I am. Details can wait. We don't have a lot of time, here."

X glared in angry anticipation at the sound of that, and he sensed the hesitance and suspicion coming from his sages. "Time for what?"

"Keeping all the people on this island from dying."

Sonic stepped forward, knowing what that meant and furious about it. "Who or what is after the Master Emerald now? That Zero guy?"

Inuyasha shrugged, appearing unenthused by the urgency that he had just declared. "We're pretty sure Zero's after the Master Emerald too, but there's been no conclusive evidence of his presence yet. What we have found is a greedy echidna politician who seems intent on using the Master Emerald to take over Mobius. There's materia infused into some of the underground caves, and he's been using that energy to grow stronger, though for how long I'm not sure."

"And I'm guessing," X glanced at the brownish pile of dead sludge not far from them, "that this politician has been doing genetic experiments on others and is almost finished with his plans?"

Nanaki waved his hot tail in front of his nose to burn some of the foul smell. "I don't think that needs confirmation."

X bowed his head angrily, thinking fast. "The Master Emerald is the first priority," he decided. "Letting this politician get it is bad, but I've got a feeling that Zero is the one pulling the strings, and the Master Emerald is a force we can't allow him to take. Finding Knuckles is important too. His home wouldn't have been destroyed if he didn't know something, so I'd say he was already close to uncovering the corruption before than the echidna police force was."

"I already know where Knuckles is," Inuyasha spoke. "He's with Shadow the Hedgehog and others, trying to find Balk, the echidna we're after."

Sonic reacted with a mix of anger and amusement when the other hedgehog's name was spoken. "I can find Shadow," Sonic volunteered immediately, then glanced apprehensively at X's leg. "But I can't take it slow if he and Knuckles are in trouble."

Saria cleared her throat. "Who is Shadow?" she asked.

X was able to answer the basics from his studies on the history of Mobius as well as his previous trip to the planet, but Sonic had to explain most of who Shadow was. He was as quick as he could be, only mentioning Shadow's connection to the emeralds, his tremendous power, his home on the ARK space station, and his role in stopping the tyrant, Doctor Ivo Robotnik, on more than one occasion.

"He's unfriendly and hostile," Sonic warned them, "but the bottom line is that he isn't an enemy."

"Then I'll go with you," Raven volunteered. "If I take spiritual form, I should be able to keep up with you and help find him with my telepathy."

Knowing it was a wise idea to ensure that Sonic had support, X also found himself not liking the idea of being separated from Raven in unfamiliar territory, even if she had Sonic for help. Raven noticed his apprehension, and as usual she insisted that she would be fine.

"If you get into trouble, send a telepathic signal to Saria or I," X suggested as a solution. "We'll transport to your location immediately."

"Alright," Raven nodded quickly. She turned to Sonic. "You ready?"

"Wait," said the spirit Inuyasha. "I'm going with you too. Another like me is supposed to be with Shadow. I need to meet up with her."

"Ok. But the rest of you," Sonic said with caution, "the echidna populace won't allow you into the Master Emerald's cave. The facility on top of the entrance is heavily armed, sealed by armor plating so thick that I don't think any of you could break through it quickly enough, and you can't force the unsealing code out of anyone with telepathy because it randomly changes every day, and none of the soldiers actually know it."

X scoffed at that, and Nanaki raised a curious eyebrow. "How then are the echidnas supposed to get in?"

Sonic shook his head. "I don't know anything more than that. I've heard it's supposed to be an unbreakable system, but one that could be accessed whenever necessary by the right people."

"Perfect," Mega Man scowled. He rigidly ignored the urge to throw his fist into something. "Nanaki, Saria, let's move."

They parted quickly, though Raven and X stole a brief glance at each other. As Sonic led Raven and Inuyasha north toward the city at incredible speed, X and the Sages of Fire and Forest proceeded toward the grasslands to the west of the city, nearer to the Floating Island's center. X began planning a way into the Master Emerald chamber. Knowing that any physical way would take long, he contemplated how he could obtain the codes to enter inside.

* * *

Raven didn't have much difficulty following Sonic, but only because his pace was more reasonable than in the Floating Island Derby, and having a bird's eye view above the cloud spearing skyscrapers helped avoid the zigzag path he followed. She kept human form, deciding that her astral form's larger size and dark color would be more likely to get her noticed against the light blue of the sky and the silver reflection of the city's many heights. Furthermore, she made sure to hover slightly over the many towering structures so that fewer people could look directly up from the street and spot her. Sonic's exuberant personality was relatively easy to keep hold of with her telepathy despite the restriction of blocked sight.

Inuyasha kept pace with her but did not speak. His glowing Lifestream essence was unsettling to her, if only because of the terrors that had come with briefly being in the Lifestream itself. Raven wondered if there were many others like him taking shape, escaping from the stream in order to fight against Zero in the living world. Although his form was difficult to probe with telepathy, Raven had quickly learned that, like her, Inuyasha was half demon when he was living. That sort of blood, even being the echo that he was, had a mental scent that was oddly recognizable to her.

The blue hedgehog was stopping to ask echidnas and other anthropomorphic citizens like himself if anything strange had happened in the city since the Derby. Many were too startled by his famous and sudden appearance to give much of an answer, but after one of Sonic's stops, Raven noticed a strong, serious emotional response, and his speed drastically increased. She had to push herself much harder, feeling the strain in her mind and her body as she flew further and faster to keep up with him. It didn't take long to see where he was heading, where sirens and flashing lights tinted the chrome sparkle of the skyscrapers with a dull sun orange.

The open courtyard greens of a skin colored, speckled brick building had been massacred. Small fires were extinguished, and pieces of debris were scattered across the entire block. Two trees had been uprooted, and bullet holes had punctured vehicles, some of which were overturned. Blockades had been set up, isolating the significant structure. Bystanders were being asked to evacuate the area, and several Mobians wearing white, full body suits were inspecting the vicinity of a hole that appeared to lead underground.

Raven watched Sonic approach the military barriers. He hopped over them, which made Raven twist her lips in an irritated manner. X was already reckless, and she didn't like the idea of having another sage with that rather dangerous trait. Unfortunately, it seemed a natural part of Sonic's impatient, high-speed lifestyle that she would have no possibility of altering.

The number of echidnas and other Mobians made it difficult to gauge the mental state of the two officers garbed in black combat armor who stopped him, but she was able to use a mental link with Sonic to hear what they were saying in real time. It was more or less what she had expected, the two echidnas telling him firstly that it was not his concern and that he needed to stay on the other side of the rope, then Sonic insisting that he could find Knuckles faster than anyone, to which the officers still vehemently refused despite them knowing fully well who he was. Raven relayed the information to Inuyasha, who kept crouched low next to her.

The spirit-demon reached for his blade. "I think Tetsusiga can handle this."

"No," Raven clasped her hand around his weapon. "We are not going to hurt these people."

"We don't have time to play nice!" Inuyasha snarled, pulling his blade out half way. "You've got until I count to ten in my head to think of a better idea."

"I don't need that much," Raven thrust her palm down against the butt of his Tetsusaiga, shoving it back within its sheath. "Rikku, come!"

Her aeon had already read her thoughts, and, after blowing a flaming hot kiss to her master, Rikku soared back and forth, sending panic into the crowds as flames danced hot in the sky. Soldiers took shelter, and others opened fire with energy rifles that Rikku could easily withstand occasional blows from. Sonic took the first opportunity to sneak down the hole during the disorder and confusion, and Inuyasha easily followed, though not without considerable growling. The harmless, isolated blazes that Rikku caused obstructed anyone from witnessing the dark sorceress enter last.

"Have fun, hot stuff!" Rikku winked as she continued her disruption of the police above.

When they regrouped, Raven turned back to the light that flooded in after them. Encasing it with her dark energies, she caved in their entrance. "That should keep them from following us for a while. Let's move out and find Knuckles!"

* * *

The Master Emerald facility was guarded surprisingly poorly, and it was not difficult for X, Nanaki and Saria to slip past the security cameras and disable the mere two guards present. X soon found to his dismay that living defenses were hardly necessary. The metal beneath their feet was unbelievably thick, and it spread outward for almost a mile. It did not respond to Nanaki's flame breath, even when the wolf condensed it tightly enough to spit lava from his mouth. It merely sizzled and cooled, turning into blake flakes that disintegrated from the ventilated air currents within the facility. After the black matter was brushed away, the dense alloy beneath them was the same as it had been before. There was not a single crack that Saria could slip resilient weeds into, nor did they have ample time to find such a gap. Ventilation did not extend below the plated shielding, and the simple camera systems and the single computer system were powered with wires that came from above ground.

X wanted to phase into a matter stream and pass through the floor from the very start, but it was too thick to risk, even if it hadn't been charged with erratic electrical impulses that might stop him from getting through. The power of the Master Emerald radiating from below also had potential to disrupt his transport, all in all making it impossible to phase through. Thinking intensely with a angered expression tightening his face, X considered using the unorthodox method of materializing through the entire island's underside, but passing through that much solid rock with the same chaos energies flowing through it was no better. They simply needed the code. There were no tools and no time for a hack job, either. Nanaki stood guard while Saria helped X.

"Any luck?" Saria asked.

The question was clearly out of kindness and desire to help. She was perceptive and obviously knew that it was going poorly, but the gesture pulled X out of his irritated mindset.

X shook his head, trying to clear his tension. "The fastest way of getting this done is to probe their minds for some sort of information, even if they don't have the exact code."

"I can't dig that deeply," Saria said regretfully, her tone still meaning to calm him. "You'll have to do it."

X frowned and crouched down to the unconscious echidna. The reploid spread his palm across the soft maroon fur of soldier's face, diving quickly into his mind, sifting through the less important things with ease. Having improved more than he realized, X deftly searched for any trace of the Master Emerald in the echidna's memories, giving him access to childhood stories as well as more complicated lore about the sacred jewels. X squinted his eyes and shook his head, adding 'code,' 'password' and other similar ideas to his search. The mental act extracted a number of personal passwords for e-mail, adult websites, and financial accounts, all useless. When he forced the ideas to overlap, X's probing slammed to a halt, showing a single digit, the number nine.

"I found something," he said curiously. "Nine. Just the number. I'm certain that it's part of the code. He knows that it is, too. He also knows that other people have the remaining parts of the code, but not how many there are or who has them."

"Though it may be a start, it isn't very helpful," Nanaki responded. "And we have another problem. I just saw in the distance a heavily armored vehicle, likely bringing a lot of automatic weapons. We should retreat and avoid a conflict."

"Agreed," X nodded, leaving the unconscious echidna to his sleep. It took only until the three of them made physical contact for X to absorb all of them and vanish from the small facility. They became whole not long after, landing on top of a high skyscraper near the city's edge. It was possible that their matter streams were spotted, but it bought them more than enough time.

"Things are not in our favor," Nanaki mentioned.

X released a small laugh. "Since when have they been? Now, do any of you have ideas on how to find the rest of the code? The faster, the better."

"Amplification," Saria said quickly. When X raised an eyebrow, she though of a painful but relevant memory. "When Kokiri needed to heal a wounded tree or rare plant species, the number of us needed was proportional to the size of the plant. With enough of us focused on the same task, all but the most ancient and grand of nature's creations were beyond our power."

Mega Man considered that curious possibility and leaned over the edge of the building, spying the movements of tiny Mobians below. "I've never done anything on this sort of scale," he shook his head skeptically. "If it's possible, then I'll need Raven. It's a shame Zelda isn't here; telepathy is definitely one of her strong suits."

Saria's blank-faced response was densely coated with sarcasm. "I suppose I'll just have to do, then."

Nanaki grinned as X sheepishly tried to retract his statement. "I didn't mean to... you're very good with telepathy and..."

Saria crossed her arms and frowned. X was flustered, and Nanaki's amusement made his apologetic embarrassment worse.

X sighed. "Saria, you're a vital member of this team, especially because of your wisdom, knowledge of Hyrule's history, combative prowess, healing abilities, and certainly your telepathic skills as well." He smiled warmly. "Now, since the proper cycle of me making an ass of myself is complete, let's regroup with the others so we can _all _find a solution."

Saria wore a triumphant grin, and X made physical contact with both of them so they could return to the heart of Echidnopolis, hopefully undetected, to reunite with the rest of the team.


	83. The Island Falls

Author's Notes: For the love of all that is sacred, it took me FOREVER to finish this chapter. It took about 2500 words longer than I thought it would. I would have split it into two chapters, but the entire rest of the story is outlined at this point, and I simply didn't want to mess with that. If it was a true, publishable fiction, you can bet your sweet stars I would have made the extra effort. My apologies if any of my internal writer's rage worked its way into this one. Even MORE apologies to anyone who was looking forward to the 7 chapters I said I would post by the New Year, since this one only makes 4. Chapter 84, 'Corruption of Life,' still needs some work, but Chapter 85, 'The Emerald Challenge,' is fortunately all done and has been for a while, so I'll post it very shortly after 84 is finished.

This is a long one, so get some popcorn, or M&M's, or whatever makes you happy. And Happy New Year to all you AWESOME writers and readers!

**Chapter 83 – The Island Falls**

The underground research facility hidden right under the noses of the Echidna people was better guarded than they had expected. The security system shutdown had triggered the release of what seemed like hundreds of mutated soldiers that had been kept hidden in stasis in another location. Now the many long, sheet metal walls were crawling with various abominations of echidna soldiers. The two teams, consisting of Shadow and Rouge in a pair, and then the trio of Julie-su, Knuckles and Naminé, were tiring quickly.

Julie-su had long since run out of ammo for her Hydra shotgun when they were swarmed by the frothing, goblin-like soldiers with blades jutting from their hands and arms. They had been blocked in at all sides twice. The first time, the pink echidna liberally gunned them down, not wanting to risk the certain injuries that would result from melee. The second time, Julie-su expended her final shot and then used the long barreled shotgun to bludgeon them. Her arms were bleeding from several lacerations.

Knuckles was in charge of taking out the larger, armored ones. They were too unnaturally overgrown for the Guardian to easily strike their heads, but a solid blow to the knees hyperextended and cracked the legs of the giants, allowing Knuckles to jam the pointed bone extensions on his hands into their faces. The force behind the Guardian's punches either knocked them unconscious or killed them, but not before he took his share of fierce blows. His small, black nose was bleeding, and his sternum was exceptionally sore. He wondered if any of his ribs were broken.

The threat of bullets and energy weapon rounds was Naminé's task to neutralize. She would slip into the walls, then slip out, slicing at the arms of the giant Echidna soldiers with the Diamond Mind keyblade. Instead of causing physical direct harm, the transparent weapon injected a cold, crystalline substance into their arms, crippling their ability to use any limb that the keyblade touched. When Knuckles left a giant soldier unconscious but alive, Naminé possessed the creature, using it as a living shield as well as a source of ammunition, but it only gave the two Echidnas a short respite, and less so due to the multiple avenues they were being attacked from. More concerning was Naminé's fatigue. The use of her keyblade and the frequent phasing into bodies and walls was taxing her ability to keep form. Her outline and physical features occasionally blurred, and her emotions were becoming fragile after suffering the pain of the multiple giants she possessed.

Julie-su huffed with exhaustion, trying to calm her adrenaline as Naminé used another giant to mow down a group of the smaller mutants. The pink hedgehog used the diversion to grab one of the discarded submachine guns and eject its clip - most of the bullets, as with all the others, had already been expended. The bodies did not contain extra ammunition, either. Energy weapons were few in number among the bodies, and they were locked with four-digit codes and number panels on the undersides. Despite the inability to acquire much ammo, she was thankful for what little she could get. Without it, she would be bleeding too much to be helpful. Julie-su popped the clip back into place, removed the safety, and used one of the walls to prop herself on her feet.

Naminé was forced out of another body, falling backward without an audible collision against the metal floor. The hunched, twitching creatures withdrew their blades from the chest of Naminé's host. Julie-su ejected a three-round burst at each one, managing to lodge bullets into their foreheads. They slumped to the ground and stopped moving.

"Are you alright?" Knuckles backed up, going down to one knee to catch his breath. When he looked back to the girl in the white dress, he could see that she was barely moving, and her body was distorted. Knuckles had to rub his eyes to make sure it wasn't just his own fatigue blurring his eyes. After clearing his face and catching his breath, he could clearly recognize her haziness, but Naminé slowly began to rise.

"I'm ok," she reassured the Guardian. "I'm just... a little tired. I don't think I can't possess any more of those things."

"How long does it take you to recover?"

Namine paused for a moment. "Normally a few hours," she concluded, "but the Master Emerald has an enhancing influence on the levels of Lifestream that I can absorb. I should be able to recover quickly enough on the run."

"Don't do anything too reckless," Knuckles said to her.

"A little late for that," she twirled her keyblade with a fierce grin that looked out of place with her petite features.

"Enough chit-chat," Julie-su hurried them.

The three of them, under the bright red alarm lights and the blaring sirens, moved deeper into the facility of twisted echidna experiments.

Shadow and Rouge had fared more easily, much to the hedgehog's irritation. Having encountered only a few small cadres of soldiers, Shadow was able to use chaos control, allowing them to swiftly end the battle. Without Rouge's brutally powerful kicks and lightning speed, he knew he still would have managed, but perhaps not unscathed. It also allowed him to use chaos control for a shorter period of time. Shadow turned back to one of the demented echidna goblins lying in a heap, its neck broken from Rouge's heel. The hedgehog found himself especially appreciative of her ruthlessness.

"What, are you reminiscing?" she teased, but only half joking.

"Let's move on," the black hedgehog concurred with her.

Rouge sprinted and Shadow skated, making swift progress through the halls that merely blended together without distinguishing characteristics as they progressed. At each intersection, they briefly stopped and took cover on opposite sides, careful not to run into an ambush. At one of the intersections, Rouge jerked her head back just as a barrage of bullets collided with the corner she hid behind.

"My side's clear," Shadow informed. "I'll use chaos control again."

"No, you'll get too tired if you use it every time," insisted Rouge.

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "You underestimate me."

"I _know_ you, Shadow. If we're going to fight Balk, you need as much strength as you can get."

The black hedgehog growled as more gunshots collided with the corner next to his ears. The vibration rang unpleasantly in his head. "Fine!" he shouted with a scowl. "I'll draw their fire!"

Shadow sprang upward and spun, letting his feet collide with the wall near the ceiling. Two guards with shotguns were leading several of the hunched, blade-armed ones. As they aimed and fired, Shadow was already flying to the other wall. Rouge dashed out and took out the legs of the closest one, spinning with a follow up to his exposed head, cracking his skull with a spatter of dark, discolored blood. The soldier's machine gun fell right into Rouge's grip, and she stepped back as she blasted the nearest creeping mutant with hot metal, downing him in a single blow as the other large guard fell backwards from Shadow's aerial kicks.

Rouge yelped as a massive hand encompassed her thigh and flung her against the far wall, bludgeoning her head and numbing her senses. The next thing she saw was sharp blades thrust toward her neck and chest, and she instinctively grabbed them. They sliced through her gloves and stained her palms red in seconds. The creature's head exploded blood from the back side, and it slumped over.

"Get up!" Shadow shouted to her, unable to keep up with the creeping mutants, dozens of them, all of them with razor sharp daggers and knives protruding where hands should have been. He was furious, knowing that he could defeat them with chaos powers but also well aware of how much it would drain his strength to hold time in place long enough to deal with all of them. His shotgun clicked without a bang, so Shadow threw the empty weapon at the nearest feral echidna. The creature wildly slashed it aside.

Rouge was on her feet, bleeding as she backtracked, but Shadow then saw her abruptly stop. "We're blocked in!" she cried.

"No choice, then," Shadow snarled. He unclipped his golden bands and tossed them to Rouge, and the adrenaline surge livened his heart and mind. As his power began swelling and their space grew smaller, a bright glow also grew in might, penetrating his white gloves with energy. Shadow stared with confusion and hesitance at the golden triangles shining up at him. The symbol branded on his hand by the cloaked humanoid seemed to empower him, bracing him from the fatigue that usually came from unlocking his golden bands. The black hedgehog swore that the symbol even had a faint voice, speaking in whispers that he couldn't comprehend. Air began to encircle Shadow's front side, creating fierce winds without knowing how he generated them.

"Get close to me!" shouted the hedgehog. Rouge didn't argue, but she hesitated to hold on to him with her bloodied hands. Shadow noticed and took hold of her wrists, not fully understanding the power that coursed through him, making him feel lighter, faster. His eyes perceived tiny details of the creatures closing in on him, and their scent grew even more repugnant. The hairs on his arm sensed the direction and force of shifting winds around him.

"Rouge, give me your other arm," Shadow commanded as blades of visible air slashed in front of him like hundreds of invisible scissors slicing together. He felt Rouge's skin and gripped her firmly.

"_Chaos... Aeroga!_"

There was no perceivable transition between his stillness and his movement. Winds parted before him with violence, slashing the abominations into ribbons, throwing their corpses and every drop of blood aside. Even the solid metal walls suffered deep lacerations when he neared them, screeching with violent echoes of torn metal. Shadow could not perceive how he achieved such blinding speed, nor did he understand how his legs followed so rapidly, automatic and separate of his thought. His footfalls were as impossibly fast as Sonic the Hedgehog's, yet that was not how he was designed. All of this movement, this strange power, was a mixture of the chaos he knew and the unfamiliar golden light on the back of his hand. The winds themselves seemed to answer his call when he had needed them.

Rouge's cries of pain tore him from his trance, and the winds around him dissipated, disrupting his balance until he resumed his familiar skating motion, then to a stop.

Shadow caught Rouge from falling forward, gently helping her keep balance. He observed her motions carefully. Rouge's hands had stopped bleeding, but both arms hung loosely at her side, and she gritted her teeth with angry moans.

"They're dislocated," Shadow grimly stated. "It's my fault. I'll..."

"No!" Rouge retorted angrily.

They were far clear of enemies, so Rouge leaned her head against a wall for a moment, gasping through the pain. She propped her left shoulder on the cold metal.

"Rouge, don't, I can..."

She slammed her arm, and there was an audible pop. A scream of pain followed, and she cursed several times.

"Rouge!"

"What?" she roared. Her hardness melted when she saw the rare kindness in his eyes. Rouge tried to speak, but between the pain and the tension between them, she uttered nothing more than broken syllables.

"Lay down," Shadow said gently to her.

Slowly, Rouge crouched and painfully reached a lying position on back. Shadow bent her remaining dislocated elbow so her hand pointed to the ceiling, and he put his other hand on top of her shoulder. With a quick, firm squeeze, the joint returned to its place, still with a pop and pain, but Rouge's reaction was considerably more withheld.

The white bat squeezed her eyes firmly for a moment before whispering a quiet thank you.

"Can you manage?" he asked.

Rouge nodded. "It'll hurt for a good week, but I'm ok."

"Alright," Shadow said, looking toward the tunnel in the direction they had been traveling. They discovered that it looked less cobbled together than the walls and ceilings of cheap tin before. It was a more solid, dense metal. Thick circuitry lined the bottom corners of the path, and it was the only place where Shadow's newfound power, _Aeroga_, hadn't reached, fortunately keeping the electrical systems intact. At a less chaotic pace, they hurried forward and began discussing what Shadow had just done.

The path wound on considerably longer, but there was a strange absence of intersections unlike before. It was obvious by the placement of security cameras and the quality of polished metal surfaces and built-in halogen lighting that they were proceeding into a vital area, but what was contained at their destination wasn't alluded to beyond the fact that it obviously needed a great deal of energy from the city's power grid. Shadow wondered how a facility underground could have been operational without anyone noticing the additional drain to the electrical supply. The approximate half of Echidna culture who fondly embraced technology were too meticulous for that degree of neglect, and even if Balk controlled an agent who manipulated the numbers and records, there would still be an obvious trail in the water reservoirs and windmills that couldn't be concealed. The only independent source of power he could legally harvest from would be a private windmill. Shadow knew that wasn't likely either, because the reasons for needing one would have been clearly documented and inspected before permission was granted.

Around a sharp bend, where the long cables and wires converged around the edges of a circular, interlocking door, Rouge and Shadow skidded to a halt. They glanced at each other. Shadow noticed that Rouge was slightly out of breath, but he allowed his concern to go unspoken.

"On three?" she pointed to the door.

They backed up a short distance, Shadow further than Rouge, and Rouge gave the count. Their full sprint burst led into flying leaps, colliding into the door with both feet simultaneously, synced by practiced teamwork. A loud vibration slammed down the metal corridor, ringing in their heads uncomfortably as the sound bounced back and forth many times.

They tried a second time, successful in nothing but making their ears ring more than before.

"Stand back, I'm going to try something," Shadow ordered. As Rouge gave him room, the hedgehog stared at the back of his hand, focusing his thoughts intently on the symbol that he knew was there. It soon responded, glowing gold once again. Shadow still felt some distrust toward his unwilling branding, but he had clearly watched blades of wind rip through the ranks of the repulsive mutants, freeing he and Rouge from the horde of horrors that was likely still after them. Could he generate them a second time, or would it tire him like his chaos powers did?

Shadow thrust his palm at the door, and a gush of wind hit the door hard enough to produce a faint gong, much smaller than the blows with their feet. Growling, Shadow tried to remember the sensation of wind slicing in front of him. With greater precision, the hedgehog slowly extended his arm out, fashioning his hand into a claw. Winds converged in front of him as he wanted, creating swirls with the dust that had gathered in the tunnel over time. The air was sphere-like, pressing against an invisible container that Shadow was unsure of, not truly knowing how he commanded it. He raised his arm slowly, and the trails of dust followed. Shadow watched them as he clawed downward, slashing in front of him. The contained winds sliced as well, mimicking his motion, impacting the interlocked seal with echoing screeches that caused their eyes to water. Shadow repeated his action several times, tearing at the dense shielding that blocked their way, but he found himself tiring unusually fast.

Though the door was scratched, it was not nearly enough to force it open.

"Here," Rouge said carefully, pulling his gold ring bracers from her bosom. "You should put these back on."

He nodded in thanks and replaced them, feeling a sense of calm return to his body almost instantly.

"We should wait for Naminé," Shadow eventually suggested as he regained his balance. "She should be able to pass through the door and disable the locking mechanism."

"How will they find us?" Rouge asked him.

"Naminé can sense my presence. She'll come to us eventually."

The answer seemed to satisfy Rouge, but she tensely rubbed the white fur on the back of her head as she dropped to the cold steel and rested her sore arms on her knees. "I don't want to get attacked in a corner like this, not when they have guns."

"It can't be helped," Shadow crossed his arms. He stared down the corridor as far as he could from their position, and he turned back to her when he was certain that the echidna abominations weren't near. "This door is too thick for to break with anything less than a chaos blast, and that kind of force would collapse the tunnel and kill us."

She nodded, frowning. After a long pause, she sighed. "I guess we wait and hope, then."

Shadow stood guard for several minutes, contemplating what threshold of danger would necessitate the use of his chaos powers again. More than a few of the ones with fire arms, definitely, but how many of the smaller, melee oriented ones would rightly prompt drastic action? The black hedgehog switched between battle planning and his previous curiosity about the energy source keeping Balk's facility functional. With a twinge of unease, he remembered the 'materia' that Naminé had discussed with him. Perhaps it was those stolen offspring of the emeralds, materia, that powered the place as well as enhancing Balk's abilities. If energy could be drawn from them like burning coal or radioactive fission, then he would easily go unnoticed by the rest of the Echidna Council.

Shadow turned his head toward Rouge when he heard the metal click of her chest plate being removed. Her hand immediately went to the scars on her sternum and the top of her breasts. She rubbed the circular rough patches with absent mindedness as she held her eyes firmly shut.

"Do they hurt?" Shadow asked. Connecting with his glance for only a moment, she nodded.

The hedgehog frowned unhappily. "I already know that you blame me for them, but... I still want to know what happened," Shadow coaxed her gently. "That is, if you wish to tell me."

Rouge stared at him for a moment before tucking her knees closer to her, narrowing her glance in a way that conveyed both rage and terrible loss at the same time. Shadow could already see that, past her clenched fists, she was struggling to not let her emotions bring her to tears.

"We... GUN, that is, were sent in a squad to arrest a group of weapons dealers. Our intel was bad," she shrugged, trying to shake the intensity of the memory, but it clung to her shoulders and neck, making her shiver. "Headquarters was certain that it was a small, independent group, but we found out much too late that they were part of a much larger organization, one we were already aware of. We rushed in with a dozen of us, more than enough to handle the few thugs and the leader of the operation, just as a huge convoy arrived led by the much more threatening syndicate. We were outnumbered three to one, flanked, and left without escape routes."

Shadow's jaw twisted to one side. Guilt racked him, striking him hard in the stomach, but Rouge continued without hesitation as she recapped more of the details.

"I still don't know where the blast came from, but it destroyed my cover and threw me back. Somehow I made it to my feet, but as a Mobian among Terrans, I was an obvious target. A heavy machine gun was mounted on the back of one of the syndicate's armored vehicles, and that's where most of my scars came from. I've never felt anything like it, the burning, stabbing pain of being pierced through, how it won't stop or subside or weaken. Every instinct in me to fight just... evaporated. I reverted to a pathetic, primal state where my only desire was to scream. One of my lungs was filling with blood, but I kept trying to scream anyway."

Despite the horror of remembering the injuries that almost ended her life, her tears were still contained, but the long silence that followed broke her. Shadow knew that her story was now reaching the most agonizing part, the source of all her anger and hate and suffering. The hedgehog searched his mind for something that could possibly be worse than facing death by exsanguination and found nothing.

"The only thing that calmed me," she sobbed, clinging to the cold wall, "was when I saw... I saw Topaz's face hover over mine."

_Topaz._ Shadow shut his eyes and felt remorse so terrible, he felt it sting his own eyes. He remembered having met the Terran woman a few times. She was bold, strong, and had bonded with Rouge unlike the other Terrans, who were wary of outsiders.

Rouge slammed her fist against the metal, half screaming as she did. "She didn't care about risking herself or fighting off the enemy. She only cared about protecting me. She dragged me to safety, but before we were fully behind cover, I watched her, the first Terran I ever trusted and called my friend, take a bullet in the throat. When she fell, all I could do was let her stare into my eyes until she bled out and died."

A long silence followed. Shadow wanted to ease her sorrow, but his abandonment from the GUN organization may as well have been abandonment of her. How she had tolerated being near him for this long eluded him.

"Backup eventually came and we won the firefight, but it was too late for Topaz. She was long gone, killed by a single round of hot metal. I don't even know how I survived. The last image that still lingers with me is being pulled away from her dead body, her eyes still glistening, and reaching out to her. I didn't wake up for six days after that, and when I finally did wake, every moment of my coma had felt like nightmares. I had thought I was dead and in hell."

Shadow squeezed his palm against his head so hard that it caused pain. "Rouge," he growled through his teeth. "I'm... I've been terrible to you. This is my fault."

A small, distraught whimper escaped her. "I've believed that for quite a while. I know that if you were there, you could have protected us. You chose to leave, and I blamed you for what happened to me, and to Topaz. Part of me hated you."

Unable to defend his past actions, Shadow spoke honestly and truly with what little he could promise. "I'm here now, and I'll protect you now," Shadow bowed his head. "That's all I can do."

Rouge sniffed, wearing a frail smile beneath her reddened eyes. She rubbed at the moisture that dampened the white fur on her cheeks, wincing as it strained her fragile shoulders. "I know," she said. "I'm glad that you're here."

They waited patiently, and before long, Shadow heard the clamor of guns and blades clashing. He and Rouge rushed toward the sound, but by the time they arrived, the many echidna abominations had been defeated. With a series of quick glances, Shadow acknowledged the many bloody cuts and scrapes on Knuckles and Julie-su, most of them manageable, but for those that were more severe, such as the gash above Julie-su's collarbone, the black hedgehog turned to Naminé.

Shadow explained their situation and suggested that now would be the wisest time to heal, which Naminé performed quickly. The blonde spirit girl could not aid them as much as she would have liked after the drain of combat and physical possession of the mutant guards, but she mended enough of the torn sinews in Knuckles and Julie-su, and she managed to lessen Rouge's discomfort from her dislocated shoulders.

After healing the others, Naminé stopped and regarded Shadow for a moment, glancing toward his arm, then to the scratched metal door.

"Your Triforce powers," the spirit girl in the white dressed observed with intensity livening her face. "They've awakened."

"Yes," Shadow answered bluntly. "Can you get through and find a way to unlock the door?"

"Of course," she obliged, grinning. With her transparent, silver ribboned keyblade firmly grasped in both hands, a bright ray collided with the round portal, and the interlocking mechanism absorbed the light, severing the magnetic bonds inside. The curved center of the door separated, and then the two halves of the circular barrier of steel swung into crevasses in the floor and ceiling.

"Handy," commented Knuckles as he adjusted his mechanical eye and his leather hat. "I think I need one of those."

"Sorry," Naminé warmly responded. "One of a kind."

The path became narrow and as rounded as the door they had just entered, but they soon emerged into a dimly lit arena of nightmares. Several stories deep and as wide as a stadium, cylindrical glass containment chambers were arranged in the hundreds, all filled with a translucent, greenish fluid. Nearly half of the tanks were empty, but the rest of them were filled with sentient beings, mostly echidna, but other Mobians were trapped as well. A small number of tubes and wires connected those inside with the machines that imprisoned them.

"...the hell?" Knuckles gaped, and next to him, Julie-su's arms went limp. The pink echidna groaned in discomfort, barely able to keep from retching what little was in her stomach.

"My... _god_," Rouge's mouth hung wide, stunned by the sight. Her hands found themselves forced in front of her mouth afterward, quickly growing ill.

"We've got to get them out of there," Knuckles urged as he approached the nearest one along a walkway of metal grating. However, the first one he reached was already dead. One part of its head was swollen, and both bone and brain were protruding. At the small computer terminal in front of it, the words '_recovery failed_' quietly flashed. The next tank's inhabitant appeared old and frail, but it was as hideous as those skulking creatures with blades attached to their arms. When Shadow observed it more closely, two milky eyes blinked open and stared back at him.

"These is where those mutant echidnas were created," commented the hedgehog. Anger had seeped into his voice, and he looked down to where the small computer screen blinked with the words '_recovery completed.'_

"I don't understand," Rouge cried, counting each row and column, eventually determining, with a terrible taste of bile souring her mouth, that there were enough containers to hold over five thousand innocent people. "How could they take so many without anyone noticing?"

"Because they all died before they were moved here," discovered Knuckles as he pressed his hand against the glass of a particularly small echidna boy.

The others joined him, all noticing that the boy had a leg that was clearly broken, but that he appeared normal otherwise.

"I remember being there," recalled the Guardian. "It was terrible. A car hit a shard of broken glass on the road, and the tire blew. They lost control and veered to the sidewalk, hitting this kid. Damion was his name. It wasn't the blow that killed him, but the internal bleeding. He suffered for almost two days before finally succumbing."

"Then... his body," Julie-su realized with utter revulsion. Her mechanized hair extensions rattled with a shiver. "It must have been taken before the funeral."

"Or after it," Shadow observed. Though it was a morbid idea, they all concluded that a grave robbery was just as possible.

"Then," Rouge bit her lip, "we should cut the power. If they're already dead, then they deserve peace."

Shadow nodded with an affirmative hum. He nodded as he paced further down, granting none of the violated corpses more than a brief stare. "We have to confirm that they're all dead, first," he added. "Once we expose and, if necessary, kill Balk, we can make sure that's taken care of. For now, we need to keep moving."

It was difficult to tear themselves away from the atrocity that had been committed. As horrified as it was, parts of them needed to stare, to allow it to sink in that what they saw had truly been done by one of their own kind.

As soon as those who needed it managed to gather themselves, Shadow led along the obvious path, diagonal to their entrance, leading to the opposite end of the vault of corpses. There, another sealed metal bulkhead like the one they had come through appeared to be the only other exit. Naminé again unsealed the door, though with a hint of strain on the glittering light that composed her.

"You should rest inside me," Shadow suggested. Naminé hesitated at the offer, then thanked him for his kindness and carefully merged with the black hedgehog. Shadow's many black and red spines shuddered at discovering her fatigue, but he quickly adjusted, feeling at east with her presence again.

As they passed through the next narrow, circular corridor, Shadow's shivers renewed with disgust.

It was another vault, but one much smaller and more intricate than the previous one. The tanks were massive and filled with the same fluid as before, but numerous contraptions, tubes and wires were fed into them from the top. Within the stasis tanks was exactly what they had feared.

Shadow cautiously approached the nearest glass chamber simply labeled 'Number 9'. Many of the thin, transparent tubes and metal devices that hung loosely in the liquid were embedded into the flesh of the figure inside, preserving him. To say it resembled Balk was a gross failure in accuracy. The creature cocooned within the huge tank was none other than Balk. Eight other tanks, completing the three by three arrangement, were much the same. Though the others shuddered away, appalled by the perversion of life that had been created at this facility, Shadow forced himself to stare at the faces of each clone as he passed them by. Each was identical as far as he could tell. It wasn't until he reached the center tank, number 5, that he froze.

"Shadow?" Namine called and hovered to his side. "Shadow, are you alright?"

"This one is empty," the rasp of his voice filled with anger. "It's the only one."

Julie-su growled to hide her obvious discomfort. "How many of him are already out there?"

The clang of metal on metal tensed all of them, and their eyes darted toward the bulkhead that had sealed behind them.

"_Wait!_" Naminé shouted inside Shadow's head. "_One of my comrades is with them. They are allies_."

The black hedgehog remained defensive, but Naminé gently calmed his mind, easing Shadow's skepticism. He trusted her judgment and relayed her message to the others.

Naminé did not need her keyblade to open the door. It was enveloped in a black energy, then forced apart violently in a startling smash of metal and rock. From the wrecked opening, another Lifestream spirit emerged, just as ephemeral in appearance to Naminé. His hair was long and white, and he carried a massive blade, hooked like a fang. He resembled a Terran, but his grin revealed two extremely sharp canine teeth, and on the top of his head sticking out between his white locks, he had pointed ears like that of a dog or wolf, not entirely dissimilar to Shadow's.

The being introduced himself as Inuyasha. After him emerged a shrouded Terran girl, still rippling with the same dark energy that had destroyed the door. The wolf with fur like flames was next, followed by an oddly pale Terran with greenish hair and clothes, another Terran covered in complex and ornate, pale green armor, and lastly...

"Sonic," Shadow snarled.

The blue hedgehog couldn't resist giving a sly grin. "Can't say I'm surprised to find you here."

Shadow growled under his breath in response.

The Terran clad in armor approached, and doing so prompted an urge in Shadow to kneel in respect, but he resisted, planting his feet before the motion could even begin. He realized then that it was Naminé's urge to kneel, not his.

"My name is Mega Man X, though just X will do," the armored man introduced himself and then named his other comrades, Nanaki, Saria, and Raven. X's bright green eyes then carefully inspected the black hedgehog with the crimson streaks. "You're Shadow the Hedgehog, born on the space vessel ARK, are you not?"

"How do you know of me?" Shadow demanded.

"I'm a friend, trust me," X answered him. "As for how I know you, I'm an artificial being from another world with a great interest in the culture and technology of other races. I'm known as a _reploid_, and since the ARK is one of the most interesting technological _and _cultural creations of this planet, I've studied every aspect of it that I could, most specifically you, and Sonic has told me some about you as well."

"Hmph," the dark hedgehog growled toward the blue one. "Figures."

"Ignore that for now," X insisted. They briefly introduced one another, wasting no time in any pleasantries beyond giving their names. "Now, we have a common enemy. I'm assuming that you've encountered some pretty twisted things down here, the clones notwithstanding?"

"That's an understatement if I ever heard one," the pink echidna with the shotgun said, her eyes terrified.

"Fair enough," X nodded, unable to keep himself from glancing at the many clones of the old echidna in the tubes.

Naminé peeled away from Shadow's body, but only from the torso up. She inclined her head in the best sign of respect that she could. Shadow could see that her sudden appearance had somewhat startled Mega Man X.

"Forgive my rudeness, Hero of Time," she spoke more softly than she normally did, which perturbed Shadow. "I am Naminé, wielder of the keyblade Diamond Mind and your faithful ally. I have no wish to interrupt or slow our urgent tasks, but you must be told, Shadow the Hedgehog bears the mark of the Triforce on his hand - he is the Sage of Wind."

The statement riled him with such anger that he forced Naminé out of his body. When the disorientation of the act faded, he saw that all of the newcomers except for Sonic and Inuyasha were intently staring at him with mixtures of confusion, surprise, and excitement. The attention agitated him further.

"Show me," X ordered Shadow.

Reluctantly, and with a furious glare at Naminé, Shadow removed the white glove on his right hand and showed the Triforce mark to the reploid and the others. When the symbol exuded a faint wisp of golden light, the fire wolf, the forest girl, the dark sorceress and the Hero of Time all held out their matching markings. Shadow spotted the difference in the golden triangles on both X and Raven. The bottom left of hers grew brighter than all the others, and the bottom right of X's did the same. It was clear that the machine man was a leader, but did that mean that the Terran girl cloaked in blue was also of authority?

"We can explain more later," X offered, "but for now we need to share info."

"Shadow, Knux," Sonic approached them. "Give us the quick version. What the heck is going on here?"

Knuckles growled. "Short version, huh? Balk is a corrupt echidna senator who's been abusing the controversial cloning technology that he's been trying to legalize and expand. He's been infusing himself and others with energies from the Master Emerald, and possibly something called materia, creating monsters out of corpse while increasing his own powers. Each clone he makes reduces the negative effects of the emerald's powers without taking away the strength he's getting from them. Balk's pretty much super powered now. He's incredibly fast and strong, even if he doesn't look it."

"Is that all now?" X tried to lighten the situation. His disgust toward the abuse of materia and its side-effects was difficult to conceal.

"He also tried to saw Shadow's arm off."

The black hedgehog growled and turned away, but a moment later, Mega Man X interjected and drew his attention back by asking where Shadow had received the mark.

The black hedgehog glanced with disinterest at the golden marking that penetrated his glove. "Probably from the same shrouded jackass you got it from."

"Shrouded?" Raven asked warily, wondering if it was the same cloaked fighter from Gaia's distant future. She turned to Saria, then to X, unsure if she should reveal the secret.

"It's alright," X said to her. "The masked time traveler doesn't seem to be our enemy. If you think he needs to stay secret, then he can, for now at least."

Shadow's teeth were squeezing together, annoyed and having no reservations about showing it. "You've got one minute to come up with a strategy before I leave to take care of this disgusting cretin," he pointed at the tank with the nearest clone of Balk.

X's response was immediate. "We believe that, even now, Balk or someone else extremely dangerous may be siphoning energy from the Master Emerald. We don't know how they got in to the Master Emerald's cave, and we can't duplicate their entry without knowing their method. Even the Lifestream spirits can't penetrate the electrified metal cage or the Mako-infected rock without risking injury or destruction altogether. We need the electronic code to get in, and the only way we can do that is to use enhanced telepathy to get the parts of it from various members of Echidnopolis."

"What do you mean, 'enhanced telepathy'?" Naminé asked him.

"Pool our strengths together and scan all of the Floating Island," X answered, though he wasn't certain how effective their combined strengths would be. I already found a single digit from one guard, but there are more. I just don't know how many."

Knuckles, for the first time in many hours, wore a somewhat pleased expression. "There's seven, of course, one for each of the emeralds. And I can do even better than that."

Julie-su reached for his arm. "You know where to get the rest of the code? You never told me."

The positivity vanished from Knuckles, and became gently stern. "If I had told you, then you could be used against me if I was ever kidnapped and tortured. And you know how awful I am at lying."

Julie-su lips turned downward after learning of the secret her husband had kept. She averted her eyes and tightened her jaw, but they both knew that it wasn't the time to argue over the matter.

"My number is 3," Knuckles revealed. "I always have a number. For the others, two will be held by members of the Echidna High Council, one more by a member of the police force, a sixth by a member of the merchant's guilds, and the last one is held within a random but highly guarded computer system."

Raven scowled at the last one. "Telepathy won't get us that one."

"Doesn't matter," Knuckles grinned widely. "I went to the bank early this morning where the computer part of the code was given. It's also 3."

"And how did you discover that?" Shadow pressed him.

The Guardian pointed at his mechanical eye, widening its flesh and blood lid as he did. "If the High Council knew that it was capable of hacking hard drives at a distance and displaying screenshots directly to my optic nerves, they'd rip out both of my eyes. It's Terran-made."

"Impressive," X commented as Shadow harrumphed. Julie-su, on the other hand, was not impressed at the number of secrets that had been kept from her.

With three pieces of the code already obtained, the telepaths decided to test their combined strengths to find the other four digits. It was quickly decided that Raven should lead, as she was the most skilled telepath. X was designated as the backup in case the sorceress should tire.

Saria sat next to X at a slight angle, making the beginnings of a small circle. Without speaking, her inquisitive glance at Nanaki was understood by the wolf, and he sat behind her, giving her some of his warmth.

Inuyasha crossed his arms and leaned against a wall not far away. "This isn't something I can help with," he grumbled, obviously bothered by the fact.

Sonic did the same, but with a less pessimistic expression than the Lifestream spirit. Naminé, however, was hesitant, looking toward Shadow.

"What?" the black hedgehog inquired.

"I'm telepathic, but I've used up much of my energy just getting here," she spoke nervously to him. "I don't think I can be of assistance without you."

Shadow caught the somewhat uncomfortable glance that Rouge gave him at his side, but he had to ignore it. As much as he had hurt her, Shadow knew she would understand and be able to suppress any jealousy she might have about the pale girl in the white dress being allowed into his thoughts.

"Alright," Shadow agreed.

As Shadow entered the circle, Naminé carefully passed through the barriers of his flesh and joined with him. Again, Shadow felt her weariness influencing his own fatigue, but he adjusted faster than the last time. The black hedgehog narrowed his eyes as Knuckles joined and became the fifth physical member in their group.

"I know every single person on the Floating Island," he declared with authority. "My mind reading is pretty limited, probably nothing like you all, but you'll find who you're looking for much faster if I'm with you."

Raven nodded to him. "That's a good idea. I should be able to work your mind in, even if you're not telepathic. Let's begin, then."

Each of them pressed their left palms against the face of the person on their left. Then, slowly, the five of them, six if you counted Naminé, did the same with their right hands.

Raven's consciousness dominated over the rest of them. Her clear, cool presence drifted into each of them. X's mechanical processing surged into them like the rigidity of a computer, but a swath of powerful emotions came with them. Naminé's presence was subtle, hiding amongst them, revealing little of her, like a small breeze at the foot of their combined thoughts. Combined with Shadow, his presence introduced pure power, and a great deal of anger. Raven and X managed to contain and direct his ferocity toward their goal.

Saria's telepathy seemed absent, but when Raven prodded her presence, her head jerked to one side and began throbbing, as if it had been slugged with a vicious left hook. Raven took the brunt of the mental blow, but the others felt it as well. Even Nanaki seemed affected by the Sage of Forest's psychic outburst.

"Sorry," she grimaced, possibly offended. "Don't try to single me out. I'll back you up as soon as we start the search."

"Alright," Raven accepted Saria's standoffishness. The sorceress watched the Kokiri woman for a moment. Her eyes blinked more rapidly than normal. What was going on in her mind?

X jolted everyone's mind with an heavy pulse, refocusing them on their goal. With the Sage of Darkness leading, everyone's presence and thoughts escaped the cold metal of the grating beneath them, pressing through the moist soil of the Floating Island's underbelly and into the smooth silver reflections of Echidnopolis's many skyscrapers. It was dreamlike, the way their thoughts permeated the environment, spilling out into the air. They could sense the lingering emotions in every stepped-upon sidewalk, every building entrance, and on the seats of every parked vehicle.

"_That way_," Knuckles said, and everyone understood where he meant. Their collective consciousness headed toward the High Council hall, a tall tower made with whitish stone rather than metal. Regal figures of Echidna history were carved with perfect detail into the pillars between windows, and each one held an item of significance; a tome, a scepter, a sword, and so on.

A presence battled Raven for control. It boomed loudly, "_No sightseeing!_" All of them were thrust into the building's insides, where they had little time to admire the darkwood floors or the etchings in the walls. Raven was still leader with Knuckles as her advisor, but Saria was driving them forward with an endless surge of might. They pace at which they scanned every inhabitant accelerated, and it took less than a second using X's method of overlapping searches for the emerald passwords to determine if mind they invaded had a piece of the code or not.

It wasn't until many floors up in the building that they found the first one. A wrinkly, frail echidna woman with graying maroon fur. She was momentarily stunned when they dove into her thoughts, but they found it, the number 2. On the floor above, only moments later, they found another. It was Knuckles's father, Locke. Knuckles voiced his dislike of prodding at his father's thoughts, but he had no power to prevent the others from digging out the digit 5.

Despite Saria's forceful propulsion, it was several minutes before they could find the one that belonged to the remaining police officer. It was an experienced cop, neither old nor young. He was walking the streets in his uniform, apparently on duty, and he had to stop, dizzied when the digit was pried from his memories. X noted the number 4 before moving on.

Only the merchant was left. Knuckles wasn't able to direct them as effectively for the last piece of the code. The shopping district amidst the heart of Echidnopolis's busiest streets was vast and hardly contained to that region alone. Businesses of all kinds were scattered in all corners of the metropolis, and with a contingent of employees, there was no telling if the vendor they needed was actually at work. Worse, an outdoor shopping mall of glossy white tents spread for almost half a mile in a grassy park. Knuckles explained that they set up one weekend per month, and that their timing couldn't be worse.

"_Faster!_" Saria hollered.

Raven was overtaken. The rest of them had trouble keeping up, almost unable to maintain the cohesion of their unified telepathic front as the Sage of Forest dragged them into minds with rapid speed. Each echidna whose mind they penetrated nearly fell over from the violent disruption of thought.

Within the laboratory where their physical bodies remained, Raven, Shadow, Knuckles and Mega Man X winced as if their temples were burning. Every lancing leap that Saria did from mind to mind was like being dragged by their faces. Rouge and the others could only watch and worry at the strained expressions being made by the telepaths.

X gritted his teeth and nearly broke the circle, but Saria's voiced reached out to him and only him. She isolated their telepathy while still guiding the search. It was an incredible display of skill, and it only made X more cautious.

"_We don't have the time_," she said. "_Part of it is me being a Kokiri, but there are other things I can't tell you, things I don't completely understand, myself. I know I have no right to ask, but please, I need you to trust me."_

X hesitated. The man in the tattered brown cloak was one undesirable secret withheld from him already. How many more would he have to endure?

"_Fine,"_ X returned. It was cold, but Saria accepted it and continued at a slightly less brutal pace.

The final number wasn't among the tent merchants or the nearby businesses. It wasn't until they encountered a young man, apparently the owner, in a small, relaxed cafe with many earthy colors decorating it. He tripped and barely caught himself as a 6 was extracted from him.

All five of them broke their search simultaneously, disorienting them as their consciousnesses shot back underground to their bodies. Raven's head throbbed, and X watched Shadow, Knuckles, and even Saria, clutch their stomachs from the trip.

"We have the whole code," X said, being the one with the least telepathic side-effects. "We need to return to the facility guarding the Master Emerald."

* * *

Though adamant about destroying all of Balk's clones, Shadow the Hedgehog settled for the deactivation of the machines that kept the vile things alive. Mega Man X had been morally hesitant about even that, but considering the dangers that the echidna posed if under the influence of large amounts of Mako, duplicates of Balk could not be left alive.

Shadow left the chamber of scientific atrocities with the rest of the now large group of odd allies. He clenched his fists, frustrated with the rapid chain of events that involved so many, and he still disliked the idea of taking orders from the Terran-looking reploid, X, or the pale girl with the mental powers, Raven.

"_Be calm, Shadow,_" Naminé insisted from within his thoughts. "_We all have need of your strength. Rouge needs you as well._"

At the mention, Shadow noticed Rouge looking to him with uncertainty.

"It's alright," Shadow nodded to her. The words, however small, seemed to calm her.

The group of eight living and two spirits quickly discovered a path that led upward, blocked and hidden by a slab of concrete that opened into the sewers of Echidnopolis. It was close enough to the surface that both X and Raven could teleport without having to pass through excessive solid matter, and both of the hedgehogs decided to travel topside while those less swift went with the Hero and the Sage of Darkness.

Like the rest of their trips, it took very little time, and they kept a safe distance from the facility in avoidance of the cadre of soldiers likely to be there. Unsurprisingly, numerous armed transports and dozens of soldiers armed with heavy caliber rifles, shotguns, and laser weaponry were evenly stationed around a fixed perimeter as they scanned for possible intruders. Several other soldiers were stationed on the rooftop with sniper rifles that, despite the power of the sages, could kill many of them with a single shot to the head. X could survive, and perhaps Sonic and Shadow could as well, being far more durable than the strongest of Mobians, but it wasn't something that X wanted to risk. As he finished his assessment of their enemy, two artillery trucks arrived, loudly purring from primitive combustion engines.

Raven had set up a telekinetic distortion field after she arrived, and it was the only reason they hadn't already been spotted through a pair of binoculars. She was sitting with her legs crossed and palms casually outstretched, maintaining the disruption of light all around then. There were trees large enough to protect them from sight, but not while soldiers began combing through the nearby forests and hills.

"They're going to walk right into us soon," Julie-su nervously eyed a pair of soldiers with quietly humming shock rods and laser pistols who approached their general direction. X wondered if the projection field was giving off a visual blur that drew attention.

"Knuckles, I'm willing to let you try diplomacy," suggested X, "but considering that soldiers broke into your house earlier, I don't know how well it will go."

The Guardian frowned. "You neglected to mention that earlier."

"Sorry," X shrugged with a sigh. "Anyway..."

"I'll give it a try," the echidna rubbed his forehead. "At least I'm sure that they definitely won't shoot me on the spot."

"Good," said X. "If they take him inside the facility, I'll cloak and slip in behind him. If they try to take him elsewhere, we may have to rescue him and fight our way through." He turned to Saria, then glanced at Nanaki, Rouge and Julie-su. "Keep a safe distance, and do as little as you can to draw attention to yourselves. There's too many guns out there."

Saria and Nanaki nodded in agreement, and Julie-su grumbled. Rouge said nothing, busy staring at the leaves strewn in the dark, grassy soil. X could tell she was listening, but that her heart was heavy.

"Shadow and Sonic, if you can find an opening, take out the snipers. They're the biggest threat to all of us."

"No problem," Sonic said as he alternated leg lifts, stretching himself for the inevitable rush.

"Understood," Shadow added.

Inuyasha cleared his throat impatiently. "I'll draw their fire. It won't hardly hurt me."

"Good," X asked. "Ready?"

Everyone indicated that they were. Knuckles took a deep breath and walked casually past the distortion field. X charged enough energy in his reploid circulatory system to cloak himself in a manner similar to Raven's telekinetic wall. He walked very slowly, following behind Knuckles, matching the echidna's footsteps.

Knuckles was spotted almost immediately, and he was ordered to raise his hands. His hat was confiscated, and he was checked for weapons by a pair of soldiers. Six others plus a sniper on the roof had weapons trained on him. When the two soldiers combing the forest near the group of sages left their task to attend to the intruding Guardian, X silently exhaled with relief.

The soldiers marched Knuckles up to the front of the emerald defense facility, where he was questioned by the commanding officer. Knuckles explained the situation, what they had found underground, and his need to enter the Master Emerald chamber. The commanding officer, an echidna of average height but immensely muscular build, did not seem to disbelieve Knuckles, but he had protocol to follow, and insisted that he be brought into military custody within the city for further interrogation.

Knuckles hesitated, but he quickly insisted upon being brought inside the facility, and that there were other details he couldn't reveal in front of so many. Smart tactic. The bulky echidna thought for a moment, then disagreed, countering by saying that whatever Knuckles wanted to reveal could be done in a more secure environment.

It would regrettably have to be done the more violent way. X, still under cloak, disabled two soldiers with violent kicks to the head. It was so fast that the second one went limp before the other armed units could react to the first one collapsing. Knuckles remained motionless until the commander grabbed him by the vest. The Guardian chopped down on the soldier's arm and blocked a fierce left hook.

Hammering blasts of gunpowder exploding and the whizzing of bullets parting the air filled X's ears. He quickly decloaked and assumed a stance between several soldiers and Knuckles. Several bullets impacted with little more than discomfort as he picked off the echidnas with his X-Buster. Energy weapons caused considerably more pain, burning into his armor, and the sniper on the roof nearest to them jerked to one side, avoiding one of X's plasma shots. A moment later, a heavy caliber bullet collided with the diamond on X's chest. The reploid stumbled back, stunned by the terrible pressure throbbing from where it struck him. His mechanical lungs stopped functioning properly. They weren't vital to him, so he ignored the rattle in his chest and fired once more, hitting his target and knocking the echidna unconscious. X regretted the painful burns that his Buster shot left on the sniper's face.

X turned to see Knuckles driving a knee into the commander's gut before spinning and driving his fist like a hammer onto the back of the soldier's neck, effectively incapacitating without killing.

The soldiers were clearly not of the same merciful mindset. X and Knuckles froze as they both saw the artillery cannon, easily in risk of destroying half of the defense structure, pointing straight at them.

"Move!" X shouted and grabbed Knuckles around the waist, diving through the dense metal doors in the facility. X heaved his echidna-in-tow as far as he could, and a deafening explosion of sound and flame completely stunned his senses. Vaguely aware of what was happening but unable to move, X soon realized that the darkness in front of him was a result of one of the metal doors having landed on top of him. It's weight was immense, but tolerable.

A larger blast, but further away, came from the direction of the artillery. The pressure suddenly lifted from X, and he saw the shoes of both Knuckles and Shadow in front of him. Grunting hard, the two picked up the door and shoved it to one side. X was helped up by both of them, and he began charging his X Buster, only to realize that the sounds of combat had ceased other than an unpleasant throbbing in his head.

Mega Man pulled the Master Sword from his back to be cautious, but when he emerged, he found every echidna soldier unconscious or tangled in a web of vines that Saria had produced, apparently at quite a distance. The treads and wheels of most vehicles had been melted from Red XIII's molten breath, and the Sage of Fire was then busy softening a pile of confiscated weapons into scrap metal and plastic. Inuyasha had annihilated one of the artillery trucks with his Wind Scar shockwave technique, though the attack also scarred the earth quite terribly.

Somewhat astounded by the speed of their victory, X dissipating the glowing energy swelling up in him and regarded his allies with a happily dumbfounded look. No one was even injured beyond minor scrapes. "Go team," he said. "Saria, Nanaki, guard the perimeter until we've got the passage open."

The rest of them gathered inside, and X asked Knuckles the arrangement of the seven digits.

"I have absolutely no idea," the Guardian shrugged, itching the white band of fur around his chest. It almost seemed to help Knuckles thing when he touched with the birthmark of his lineage. "It might be in order of age, or importance, but how would the computer fit into that?"

Julie-su scoffed, irritated. "How would importance be gauged, for that matter?"

X stared at the simple computer console that had managed to escape damage from the artillery shell, unlike most of the entrance. He propped his arm up so he could tap against his lip in thought. "Is there any limit to how many times you can enter the code?"

Knuckles half-shook his head, but the motion was uncertain. "I don't think so, but I haven't tried."

"Alrighty then," X stretched his right arm in circles. "We have all seven numbers, and two of them are the same digit. That's... two-thousand, five-hundred twenty combinations, right?"

Raven's eyes stretched open widely, and she stared with a smile at X.

Sonic frowned. "Uh..."

Rouge shrugged, as did Inuyasha.

"Yes, that's correct," Shadow growled, crossing his arms as he began tapping his foot impatiently. "Just input them."

X almost said something to the surly hedgehog, but Raven touched his arm gently, and X knew it wasn't worth it.

The Hero stretched his arm one more time and began. His fingers tapped the keypad with incredible precision, inputting about five combinations per second once he witnessed the numbers glow from green to red for an incorrect input. X calculated that he could do three hundred per minute at that pace, and in just over eight minutes they would have the correct sequence with certainty.

It didn't take that long. In just over two minutes, the digits released a bright white shine, and a circular metal section of the floor detached with excessive noise. Clamps unhinged, magnets separated, electrical fields fizzled out. Metal gears winded with a hard echo in their ears, and a strange odor seeped out, tickling their noses with something resembling bleach.

"Kinda makes me miss the old days," Knuckles joined them in staring at the unsealing process. He glanced at Julie-su. "You know, when you just slid down the tunnel and you were there."

"I wouldn't know," the pink echidna said as she checked her weapon, a laser rifle she had taken from one of the soldiers. "I was in the Void along with the rest of Echidnopolis."

"Slide's still there," Sonic tapped his foot in anticipation. "And it's still fun."

Once the descending tunnel, more of a tube, really, was revealed, and the mechanical process stopped, X halted their approach towards it a final word of leadership. "Be ready to fight, and take relaxing breaths to avoid getting disoriented." Then he hopped into the hole with a shout of excitement.

The slide was smooth, but with sufficient friction to allow for the return trip. X passed several tiny lights embedded into the spiraling tube to illuminate the way, but he was more concerned for what he might find at the bottom. Listening carefully, X wondered if Zero was there, and if there would be any chance to use the element of surprise on him or whomever else was inside the Master Emerald's cave. Of course, Zero always seemed to be a step ahead of them. More likely, they would be doing all they could to avoid annihilation the moment they landed

A subtle, multicolored glow appeared in front of him, and the tube straightened. X's thoughts had been so consumed with anticipation of battle and of seeing Zero again that he had forgotten about the Master Emerald itself. He possessed six of the jewels on the Dreamweaver, possibly seven if Zelda had been successful in obtaining the final one. The seven, even as individuals, held immense power. What sort of presence was contained within the massive, ancient crystal? Could they tap into its powers, and had their enemies done so already?

There was no more time to think. X unsheathed his blade and rushed forward, at the two figures centered within the tall, oblong cave.

"What the hell?" was X's stunned reaction. The Master Emerald, though only a few strides past the two figures, didn't seem to matter anymore.

Mega Man recognized both of them, disbelieving the absurd chance of encountering them in the same place. The one pinned on bottom was the unknown figure that both Raven and Zelda had been keeping concealed from him; he had easily sensed the shrouded one's demeanor with telepathy. But the irony of the one holding the cloaked fighter down sent X reeling in confusion. It was the creature who had appeared to him over a decade, saved him from freezing to death on a desolate, snow-capped mountain, and taught him to see, speak, and even fight with his mind. X stared at the features, certain that the pale purple creature with the three-fingered, knobbed hands and similarly knobbed tail was the same being he had encountered those several years ago. The glowing, narrow eyes and horned extensions jutting from the back of the creature's head were exactly as X remembered them.

Looking closer, X acknowledged the Triforce mark that each of them possessed. So taken aback by the encounter, Mega Man barely noticed the rest of his sages and allies arriving at his side.

"I think," Nanaki stared, just as stunned, "that this is what Shinra would call 'internal conflict.'"

Without any indication of why or how, the shrouded man and the telepathic alien separated forcefully, sending the cloaked man tumbling toward X, and the alien landed with more grace in front of the Master Emerald. X didn't know how he had not seen it before, but an old, overweight echidna emerged from out of thin air, standing atop the great jewel.

"You are, as expected, a little late to do anything of consequence," the echidna gruffly chortled. X noticed a strange glow around him, as if he had been painted into a portrait without the proper shading.

"Balk!" Knuckles roared with hatred lacing his voice. "As Guardian of the Floating Island, I pronounce you a traitor to your race, and the judgment against you is death!"

Lowering his head, Balk's deep eyes narrowed, and he smiled devilishly. "You are mistaken."

Four electrical snaps flashed beneath the Master Emerald, reflecting into its deep green surfaces with orange flame. A rumbling moan stretched across the Floating Island from tip to tip, as if the continent was weeping in pain. Subtly, the massive jewel tilted to one side.

The Floating Island had begun falling.

"_No!_" roared Knuckles. "What have you done?"

Without a word, Balk floated, hovering without any effort or strain, and dashed through the side wall of the Emerald Cave, revealing a tunnel that had already been carved.

"After him!" X commanded, and Knuckles, Julie-su, Shadow with Naminé, and Rouge gave chase.

"You have to return the Master Emerald to its pedestal!" Knuckles roared through the open tunnel.

That left the remainder of the team to face the strange telepath.

The cloaked man, the Sage of Light, stood with strain and pointed an energy blade of neon magenta at the telepath that had been restraining him.

X glanced at the weapon and then to the man in the tattered cloak, stunned when he realized that the final sage was a reploid, like him.

A roar penetrated into X's head, emanating from the telepath from those many years ago. The creature was prepared to fight.

"His name is Mewtwo," the Sage of Light stated. "Zero is controlling him."


	84. Corruption of Life

And thus, the longest chapter in the entirety of this story is posted. Even though I've gone over six months without posting before, this thing has made me suffer like no other chapter. I severely underestimated what it would take to complete it, which became an annoyance every time the word count grew. The editing process took many hours, and the problems with consistency were numerous. I hope I didn't miss any. Still... I feel rather accomplished now. And everything will be easier from here on out, I think.

Now, get your popcorn, assume a comfortable reading position, and enjoy the triple battle climax of the Mobius adventure. Look for chapter 85 on Wednesday!

**Chapter 84 – Corruption of Life**

Speeding through the busy streets, smashing people and vehicles aside, Balk glided with incredible speed and brutal force, the energy shell around him as rigid and impenetrable as ancient stone. The black hedgehog was following on foot, gliding with grace and equally fierce pace. The sleek, silver convertible that Knuckles drove with Julie-su and Saria as passengers was managing to keep pace with their target while Nanaki soared overhead with cinders in his wake, leaping from building to building. Rouge also followed from the skies, constantly updating Shadow with the next turn that Balk made.

"Follow him, I'll cut him off!" Shadow barked to Knuckles as he glided alongside the convertible. The black hedgehog sharply swerved into an alleyway, losing sight of the others immediately.

Shadow had to adjust to the strange feeling of lightness coming over his body. Though it was slow, the island was surely beginning to move. Someone had dislodged the Master Emerald. It would only be a matter of minutes, less than an hour, before the energy wore off completely and the Floating Island began accelerating. The black hedgehog weaved through alleys, furious that he was chasing Balk instead of assisting in the emerald caves, but that fat echidna bastard had tried to duplicate his powers in those echidna monsters, and the thought rejuvenated his rage and fueled his speed.

Balk's path of destruction was close ahead. Then, Shadow heard the screams of people and the smashing of vehicles turn away from his path. Damn it! The black hedgehog found a narrower wall and used it to kick himself up, higher and higher until he reached the rooftops. Leaping over what was now a chasm to the streets below, he spotted the convertible with Knuckles and the others swerving off in Balk's direction, dodging what looked like small craters in the tar. Where had those come from?

For a time, Balk traveled straight along a single road, only to swerve sharply to the left as he had done before. Shadow was catching up, and he saw what was blowing holes in the streets. From his bare hands, Balk was dropping small, glowing orbs like fireballs into the streets, and they exploded with a plume of darkly colored flame and smoke whenever he dropped them. Everyone tending to their daily business retreated in screams of panic. As much as Shadow tried to ignore the noise, it reached his mind and disturbed him. He worried about the Guardian and the others, but Knuckles seemed to be doing well enough behind the wheel, dodging the blasts and the craters left behind without more than superficial damage to the vehicle. Still, if they were forced to drive directly over one of them...

Naminé spoke inside of his mind. "It's alright, Shadow. Unleash your strength! I'll do everything in my power to help you keep control!"

Before the young spirit girl had finished speaking, Shadow unclasped the rings on his hands and felt the surge of adrenaline flood into his chest, traversing into his brain where his rage was already heightening his actions. He threw the rings behind them, leaving them on a rooftop, and skated so swiftly that the flames from his bio-mechanical shoes left deep black streaks, and his soaring leaps into the sky skipped over multiple gaps. The separation between Shadow and Balk waned.

"_A weapon!_" Namine spoke to him again. "_We don't want to get too close to Balk again!"_

Shadow's eyes were directed toward a narrow pipe on the roof ahead of them. Adjusting slightly, his next jump landed him directly next to it, and he ripped the pipe out of its hinges, exposing a jagged, sharp edge on one side. It was perfect. Bursting with acceleration that tugged his muscles backward, Shadow waited for Balk to turn once more.

Balk's movement was sharper than Shadow expected, leading toward the center of the city, but Shadow kept up, seeking the perfect moment. Balk had stopped swerving and he had ceased explosive orbs from his palms. Shadow quickly took the island's movement into account, and with speed slightly faster and a small distance ahead, the black hedgehog threw himself toward the pavement with the jagged pipe aimed downward. Unable to keep from holding his breath, Shadow watched Balk appear below him and the jagged pipe rip with a gush of blood into the back of his leg. With all of Balk's momentum, the impaling spear ripped a gaping wound all the way down to his ankle where skin and muscle broke to allow the pipe's exit, and both Shadow and Balk were thrown into tumbling pain down the road, overwhelmed with spinning images of the dark pavement, the reflective buildings, and the bright sky.

Shadow was bruised and dizzy, but Naminé's presence helped him recover with speed that he had learned to anticipate. He had risen to a fighting stance before Knuckles arrived with Julie-su, Saria and Nanaki. Rouge floated down moments after that. Balk was trying to crawl away, but Shadow glanced at expanding trail of blood from his leg. It was a deadly wound, but Naminé warned him to keep a distance. There was no telling what kind of powers he could still use.

"Wretched and foolish Terrans," Balk spat with a murderous guise, cradling his leg as he dragged himself away. "You cannot defeat me any more than you can escape the death trap that you have walked right into! Every molecule of energy inside you is mine!"

Knuckles snarled. "What the hell are you talking about? You can't even stand, and you'll bleed to death in minutes if you don't get medical help. You're finished, Balk."

Shadow felt a sharp pain tugging in his chest. It struck all of them as a white glimmer sparkled in Balk's eyes. The radiant force began to intertwine with pulsing arcs of pale blue and green, but they were not contained within a short distance of him. Symbols of the language long forgotten jutted outward past all of them. The power of Mako continued to force its way farther from its caster, fatiguing Shadow and the others of their strength when the ephemeral energy ribbons passed through them.

"Something's wrong!" Nanaki shouted thorough the pain. "Materia's light... always stays close to the user! It's like..."

"We're being drained!" Shadow roared. "Rouge... come here!"

She stumbled toward the black hedgehog as Balk laughed, but the upheaval of Mako surrounding him had become dense and fog-like, obscuring the sight of the twisted echidna. They heard cracking of bones and muscles bursting, turning Balk's cackle into screams and roars that never sounded the same twice. Somehow, the light around them faded like it would with a coming storm front. The pain in Shadow's chest was also stealing the air in his lungs, and when Rouge finally reached him, she collapsed onto his arm. Shadow reached out to the fire wolf, touching only the base of his tail, and with what little air he had left, he forced two words.

"_Chaos... con...trol..."_

* * *

Mewtwo's entire body flickered with a brilliant resplendence as arcs of energy scoured the air like lightning around him. The Master Emerald rumbled the cave, splintering many of the crystal fragments that plated the walls, vibrating their flesh and bones. Sonic tried to press through, but the power that coursed through the Sage of Spirit generated fierce pulses of energy, repelling the hedgehog into the far wall of the emerald cave.

Glittering with a shell of chrome, Mewtwo wildly glanced at each of his combatants, tossing the massive crystal aside as the transformation subsided. The cave shook with the Master Emerald's landing, and once more as Mewtwo stepped hard with each leg, smashing the rock beneath him. How much of him was now composed of dense metal was unknown, but vital to the fight. A thin shell would clearly enhance him offensively and defensively, but if the metal had merged deeper, then the weight of his blows could shatter bones. X studied the footprints of the changed Mewtwo and he quickly considered how to determine the severity of the chrome layers.

The Hero of Time jammed the Master Sword into the ground and retracted his hand, unveiling a fierce blast of energy from his arm cannon, but Mewtwo shrugged off the chest impact effortlessly, like a stone trying to harm a tank. The telepath had made no attempt to dodge, and it confirmed for X that the Sage of Spirit, from swaying tail to horned head, was as much made of metal as he was flesh. As an indestructible, walking suit of armor, Mewtwo's only disadvantage appeared to be his lack of speed.

Sonic had rejoined them, short of breath, and X couldn't see any serious injuries on him. The shrouded figure, who clearly the reploid that Zelda and Raven had been hiding from him, circled to one side, creating a right angle between his stance, X's, and the vertex where the telepath stood glaring solely at Mega Man.

X and the Sage of Light charged with their blades out, and X aimed low while the sage aimed high. Within inches of their target, Mewtwo distorted gravity and thrust both of them back. The bursts of deep violet plasma that followed from the creature's knobbed fingers were too many to block. Raven's protective barriers dissipated when struck by the psychic spheres, only able to absorb a few of them before they struck the Master Sword and X's limbs.

The strange energy spheres had not come close to X's head, but he felt dizzy and unfocused after withstanding the blows. Random thoughts and memories tried to replace his fighting focus. His link to Raven helped anchor him just in time to avoid a second barrage that crashed and burned against the crystalline walls behind him.

Inuyasha had taken full human form, no longer colored like a ghostly green apparition. He swung the Tetsusaiga fiercely, and when Mewtwo distorted gravity, Inuyasha reverted back into particle form, protecting him from the attack. The tactic failed against the psychic spheres, which blew viridian liquid mist from Inuyasha, almost like blood, regardless of the form he took. The half-demon dodged and threw a fierce swing at the side of the telepath's head, and Mewtwo countered with a massive burst of psychic energy that exploded from the core of his body. The Tetsusaiga fizzled into green mist, but in the instant when Inuyasha absorbed the shockwave, he rematerialized his fang shaped blade, and Mewtwo was forced to take the blow with his metallic arm even as Inuyasha was thrown back. The speed and weight of the strike staggered Mewtwo, but it didn't hinder the telepath from landing a stabbing kick in Inuyasha's stomach.

Sonic seized his opportunity and released his revved up spin dash, colliding into Mewtwo's abdomen with the screech of grinding metal. Mewtwo's voice thundered with an echo of anger ringing in their heads as he thrust Sonic away, but the distraction was enough for Raven to penetrate the magical barriers surrounding the creature. She bound his legs in a tight band of darkness, and Mega Man X dashed forward, cleaving into the long tube between Mewtwo's neck and upper spine. With metal protecting the organ, X felt the halting vibration in his arms, and a dark purple liquid spray from the tube before the telepath's psychic force smashed him against the ceiling and then the floor.

The gash forced Mewtwo to roar and clutch the wound as he swiftly overloaded Raven's bonds. With his other arm, a glittering barrier of white encased him, and a minefield of psychic spheres scattered around him with no way to physically squeeze through.

Mega Man X fired his Buster, and it collided with one of the spheres, triggering it to explode. Stinging thoughts from a sudden mental barrage almost dropped him to the ground. Again, it was Raven who held his mind and protected it, filtering out the tangled, distorted thoughts that attacked his own. They shared a concerned and appreciative glance for each other, as well a similar throbbing in their heads. With X-Buster retracted, X nodded to Raven, and the dark sorceress began encasing the psychic orbs with her darkness, crushing them in a manner that dulled their numbing effect. It was slow, and the remaining ones repositioned themselves to decrease each gap Raven created.

Behind the protective field, a massive red circle of runes and symbols expanded beneath Mewtwo's feet, and the familiar upheaval of Mako energy and magic rumbled the foundation of the Master Emerald's cave. X, Raven and the Sage of Light found familiarity in the great power that emanated from the telepath. With the magic ready, the telepath spoke.

"I call upon the sentinel of heaven's gate, the serpent whose might decides peace and war between the crushing tides and the raging inferno. Reap the souls of those who are unworthy of your power! _Come, Rayquaza, the Ozone Demon_!"

A prismatic flashed washed over their eyes. Light itself was bending, distorting the many colored crystals of the emerald cave. The air itself trembled as a wild bellow from the pit of a dragon's belly shook the Floating Island from stern to bow. Mighty as it was, no beast of red materia appeared inside the emerald cave.

A calamitous shake harboring the aftershock of destruction threw them off balance, shaking loose dust and crystal shards from the ceiling. The creature, it had been summoned to the city above.

"I will handle the aeon!" bellowed the Sage of Light, facing the Hero of Time. "You must return the Master Emerald to its pedestal!"

"Wait!" X called, but the other reploid had already dissolved into a stream of matter and vanished.

"I'll go after him," Inuyasha declared before soaring up through the entrance to the emerald caves in pursuit.

X's jaw tightened as he unsheathed the Master Sword and lowered into a casual fighting stance. With only Sonic and Raven left, their chances of defeating Mewtwo and reseating the Master Emerald before the island crashed were becoming grim. How long did they have before the residual energies faded and the Floating Island began plummeting at terminal velocity?

"Does he have any weakness that you know of?" Raven asked.

"No," X answered bluntly. The reploid moved forward with caution, wary of the psychic orbs protecting the corrupted Sage of Spirit. "The best idea I've got is to keep aiming at that... organ on the back of his head."

Mewtwo's aura flickered with resplendence, and his floating sentinels of light and energy rushed into his body, producing a metallic glimmer that was difficult to stare at. The light soon faded, and it looked as though a statue had taken the place of the telepathic creature. Somehow, the shell of metal appeared even more solid than before. When Mewtwo did not move for several seconds, X fired a single shot from his Buster, and it glanced off the telepath's shoulder, jerking the limb back with a hollow '_tink_' sound.

"Let me!" Sonic insisted, bolting at Mewtwo before X had the breath to object.

The difference in their enemy became apparent immediately. His reflexes and movements were no longer as sluggish as before. The hedgehog was able to dodge two heavy swings and a barrage of energy bursts before Mewtwo's knee collided with the hedgehog's abdomen, launching Sonic upward, allowing the telepath to throw him fully away with a telekinetic thrust.

Raven eased Sonic's landing, but she could do nothing for his coughing gasps of breathlessness. Placing her hand against his stomach, she mended Sonic's bruised muscles to a more tolerable state. Once he was healed, the blue hedgehog threw himself at Mewtwo again.

Mewtwo's tactics abruptly changed, and he cast an invisible net around the hedgehog, hoisting him from the ground with telekinesis. As unknown pains forced a yell of pain from Sonic, Raven battled Mewtwo for control. She could feel his mind stabbing at her every attempt, and the most she could achieve was to occupy him enough to keep him from crushing Sonic's bones.

The Master Sword grazed the metal of Mewtwo's chrome shell, wrenching at the tight bonds of hardened flesh with a terrible screech. It was not deep enough to seriously injure Mewtwo, but the distraction freed Sonic. The blue blur sprinted into a sliding kick, driving back one of Mewtwo's legs. The psychic moved with impressive fluidity to reduce the blow, but although he remained mostly in place, his head lowered enough for X to get a clear path to the tube on the back of the creature's head.

The piercing thrust penetrated, then deflected as a force of purplish energy jolted outward, shearing stone and crystal from the cave floor into deadly shrapnel. The pulse that had emanated from Mewtwo forced X back toward Raven, who caught and shielded him from the sharp debris. Sonic had been thrown to the opposite wall, absent of any protection. Several small pieces were stuck in his arms.

"I can get him!" Sonic assured. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and blood dripped from his mouth. A laceration near his collarbone bled on his short blue fur. "Just... keep trying to hold him!"

Mewtwo could not ignore Sonic entirely no matter how intent the telepath was on Mega Man, and the contest between them produced a hate-filled glare reminiscent of Zero on Mewtwo's sharp facial features. With one hand, Mewtwo healed his unusual tube-shaped organ on the back of his head a second time. Oddly, he neglected the lacerations in his chrome plated arms.

_It's vital_, X realized with certainty. Raven concurred with him. They had to sever it somehow. It was the only weakness they could hope for.

When a golden brilliance heightened on the back of Mewtwo's hand, X became alarmed. A moment later, a second and completely unexpected shine accompanied the first.

Shining through the white glove on the right hand of Sonic the Hedgehog, as clear as it always was, the Triforce mark appeared.

Raven and X were stunned by the impossibility of it. All eight sages had already been found. Sonic had no cause or reason to bear the mark of a ninth sage. As soon as Mewtwo sensed it, he turned on the hedgehog with wide eyes seething scrutiny; the telepath, or whatever controlled him, was just as surprised.

Sonic didn't fully comprehend the power that spoke to him, enhancing his strength and his instinct from the pure desire that pounded in his heart. His acceleration was too fast to see, and the winds that followed him zipping from spot to spot somehow altered his motion. Sonic appeared to be in many places at once. As Mewtwo flung burning psychic orbs at every phantom image of the hedgehog, Raven pressed her hands against her temples, trying to sneak beyond the creature's mental barriers at least enough to distract him. Each attempt to weave around focus, slice through his mind or hammer it down with brute strength through her powers managed to let him learn her strengths, adapting to her astral forces more quickly. Raven failed more quickly each time, her dark extensions thrown back or completely neutralized by sparking whips from the Sage of Spirit's unreal telekinetic prowess, and each failure left Sonic more open once again. At the same time, the blue blur was also learning, more able to dodge attacks with each attempt, needing Raven's help less and less as he became accustomed to the winds that would bend to his aid simply at the thought. With air itself supporting him, Sonic could dodge with swiftness that he could never manage before.

Mewtwo swung his chrome plated limbs with blinding speed, but Sonic predicted nearly every move, ducking under the fierce swings, evading even the thrusts of psychic energy that protruded toward him. Standing in wait, X charged his Buster, remaining as meditative as his friend's terrible beating would allow him to. Watching Sonic still suffer from occasional strikes was painful, and doing nothing about it was worse, but he trusted Sonic's plan. X waited, radiating with a violet-white force that continued to accumulate within him. The magic and sword skills he had learned had kept him from charging his Buster to this extreme for some time. X hoped that it would not be much longer, because Sonic could not withstand many more hits.

Finally, the creature had had enough. Thrusting both arms at his sides, a massive burst of bright white launched the hedgehog back, toppling Raven over. X stayed his Buster energies and rushed to counter Mewtwo's rushing offense, and as the Master Sword deflected the psychic lashings, the Hero heard Sonic say, "I've got it."

Quakes rumbled above, and the violent ripping of metal girders buried deep within stone deafened them. The transformed metallic sage was no exception, needing to cover his head and shut his eyes as the city of Echidnopolis slowly began to fall. Sonic grinned, gaining more advantage than he could have hoped for. With more skilled balance than anyone else, the hedgehog took off before the tremors subsided. He charged beneath Mewtwo's guard and began spiraling around the telepathic creature rapidly.

X heard repeated smacks of flesh against metal followed by tiny clicks as he watched Sonic's actions, aiming his Buster carefully. Sonic's figure was indiscernible beyond a flash of dark blue and the crimson of his shoes. Mewtwo roared angrily as he swung his metal limbs, missing every time. The clicks grew into violent snaps, and X, from the farthest edge of his sight, witnessed Raven's hair start to rise from underneath her hood.

Mewtwo could no longer support his altered weight. The electrical charge building in his metal flesh dropped the Sage of Spirit to his knees, disabled and vulnerable. Raven used both hands to encapsulate a sphere of black energy. Once Sonic distanced himself and joined them, he clapped his hands at Mewtwo, releasing a massive white bolt as Raven and X fired simultaneously.

The first blow was Sonic's, reacting with explosive force as the Triforce-enhanced lightning strike jolted through Mewtwo's body and threw him backward. X's Buster cannon projected a stream of light that snaked wildly into Mewtwo's chest, hammering him into the far wall, and Raven's telekinetic shadows crushed him further within the stone, stinging the Sage of Spirit with residual darkness, poisoning him even through the density of his metallic shielding.

Metallic fragments chipped off and began dissolving from Mewtwo. Armor returned to flesh and fur, spreading even to his head, and X did not miss his chance to penetrate the weakened armor. Mewtwo lifted an arm to project a shaft of light in defense. Easily dodging, X leaped and spun to the side, cleaving the tube connecting the telepath's head and spine.

What resulted from the severed organ was inhuman, and none of them dared approach. Ghouls of blackish ooze poured out of Mewtwo's mouth, his thin slitted nostrils, and the gaps around his eyes. Greenish fluids from the tube bled out along with the blacker slime, sizzling and dissolving inside and outside his body. No screams of pain came from Mewtwo as he was strangled and choked by the darkness pouring from his mouth. He writhed until, after a period in which any normal human would have run out of oxygen, it was over. The Sage of Spirit fell silent and still as the last of the toxic inhabitant escaped him. Raven rushed to his side.

"He's alive," she quickly observed from quick reading of his mind's vital signs.

"What was that stuff that came out of him?" Sonic questioned with intermittent gasps.

"Zero, I think," X answered as he watched Raven try to repair the terrible wound. "It's gone completely. It's amazing that he survived having that thing inside him."

Raven squeaked as Mewtwo groaned. "Don't move," she ordered. "I need to heal you."

"No... time," he whispered. "Emerald... must return... emerald."

"We're working on that," X reaffirmed as he eyed Sonic, who dashed to the dislodged jewel. The reploid turned his attention back to Mewtwo. "We need you to stop your aeon. Call it back, before it hurts anyone else!"

The Sage of Spirit squeezed his knobbed fingers together, pain wracking his ability to stay conscious. "Cannot... call back. Not I... who summoned it..."

X heard the roar of the beast, Rayquaza, and a cacophony of terrible crashing fiercely vibrated through the stone and crystal of the Master Emerald Chamber. There was nothing but aural disorder in X's head as he placed his helmet against the cave wall to get a better sense of what was happening above. The only occurrence capable of such massive and varied sound waves was the destruction of entire sections of Echidnopolis.

"I'm going," X turned to Raven.

"No, wait!" Sonic shouted.

As he halted and turned toward the hedgehog, dread and fear pulsed through X. A new disaster paralleled the one that was undoubtedly occurring above. Sonic had placed the Master Emerald back on its pedestal, and despite the destroyed mechanical arms, it sat comfortably with the bottom tip resting in its divot.

The Master Emerald was placed exactly as it should be, but the Floating Island continued to fall.

* * *

The Sage of Light had quickly ascended to the highest rooftop, the tall spire that housed the meetings of the Echidna Elder Council. He was a short distance out of reach of an insane phenomenon that his wisdom and experience allowed him to decipher. A single but unbound force of Mako, dangerously wide-spread and without any definite act of magic, caused a small tug at his chest and head.

"Unbelievable."

Balk had somehow learned to steal the power of _everyone _when using materia. But what magic did he actually cast?

His eyes sought skyward when the light above him distorted as much as the light below. The beast of the ozone parted the clouds, diving in a cylindrical torrent of light and air. It screeched, vibrating and distorting all around it as its serpentine form came into full view. With length surpassing the height of the great spire that the Sage of Light was perched on, the jade snake soared through the sky, undulating as several green coils that were banded around it spiraled rapidly like windmill blades, possibly the source of its flight. With two sharp horns at the corners of its head, rows of short, grating teeth, and what the cloaked sage perceived as flexible armor skin without the gaps of normal reptile scales, Rayquaza was a dragon aeon.

Mewtwo's aeon truly had been the cause of the brightened atmosphere above the Floating Island. The change was subtle, but it couldn't be hidden from the reploid eye. Even at a sizable distance, the augmentation and refraction of light anywhere near Rayquaza was unsettling. The sage could not articulate how the light was changed, but it was clearly not normal, as if the creature itself was somehow a source of illumination. The greater concern was the effects of the aura surrounding the aeon. Was it deadly to the touch? Keeping a distance from a soaring creature as lengthy as a building was tall would be problematic, even for reploid speed.

He decided his course of action.

"Come, Bahamut, King of Dragons!"

The crimson stone of summoning resonated within the Sage of Light, drawing power from his nuclear cells and his reploid flesh and blood. The dark blue armored plating and rainbow chrome wings of the dragon ripped through a funnel of storm clouds and joined his master atop the peak of the silver tower of the Echidna High Council not far from where Rayquaza began spreading its destruction. The reploid and his aeon watched The Ozone Demon, Mewtwo had called it, exhaling columns of white plasma, an energy so potent that anything it could not melt through was ripped apart. At the edge of the city, dust clouds and fire began rising from the collapsed structures. Screams and madness of the citizens followed. Many dozens of Echidnas were slaughtered with each sundering blast.

The Sage of Light turned his head as Inuyasha's bright green Lifestream glow entered his vision.

"You're not taking that thing alone," the dog demon insisted with his curved Tetsusaiga blade drawn.

"Just don't get in my way," the sage replied.

Bahamut roared loudly across the sky, and the Sage of Light hopped on his aeon's back, riding safely above the spinning gold disc hovering parallel to the dragon's shoulder blades and spine.

"Go!" he commanded the great aeon as he held tightly to Bahamut's scale plate neck with one arm, retracting the other into his Buster. Inuyasha gave chase, careful to stay low and concealed while the Sage of Light flew high.

Mewtwo's aeon was mighty and swift, but unfocused, as if loosed without a master to command it. As the sage and his dragon flew full circle above and behind the flying serpent's field of vision, it continued to breathe plasma around the edges of the city unconcerned with the possibility of resistance, and for good reason. With everything disintegrating or crumbling in front of it, the aeon faced nothing but the terrified echidnas and Mobians that it slaughtered in masses. It didn't notice Bahamut's presence at all, but it was difficult to follow Rayquaza's rapid, snakelike twists. Eventually choosing to fly low in between the city's alleys, they only narrowly evaded being spotted by the emerald beast several times. As for Inuyasha, his smaller stature allowed him to slip out of sight easily.

The Sage of Light roared his frustration, and his dragon mimicked the action. He knew that Bahamut was strong in all aspects, and that his dragon's incinerating breath, comparable to that of Mewtwo's aeon, was his most powerful asset. But the success of that attack required Bahamut to stop moving, and the aura around the serpent aeon made any combat tactic too great a risk without knowing its effects first.

Rayquaza curled backwards, flying upside down. The Sage of Light couldn't pull Bahamut back fast enough to avoid being spotted. As he yanked the dragon's neck to one side, the air crackled, molecules of atmosphere itself annihilated by the serpent's supercharged exhale. Firing back twice with his Buster, he watched the rapid plasma shots, aimed straight at the creature's forehead. Though he only caught a glimpse before diving through an alleyway with Bahamut, he swore that both of his energy shots veered wildly as they blurred into the creature's aura, one exploding into the side of an already fractured tower, and the other grazing one of the short arms not far below the serpent's head.

Rayquaza smashed through until its black and yellow eyes peered directly at the two of them. He released another volley from his Buster, but they indeed veered off course before striking. The serpent aeon's mouth radiated with white light.

"_Wind Scar_!"

The devastation of the shockwave could not be fully deflected. Raging winds and pure energy collided with the beast, but it was diffused enough to protect it. Before escaping Rayquaza's aim once more, the reploid sage observed a shallow, bloodless gash that stretched across the height of one of the creature's many segments. Enraged by the wound, the aeon coiled backwards and went for Inuyasha for a short time, giving the Sage of Light time to consider the way their attacks had been diverted.

A spacial barrier that reflects gravity... it made sense to the reploid. The creature was huge and had no obvious way of flying unlike the giant wings and propulsion disc that kept Bahamut aloft. But if that was the case, then they would be pushed away with any melee attack close enough to hit the creature, hardly loosening their belt of options. The other possibility was that the barrier only distorted energy, giving them freedom to slash and stab, but there was no telling what Rayquaza's shield would do to reploid systems.

The sage's thought was fiercely disrupted. Bahamut clawed the stone alleyway below them, dodging pieces of rubble that toppled from above as another blast of Rayquaza's breath carved through more of the echidna city, now focused on them. Buster shots defended them, reducing more threatening pieces into manageable bits, but they couldn't stop them all. Bahamut was dealt many painful blows, and the Sage of Light barely managed to expand his wrist shield in time to take the impact from a sheared metal girder nearly the size of him. He deflected the object, but the strain on his arms, both the one defending and the one handing on to Bahamut, tore at his joints, inflicting immediate and lasting pain as they weaved out into the street, rising over screaming echidnas and fleeing vehicles, immediately into another alleyway opposite from the direction they had come from.

Rayquaza's azure armor, bright as green grass, flashed into view as the Sage of Light and his dragon ducked out of sight.

* * *

Shadow, Rouge and Red XIII reappeared in the exact same spot where they had vanished, but the terrain was so changed that they thought they had been transported elsewhere by Shadow's chaos control. Balk was gone, and a massive colossus of flesh had taken his place, the same dark shade as the corrupt echidna, painted with pinkish, pulsing muscles in various places. It had no recognizable face other than three glowing, eye stalks protruding yellow bulbs where a head should have been, and its limbs, rippling with the fresh flesh, had no noticeable fingers or toes. Heavy mounds of earthen debris, metal fragments of annihilated buildings, and many other inanimate objects from the nearby area floated against gravity, slowly spiraling around the gargantuan creature. Worse, flaccid corpses floated amongst the rest of crumbling detritus.

Shadow took in the wake of destruction in their momentary absence, seeing nearby residence towers partially gone, as though a huge ball of isolated sunlight had melted a perfectly spherical section of existence, originating from where the gigantic creature stood. If Balk had the ability to manipulate energy that powerful...

Two shriveled echidna bodies then floated by in the beast's orbit. They were stripped of moisture and muscle, left with nothing but loose flesh hanging weakly to their bones. One was bright pink, the other a firm red with a white ring around his chest and neck. They were unmistakable.

Knuckles and Julie-su were dead. Rouge collapsed to the ground, finding her eyes dry and her voice cracked and empty. Her vision started to blur, and she trembled from the debilitating loss. She couldn't accept that they were dead, right in front of her. As if mocking her sorrow, the flow of air connected to the Balk-creature returned the two echidnas to her sight every few seconds.

There was no sign of Saria anywhere, and Red XIII desperately searched for her.

_"Shadow!" _called Naminé from within his thoughts. _"There are thousands of dead bodies all around us, inside the buildings. I think the life energy was sucked out of them!"_

"This monster," Shadow glared, ducking pieces of orbiting rock and metal as he stood before the colossus of pulsing muscles. "Is this what's become of Balk?"

"Overexposure to Mako has been known to cause incredible mutations," the wolf explained quickly, still scanning and sniffing for the absent Sage of Forest. "If we are in the same place as before, then this fiend is indeed the echidna we have been chasing."

"_I am no such pitiful creature!" _the monster spat. "_I am the aeon of shifting wind. I am that which controls the gales of destruction. I am Pandemonium, and all of you shall nourish my strength! I shall consume every creature on this island until my hunger is sated!"_

"Rouge, run," Shadow asked of her softly. "Let us handle this."

The black hedgehog could see the protest in her eyes, but with Knuckles murdered in front of her, Shadow knew that she would be a hindrance in their fight. More than that, Shadow knew it was the best way to protect her. Reluctantly, she agreed, retreating out of sight as fast as she could.

Pandemonium roared, and the sound was like a tornado crashing through the hollows of a deep, echoing tunnel. "_Your act of compassion means nothing. I will consume her, just as I shall consume you!"_

Two whitish mouths on the aeon's right shoulder opened, and a large sac behind them began expanding, swelling up as a sudden vacuum force began devouring everything within easily a dozen meters. Corpses, shattered glass and other remnants of collapsed residential towers were drawn into the creature's featureless, fleshy maw, expanding the massive sac until it was swollen with air. Nearby cars began skidding toward Pandemonium's mouth. Nanaki took cover behind the polished metal staircase of a corner building, but Shadow deliberately stayed closer, clinging to a lamppost as he observed the monster than Balk had become. He narrowed his eyes to fight the sting of wind, searching for a weakness while the opportunity remained.

When the suction weakened, Shadow called to Naminé: "Keyblade!"

Her presence inside him granted the weapon's appearance, sparkling into his grip with its reflective crystal surfaces and many-bladed tip. Shadow lunged forward and sliced at the creature's mammoth leg. As soon as Pandemonium's flesh was torn, a torrent of wild wind and blood erupted from the wound. Shadow curled into a ball and was kicked far back, beyond the hiding place of Red XIII.

Panicked, the wolf shouted to Shadow. "I cannot find Saria!"

Shadow touched Naminé's consciousness immediately, and he discovered that the spirit girl could not sense her presence either. He refrained from telling the fire wolf what the most logical explanation was.

"I'll search for her in between fighting," Shadow reassured Nanaki, but the black hedgehog was not optimistic about the forest girl's chances.

* * *

The Sage of Spirit had fallen unconscious, and Raven continued to mend his severed telepathic organ. She was slow and careful to seal the blood stained wound exactly as it had been before, not twisted in the slightest for fear that it would damage his psychic abilities. As she worked, the dark sorceress could not help but eye X and Sonic fumbling with the massive green jewel, alternating between adjusting it and sitting in meditation in the hope of a reaction.

"Any luck?" she asked. A tremor drowned out her call, so she repeated it loudly.

"I've never encountered the Master Emerald before!" X snapped. "I don't know how to get it to bond with the Island again. What's worse, I can't feel _anything_ coming from it."

"Same here," Sonic shook his head, still out of breath from his wounds and exhaustion. "There's supposed to be a living creature inside of it, called Chaos. I fought it once before, but I don't feel anything now."

A grim anger washed over Mega Man. "Zero," he uttered. "Zero must have somehow... I don't know, absorbed Chaos from the Master Emerald, maybe. If it's not there anymore, does the Master Emerald even have power?"

Sonic shrugged in frustration. "Knux might know," he suggested, but it was obvious that the blue hedgehog was only reaching for their best shot. The Master Emerald's age was anyone's best guest, but it was so old that X suspected that even Knuckles might not know how to replace the being taken from it.

"Alright," X forced a deep breath to help rationalize his thought. "Sonic, find Knuckles. Get him back here. Do whatever it takes."

"Right!" acknowledged Sonic, springing to his feet. In the span of a blink, the hedgehog was darting through the tunnel, shrinking until all that was left was the dust clouds in his wake.

Feeling the burden of thousands of lives hanging over his head, X redoubled his efforts to contact anything that was left inside the Master Emerald. He knew that he could not teleport more than a tiny fraction of the populace to safety like he had done in Wutai. And where would he put them even if he could transport them all? He glanced at Raven, who still could not wake Mewtwo despite the severed organ being almost fully mended. Sensing his fear, she met his bright Mako eyes. She had faith in the time that remained, as did he, but that time was rapidly shrinking.

* * *

The Sage of Light flinched as the adjacent tower began to waver, its thick girders snapping with echoes of intensity that rang painfully in his aural sensors. The loudest of the sounds distorted Inuyasha's spirit form, blurring the bright green wisps that composed him. Bahamut only seemed more enraged by the noise. He smashed aside a beam that dropped in their direction, shearing through the metal with his sapphire claws. Several of Bahamut's plated scales were warped or torn by blows from falling debris, and one of his rainbow wings was mangled to the point where it hindered his ability to fly properly.

The injuries they suffered came with the reward of knowledge.

"Did you see that?" Inuyasha asked him.

"I think so. The mouth?"

The Lifestream spirit leaned against his curved white blade. "Yeah. It looked normal for a second just before it attacked that last time. Our attacks should be able to get through that area whenever it gets ready to fire."

"That's a narrow window," the Sage of Light commented. Bahamut hissed - a deep and frightening sound coming from the King of Dragons - in adamant agreement. "That creature is an organic, so my Buster isn't as effective against it. Bahamut is too large and easily seen, as is your Wind Scar technique, to exploit such a brief frontside weakness."

"How about stuffing my sword into the roof of its mouth and into its brain?"

The Sage of Light scowled as another swathe of destruction, this one much closer, peppered them with dirt, stone fragments, and glass. Their hiding spot would not last much longer.

"Idiot, you are a being of pure energy. The gravity distortion around that aeon could rip you apart just by being near it."

"Then think of a better idea!" roared the Lifestream swordsman. Inuyasha abandoned the ceilinged alleyway and unleashed another Wind Scar at Rayquaza from behind. Like any other minor injury they had managed to inflict, it created a shallow gash in the creature's armor that healed in less than a minute. Inuyasha was barely able to avoid the plasma breath that countered his attack, and another street of Echidnopolis was reduced to a smoldering oblong crater.

The Sage of Light had a thought. If they managed to penetrate the barrier and attack it directly, would that prolong the weakness and prevent the distortion from returning? Unsure, but with a plan in mind, the reploid sage contacted the second orb of red materia within him. "Alexander!"

Rising from the ashes of Echidnopolis's destruction, a silver substance took shape from nothingness. The mighty automaton stomped forward with one of its tower-sized legs. The gold and white core, armored heavily with magic and metal, took shape, hissing white steam from crevasses within the segmented armor. A walking tank, Alexander the Judge moved its other massive limb forward, aimed at Rayquaza.

The Ozone aeon stopped for a moment to regard the strange obstacle that stood as wider than the street lanes and higher than the second floor of the structures that remained upright. Facing off against each other, Rayquaza bellowed loudly, a dragon's fierce and deafening roar. Alexander simply hissed more white steam as a wall of laser turrets ejected from the top of each of his limb columns.

Golden white rays bombarded the sky without reservation, shaking the holy machine aeon as each streak of light hammered outward. The gravity distortion still protected Rayquaza, but as the shower of hot energy exploded around the creature, the consistency of it began weakening.

The flying serpent dove beneath Alexander's range of attack and lunged at the machine's spherical core body. Coiling tightly around it with its hind segments, Rayquaza squeezed and crunched through protective armor, warping it inward with a surge of sparks and flame. A dooming glow even brighter than before emerged from Rayquaza's throat and open mouth.

"Bahamut, Mega Flare!"

A swathe of rainbow light consumed Alexander's core, then the edges of his towering limbs, and then Rayquaza. From beneath Alexander's disintegrating form, the Sage of Light and the King of Dragons held tightly, driven further back into the crevasse in the street. Bahamut clawed in deeply, his unrivaled dragon breath expanding even further, penetrating through the wisps that remained of Alexander and into the jade serpent. Rayquaza's plasma rays could not escape its mouth, overpowered by Bahamut.

When the great dragon could exhale no more of the prismatic fire, the Sage of Light threw himself forward and charged his Buster. Rushing through the smoke and dying flames, he found Rayquaza, charred and bleeding, and dared to stop within inches of the creature's maw.

"Ray Splasher!"

The hailstorm of light penetrated the creature's flesh, streaking it with burning white veins inside and out. Rayquaza wailed in pain, but the cloaked sage could see brightness rising from deep inside it, ready to consume him. The oxygen around him sizzled and created a foul stench inside his nose. Extending his wrist shield, the reploid crouched and braced for the attack.

_SHUNKT._

The high-pitched gathering of plasma energy faded and quieted. Beneath his dark shades, the Sage of Light raised an eyebrow in curiosity. When he retracted his shield, the reploid saw and heard a steady stream of red blood dripping onto Rayquaza's tongue from the roof of its mouth. Barely visible at the base of the stream was the tip of Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga. He had, though not exactly as originally planned, driven it through the creature's brain. Unlike other aeons, Rayquaza remained there, lifeless, as if it was as real as any of the rest of them. The serpent, for some reason, could not return to its materia orb as Alexander had, and it was irreparably dead.

"We should reconvene with the others," ordered the cloaked reploid, unable to give the curious death any time or thought. Inuyasha pulled his fang blade from the head of the creature and followed.

* * *

Balk had mutated beyond any semblance of his echidna birthright, and he only continued to transform. The pair of toothless mouths attached to the creature's shoulder had been joined by a third, and the pinkish flesh obtained a pale fuchsia glow at the top, and a faint green tint on its huge legs. Though still seemingly without eyes, the three yellow orbs protruding from the creature's head had adopted a waxy sheen.

The aeon Pandemonium manipulated gusts of wind with ease. Huge plumes of dust-ridden air threw tarmac, vehicles and corpses at Shadow and Nanaki, and they could barely find the time to form an offensive. The fire wolf's breath, no matter how fierce, was deflected by more powerful torrents of air. Shadow found that his spindash attacks and melee strikes did little more than aggravate the towering colossus. Balk did not seem concerned when the black hedgehog's spines dug into the flesh of his leg and drew large patches of blood, content merely kicking Shadow away like a rodent.

Shadow dashed past Pandemonium's line of vision and took cover in the lobby of a still-standing building. Nanaki was there already, panting with his canine tongue hanging out.

"I still cannot find her!" he bellowed over the wind's commotion. The wolf's voice was dry and scratched.

Though Shadow was most concerned with crushing Balk, he could not help but be worried by that as well. Knuckles and Julie-su had been caught by the absorption spell that claimed their lives, but their bodies still floated in orbit around the aeon beast. It seemed unlikely that she was entirely disintegrated, and her bright green hair should have made her easy to spot.

"Perhaps she fled," Shadow suggested.

"No!" the Sage of Fire growled in defense. "Saria would not abandon us for any reason."

With an unfriendly and doubting glare, Shadow left his comrade and risked the open battlefield again. His instincts were often accurate, and they left the dark hedgehog distrustful of the Terran girl who controlled nature. As Balk's massive, greenish legs pivoted to face him, Naminé whispered into his thoughts.

_"Shadow, release me, and I can provide additional offense as well as distraction."_

A trio of corpses rode Pandemonium's forced currents and hurtled toward Shadow. Jerking sharply to one side and crouching, all three missed him, though narrowly.

_"That will weaken me," _he responded, "_but if you think it is the best course of action..."_

The hedgehog was well prepared for the disorientation, but Balk sensed the break in Shadow's swift movements, choosing that moment to rain down nearly all of the debris that his orbital winds had gathered. Shadow, his legs numbed for a tiny fraction of time by Naminé's departure, tucked into a ball and shielded his face, just as streaks of jade light erupted from all around him. The street shook from the collapse of skyscraper beams and hunks of concrete crushing against it, and nothing more than insignificant bits ever touched Shadow. His Lifestream companion's crystalline keyblade deflected them all.

Balk's defenses were down. Before he could suck them in with the triple mouths and vacuum sacs on his shoulder, Namine soared upward, dodging the creature's brutish arms, striking the creature in what could only be called its head. Two different streams came from where Namine struck, one waxy yellow, and the other black as night. Balk roared, and the lemon color bulb swelled with bright light, shooting out a foul smelling mist that drove Namine to the ground. Shadow caught her, and she recovered quickly.

Bright orange flames covered one of Pandemonium's legs, and the aeon stumbled backward, trying to quell the fire with his command over the atmosphere. Seizing the new opportunity, Shadow accelerated as fast as he could, colliding with Balk's balancing back leg. The limb jerked further back, dropping the creature to its knees, though Pandemonium still towered far above them.

The circling winds and cloud of deadly objects returned, stronger than before, tugging Shadow, Nanaki and Namine at distances that had been safe just moments ago. With the current's wrath protecting him, Balk began to rise.

Shadow's eye caught a glimmer of something high above.

The flash of rainbow steel wings and golden light impacted the hulking aeon, smashing the behemoth through the streets and into the drainage pipes below. Shadow and Nanaki barely had enough time to avoid the effects of the collision. The upheaval of sewage and tar blinded the other fighters from what had happened, and it was several moments until Shadow and Naminé spotted the Sage of Light atop a great dragon with royal blue scales. Watching carefully, the black hedgehog took a breather from the fight amidst nearby wreckage. The wind aura protecting Pandemonium was still present, and the cloaked reploid appeared to be waiting for Balk to make the next move.

Calmly focused, the Sage of Light knew that his previous attack had only been successful due to its speed, and that he wouldn't be likely to succeed with that tactic a second time. His nose then picked up the foul stink that been spewed into the air, tainting everything with methane and ammonia. It was too strong for a simple sewer rupture, but regardless, it gave him an idea that made him grim.

"Bahamut, Firaga!" bellowed the cloaked sage.

The King of Dragon's skill with materia magic was not nearly as strong as his obliterating breath, but it was considerably faster. The greenish aura of the Lifestream surrounded Bahamut like a blooming flower, then dissipated as a bright, flaming sphere radiated from each of his claws. Pandemonium needed merely two huge steps to leap from the crater and eliminate the distance between them, but that was more than enough time.

The orbs of darkened fire vibrated into a rhythmic, pulsing scream as Bahamut threw his chest forward and hurled both at Pandemonium's legs. The wind shears encircling the purplish beast resisted the magic for a moment, but soon the winds themselves absorbed the explosions of fire, covering Balk from head to toe in blackish fire. Magnifying its effect, Nanaki leaped from hiding and added his own fire. The creature was engulfed.

Everyone, Bahamut and the Sage of Light included, was forced to back away as Balk flailed blindly. The objects orbiting him flew in random directions, causing more damage to the surrounding structures, and his swinging arms collapsed three more buildings, adding their broken fragments to the creature's munitions.

Winds shifted sharply.

The Sage of Light felt Bahamut struggle to maintain his foothold, and the dragon was forced to dig all four claws into the street to remain in position. Expanding behind his right shoulder, Pandemonium's three mouths and giant air sac swallowed nearly all of the flames, and his control over air snuffed out what remained. Once the suction had stopped, Bahamut and the Sage of Light had no time to dodge.

A concentrated stream of fire and acid covered the dragon and the sage riding him, but Bahamut absorbed the worst of it. Charred, steaming from burns and heaving from pain, the King of Dragons still stood.

Namine sensed the weakening of the wind barrier and sliced into Pandemonium's side with her crystalline blade. She dodged the massive, purplish arm that swatted at her, but the air current that came with it disrupted her aerial balance, allowing Balk's other arm to easily strike. All she could do was brace herself, but Namine then felt a familiar presence wrapping firm but careful arms around her. In the next instant, she was a safe distance away, and Shadow was placing her on her feet.

"Chaos Control," she said in understanding. The black hedgehog nodded.

Pandemonium mimicked the jade glow of Mako and magic. Bahamut sluggishly took to the skies in his best attempt to maneuver away, but a rush of gale streaks emerged from Balk's body so quickly that the dragon could not dodge it. The Sage of Light and his aeon were captured by the materia magic and sliced repeatedly, letting reploid and dragon blood drip into puddles on the street beneath them. Pained too greatly to maintain form, Bahamut's scales lost their color and faded to a silvery gray, dissolving until the aeon was no more.

Shadow was too far and too drained from his use of Chaos Control to protect the Sage of Light who had branded him with the Triforce. Pandemonium's column-sized arm drove downward and smashed the reploid beneath the surface of the street. Protected only from the front by his shield, the impact strained the joints in his left arm, and his back burned with protest when he tried to roll away after the handless stalk lifted away.

The other arm limb was descending toward him, and a surge of instinct helped surpass the pain of his injuries. The Sage of Light sliced with his energy blade into the limb, then dashed down the tunnel away from the battle to recover and strategize.

"Hey! You!"

Pandemonium turned toward the boisterous, booming voice of Inuyasha, who held his fang sword cockily over his shoulder.

"Yeah, you, the giant mound of discolored earwax! I've picked things nastier than you out of my teeth!"

Balk replied with a roar like a tornado rushing through a tunnel. "_Ah, an insolent one I can crush quickly."_

With the same jade aura as before, Pandemonium manipulated the wind with materia's powers, harnessing it into dozens of tiny, glowing streaks that shot toward Inuyasha with incredible speed and accuracy.

Inuyasha watched, grinning fiercely, and swung his blade down with lightning movement. "_Wind Scar_!"

"No!" Shadow snarled. "You idiot!"

The arced spire of sword light cleaved through the Aeroga magic, splintering the colored rays of wind into harmless fragments. But when the chaotic wave of energy collided with Pandemonium's barrier, it struggled to penetrate. The force behind the attack pushed the aeon further and further back, and the wind scar began to twist, distort, then break. Unlike Aeroga, Inuyasha's disrupted magic remained, protecting and enhancing Balk's shield of air. Expanding but thinning, the remnants of the blade beam started ripping through every nearby building from top to bottom.

A cascade of tumbling rubble spread out from Pandemonium's position. Every skyscraper within a huge radius began collapsing.

All of them felt the unexpected warning pulse from Saria's mind. The Sage of Forest did not send them any distinct words. She merely begged for them to protect her and divulged her location telepathically. Nanaki responded with protective immediacy, rushing several buildings away to where she had been hiding. Naminé placed herself between the expanding sphere of destruction and Saria as well. Inuyasha, furious at himself, did the same.

Shadow did not know what she was up to, but he was forced to trust in her as everyone else did. Unable to do anything else, Shadow slowly backed away, keeping himself near the edge of the swiftly rotating streaks of energy that could shred him to ribbons. He searched for an opportunity, a gap, but nothing presented itself. A familiar sound, like the high-pitched revving of a small vehicle, entered his ear despite the cacophony of destruction and tumbling buildings around him. Passing through the cloud of dust, Sonic joined his side.

"I have to stop this," Shadow shouted to the blue blur.

"I'm game for that," Sonic raised his voice as well, "but I'm fresh out of ideas."

"I have to use this," Shadow clenched his fist, and the Triforce mark responded.

Sonic's right arm clenched painfully, and then his entire arm radiated with golden light. Shadow's eyes widened. They both had the mark.

Shadow did not have time to wonder how Sonic had gained the brand of the Triforce. Gales more powerful than anything Shadow had been able to summon on his own encased both of them, like shields of pure air. As if an instinct had been imparted to them by a foreign presence, they stopped retreating and allowed Pandemonium's wind scar storm to strike them. Scraping together their ghostly claws of air, their barriers collided.

"We must master this command of wind!" Shadow commanded.

"Why?" Sonic asked with a shrug. "Why can't we just use it with the skills we already know?"

Though struggling to hold ground and push back the devastation unfolding in front of them, Shadow wore a momentary expression of incredulousness at the simplicity of Sonic's suggestion. They wordlessly agreed with each other.

Both hedgehogs, encased in the sun-colored light of their new bond, crouched into a violent, revving spin. After only a few seconds, they released and crashed through the shell of Pandemonium's devastating bubble, burrowing upward, spiraling in the tornado. The beating and slicing winds encroached upon them, eroding the hedgehogs' protection. Through the blinding dust clouds and streaks of energy, they found their enemy. Together, the hedgehogs pushed through the final layers of the aeon's shield. Balk raised an arm to protect his chest, but the sharp quills of the two spinning hedgehogs began shredding mounds of flesh from the creature. The arm was nearly severed, revealing bony extensions buried beneath its waxy flesh. Without any further defense, Pandemonium was struck in the chest by both hedgehogs. Purplish flesh sprayed in all directions. Blood gushed in a waterfall. Unyielding, fiercely driving through until it was finished, Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog, Sages of Wind, penetrated completely through the echidna-turned-monster.

The torrents of wind ceased, and the wind scar remnants burst outward one final time, dying afterward.

Balk collapsed to the ground, along with all that he controlled.

Once the majority of the debris had fallen, clouds of dust blotted out anything within a few steps. Everyone approached, still cautious.

"This is _waaaay_ past disgusting," Sonic shook himself off like a wagging canine. The dust mixing with the slimy entrails took on a terrible, grainy feeling in his fur.

"Be on your guard," Shadow responded, brushing the thickest chunks of flesh from his arms, chest, and head.

An eerie voice rippled in their heads. "_You think I am finished? I am only getting started!"_

"Light!" screeched Saria from somewhere near. "We need Light!"

The cloaked reploid heard and shouted to everyone a warning. "Close your eyes, all of you!"

As everyone did, a blinding intensity and warmth so strong could be seen even from beneath their shut eyelids. It lasted only long enough for people to shield their eyes, and they heard a gurgling squelch from Pandemonium. The creature roared as muscle and flesh ripped open.

When everyone felt the rays of light pass, the dust cloud had considerably thinned, and the gaping hole in Balk's chest was filled with black, creeping arms, like the branches of a gloomy tree. The limbs were stained crimson with Pandemonium's life essence, and they began to penetrate other areas of the creature's flesh.

_"What have you done to me?"_

Saria approached the creature, completely calm. "I planted a deadly seed inside you when you first inhaled. It is known as the Corpse Locust, and in its youth it does not feed on water, but on proteins, like your flesh and blood. Combined with my magic and meditation, it rooted itself to you and began growing. I only needed to cast light on it, and it was able to take over completely. There is no escape from your fate. Accept your death, echidna, and we will spare your suffering."

Pandemonium threw his mangled arm toward Saria and whipped snake-like appendages. Nanaki jumped in front of her in defense, but the tentacles stopped dead in front of them. The Sage of Fire was startled as two of them ripped off and retracted into pink, bloody stumps. Saria's rigidly held out both palms, manipulating the ravenous tree inside the creature. Two cones of crimson stained bark stumps jutted out, disabling the rest of the arm.

"_Fools, I cannot die! I am an aeon!_"

"Wrong!" Saria bellowed. She roared with enraged eyes, and Pandemonium's chest ripped burst open with jagged brambles of the Corpse Locust. The tree was devouring him entirely.

"You didn't come from a materia orb," Saria informed him. "You have no one to return to! Now die!"

At Saria's command, the nightshade tree jolted upward, splitting the yellow bulb stalks of Balk's head into several pieces. The creature breathed its last breath, and Saria's parasitic plant slowly devoured the rest of him.

Raven shook Mewtwo's head and pinged him with telepathic jolts, but he remained unconscious, drained beyond the ability to wake. She struggled to contact the others. Her telepathic messages weren't getting through to Saria, Nanaki, or any of the others. Something unknown blocked her thoughts, and the situation was steadily worsening, with intervals between earthquakes shrinking. Sonic and X had long since returned the Master Emerald to its rightful place, but it would not rejoin with the Floating Island. With the hedgehog gone, he could not ask anyone knowledgeable for help, and the subtle, panic inducing weightlessness increased as time passed and the Floating Island rapidly gained speed.

"What are we supposed to do?" X shouted furiously. "Hundreds of thousands of people will die!"

"I don't know!" Raven responded with just as much panic. "You said that Zero took the Chaos Guardian out of the Master Emerald. What that does to the Master Emerald!"

"I have no idea. It's not responding emotionally like the other Chaos Emeralds do," X stared intently at it, struggling to keep his mind clear. "We have to find a way to waken it with or without the Chaos creature. Raven, can you find Knuckles? He might be the only one who knows."

She shook her head. "I can't seem to contact anything. There's incredible mental interference coming from something up there."

"Then go," X said to her. "Be careful flying, the Island is going to start falling even faster."

"I will," she nodded. Her winged, astral form streaked through the tunnel and out of sight.

X's only companion with him and the Master Emerald was the unconscious Mewtwo, his former teacher, however brief the experience was. Alone, Mega Man touched the great jewel, and he felt nothing other than faint warmth and silence inside. It was effortless to heighten his emotions with the looming destruction of the Floating Island, as well as the hundreds of miles of land and inhabitants that would be devastated below. Still, his emotions did not reach the Master Emerald. It was not dead, but it may no more responsive than Mewtwo was.

Not long after Raven had left sight, he noticed a tension on their bond. As the seconds passed, it became more strenuous. For the first time, he was pulled from the great green jewel to the one thing more important to him.

"X_!"_ rang Raven's voice in the reploid's head. The reploid felt his dread subside, but her telepathic voice was garbled in odd sounds, as if it had bad reception. When X listened harder, the interference sounded like odd whispers that made no sense.

"_Thousands of people are dead. Mewtwo's aeon and Balk killed them."_

She paused, but with the other voices clouding her emotions, he couldn't tell why until she continued.

_"Knuckles and Julie-su didn't make it._"

A heavy knot formed in X's throat. _"The others?"_

_"The sages are alright, Rayquaza has been defeated, and it's all of the dead that's making telepathy difficult," _Raven explained as quickly as she could. "_Their spirit energy - it's rampant, like a fountain of Mako all over the city."_

"_I understand__," _X acknowledged it and paced away from the giant jewel. He shut his eyes and considered the situation. "_Find anyone you can who might know how to restore the Master Emerald," _he ordered. "_Ask Shadow, he may know someone who can help save the Island. I'll keep trying here."_

X sensed Raven attempt to calm him with a sensation of kindness between their minds. He was thankful for it, but it made him no less pressured to come up with a solution before an entire culture was wiped from the face of Mobius.

Raven relayed the question quickly to Shadow. The black hedgehog crossed his arms, appearing nearly as hard and stern as usual, but the narrowing of his glare and the way his brow furrowed angrily was even more fierce than normal. Shadow was searching for ideas in the deepest parts of his memory, extracting anyone of value, aided by Naminé.

Under the circumstances, Shadow allowed the Lifestream spirit to trespass in his thoughts. Naminé somehow enhanced his ability to recall faces and names, but the accelerated process began to cause agony in his temples and tightness behind his eyes. As each echidna potentially associated with Knuckles and the Floating Island flickered in his thoughts, the pain grew worse. Shadow fell to his knees, and he sensed his eyelids blinking rapidly. Some of the images and names began to flood into him so fast that he couldn't recognize them.

Then, one image more important than all others seized his emotions.

"_Stop!_" Shadow commanded with such judgment that Naminé's viridian shell exploded from his body.

Shadow ignored Terran girl's forced withdrawal as he focused solely on the gentle white fur and luscious voice that belied a great intelligence beneath the woman he had come to feel such affection for. Other than Julie-su, and possibly more so if Shadow understood well enough, Rouge was deeply close to the perished Guardian of the Floating Island.

"She knows," Shadow panted. "She has to know."

"Who?" Raven pried, but Shadow did not answer her.

Without a word to the other sages, the black hedgehog raced for her. As he sprinted in the direction that she had fled, he whispered, "_Chaos... Soul."_

Shadow felt his body drain of strength instantaneously. His arms and legs were sapped of nearly all that remained within him, but his eyes had been magnified beyond anything he had experienced. Everything was visible to him; Shadow's eyes could see both the vibrations of sound and the particles of scent that filled Echidnopolis. Walls were no barrier to him. He could see every body, alive or dead, through the collapsed metal girders and the fire. Nanaki's nose could not outperform him. Raven's telepathy would not locate her thoughts. Shadow needed be the first to reach and save her. He owed her that more than anything.

The sharp twist around a ruined street corner was automatic for Shadow, and her presence grew stronger. He had found her, collapsed in the dense wreckage of a large structure made of silver stone and steel. Though the building was still standing, much of one side had collapsed, and she was pinned beneath a massive beam. Blood covered one side of her face.

"Rouge!" Shadow called to her as his chaos power dissipated. His balance faltered, and he landed next to her. Rouge's tiny breaths cracked, but she turned her face toward him, and with one eyed bloodied shut, she smiled warmly.

"I'll get you out of here!" Shadow promised to her. He stood and latched his fingers beneath the fallen pylon. Pressing up with the entirety of his strength, the thick beam of metal and stone barely budged.

"I will save you!"

"The Island..." she whispered, but she winced with pain every time Shadow failed to lift the beam from her.

"What is it, Rouge?" Shadow knelt down and caressed her face. "What about the Island?"

Rouge gasped for more strength, and she tried to cough the dust from her lungs. "The... _Emerald_. Needs a... a spirit."

"A spirit?" Shadow repeated. "Rouge, how can we do that?"

Raven, Nanaki, Saria, and the two Lifestream spirits arrived. Naminé's youthful figure was emaciated from strain.

"Help me lift this!" Shadow insisted. Between his lifting and Saria's, added to Raven's telekinetic force, the beam came loose, and Inuyasha carefully pulled the white bat woman from beneath the rubble. Once she was free, Shadow picked Rouge up and cradled her against his chest and abdomen. Raven tended to her wound, but Shadow refused to let go of her. The black hedgehog, genuinely relieved that she was alright, repeated her words about the Master Emerald needing a spirit. Though he never fully took his focus away from the white bat that he shielded, Shadow glanced toward both Inuyasha and Naminé.

"We aren't compatible, with it," Inuyasha said bluntly. "And even if we were, it would take more than just us... the force needed would be incredible."

"The dead," Nanaki proposed. "Their spirits linger here after Balk's death released them, do they not? Could we use them?"

Inuyasha threw his arms up. "I have no idea! The Master Emerald was created thousands of years ago, or longer!"

"Calm down," Naminé insisted. Despite spiritual exhaustion, her presence was forceful. "It _can_ be done. Our _Leader_ has spoken of it. If we take the spirits of those who have died and channel them into the Master Emerald, there is a chance that it will revive, but only if the spirit energy is strong enough. If the hearts of the Echidnas are strong enough, even in death, they can accomplish the impossible."

Raven acknowledged the possibility and quickly summoned Rikku from the red materia orb within her. Rikku's clothes of flame and bright braided hair materialized from within the collapsing building, and her expression conveyed that she clearly understood the situation.

"Can you do it?" Raven asked her aeon, whose expression had never been more serious.

"Not on my own," she replied, discouraged by her inability. "I don't have that kind of experience, but, Raven, don't you realize what you've done?"

Raven stared at her aeon, unsure of what Rikku meant. The sorceress reached to her eye to wipe away an errant bead of sweat, but her hand came back with a neon green stain. She touched her other eye, and the substance leaked from there as well. It began seeping from her nose, and moments later she began coughing up the brightly colored toxin.

"What's happening to her?" Sonic asked.

The inferno aeon touched Raven's face. "Mako poisoning," she explained. Rikku spun to the two Lifestream spirits. "Can you do anything for her?"

Naminé hummed with concern. "Inuyasha will have to. Otherwise, I won't be able to assist with restoring the Master Emerald."

"I'll stabilize it," Inuyasha stated, and his body slipped into hers, merging and vanishing.

Raven clutched her chest and fell. The migraine pounding in her skull was instantaneous, and she vomited the sushi from earlier mixed with brightly glowing Mako toxins.

"_Sorry, but there wasn't time to ease you into that,_" Inuyasha spoke from within her head. His presence was odd. Hostile, powerful, impatient._ "I can't actually take away what's in your body. In fact, my being inside will increase the amount of Mako you have, but I can change the way it affects you, direct it into places that are less vital, or more able to withstand it."_

"Alright," Raven gasped aloud. "Rikku, the emerald?"

She nodded softly and helped Raven stand. Rikku glanced at Naminé. "The two spirits should be able to help, but I'd need more aeons."

Shadow and the others looked to the Sage of Light, who had kept his distance from the cluster of other Sages.

"My aeons have both been destroyed and will not regenerate for many hours. I cannot summon them, and the Sage of Spirit's aeon has been completely annihilated. There is only one other ancient being of the Lifestream that can harness such quantities spirit energy, and time is growing short."

A huge tremor threw everyone to the ground. Grinding, crumbling echoes surrounded them. Shadow gathered up Rouge, and he led everyone away into the open streets just as the structure toppled backwards into another. The chain reaction of destruction continued, knocking down other weakened skyscrapers.

Once Raven confirmed that everyone was unharmed, she realized that the Sage of Light was staring at her.

"I am taking my leave," said the reploid plainly. "The survivors of this city are meager compared to Zero's actions elsewhere."

"What? Are you crazy?" Raven approached closely, barely able to stand upright even with Inuyasha's help. She gazed with disgust at the black visor shielding his eyes, and she could not ignore the disturbing demeanor of callousness that he exuded. "There are many thousands of lives still at stake here. How can you abandon that?"

The culmination of everyone's disbelieving and hateful glares did nothing to faze his rigid composure. "It is nothing that I can prevent," he responded. "My only goal here was to prevent Zero from gathering more hosts to prolong his life. By defeating Pandemonium, I have accomplished that goal as much as possible. Your focus should be the same if you truly wish to defeat the King of Evil, shouldn't it? Or do you value the lives of the few over the existence of time itself?"

"_You!"_ Shadow snarled. As he cradled Rouge in his arms, Shadow's anger swelled to the point where it sparked a blood red aura to form around him, but he was fully in control of it. "Get the hell off of our planet. Now."

Unaffected by the hostility, the Sage of Light regarded Shadow, as well as the others. He scoffed with arrogant disapproval, then vanished into a streak of golden light.

During the altercation, Raven had signaled X and explained the plan during the, that they were going to attempt to gather all of the Lifestream energy from those who had died and channel it into the Master Emerald. Hesitantly, feeling her stomach clench, she explained that Rikku was ready, and that they also needed another aeon. However, Raven could sense X's fear and dread. He knew what had to be done, but his mind was content to obstruct his rational thought. Frozen, X stared for several moments in relative silence at the pale rainbow of colored crystals still lining the walls of the sacred cave where the Master Emerald lay inert and useless, no soul to spark its strength. He glanced to his fallen teacher, and he allowed his body to feel the subtle shake of the multi-hued stone beneath him.

He decided to use the summoning materia once more.

"Phoenix, I need you!" X called to his aeon.

"_You dare risk it?"_ responded the glitter-winged creature of fire and rebirth from within him. From the very words, X felt warmth and power swelling inside him. He also felt a throbbing pain in his eyes and skull.

"I must," X demanded. "You are the aeon of rebirth. We need you if we are going to restore the Master Emerald."

"_Very well,"_ responded Phoenix. "_I will do all that is within my strength to ensure your protection and continued survival. If I perceive that the Mako is about to overwhelm you..."_

"I know," X cut off his summon spirit. "We have to act now. Come, Phoenix! The Resurrection's Flame!"

Unlike before, the burning fire and the infusion of Mako particles that threatened every system within him did not cause the same pain. Rather, his senses went numb. His sense of touch failed him, and he collapsed. The charring smell of recent weapons impacts and of damp earth left, and his taste buds no longer registered the sensations within his own mouth that he was so frequently unaware of. Hearing had not completely failed him, but he heard no better than a deteriorating old man. Only the slightest of sounds still registered, like the screech of Phoenix's arrival. The intense warmth that came with the legendary bird was absent. Eyesight was a useless blur. Somehow, X knew he was still breathing. He knew he was still alive. And there was also a strange serenity as his mind cast a net over everything near him.

Mega Man realized that he _could_ see, but only within the recesses of his mind. Casting out with his thoughts, his surroundings rippled and reflected, as if X were seeing a sound wave, but with telepathy.

An astounding sight took hold of him. Life, everywhere. Not physical life, but life that had perished and had turned into energy. It swirled around him, past him, sometimes seeming to interact, whimsical and free. What captured him the most was that the passing spirit strands were taking something from him and almost... depositing it into the Master Emerald as well as the crystals lining the walls.

"_My Mako energy,_" he thought. "_They're absorbing the Mako I'm using right now._"

It wasn't harming him. Summoning wouldn't kill him! X strengthened his inner energies, giving Phoenix even more power. Beyond that, X could only wait for telepathic responses and pray for success, but the stray spirits had given him hope.

X then sensed something odd. He was not sure how his body perceived it with his senses all but gone, but he was certain that he was no longer lying flat as he had been. The slant was subtle, only perhaps a degree or two; he was certain of the change.

"_The Island,_" X dreaded. "_It's tipping over._"

Phoenix departed the cave and entered the heart of Echidnopolis, arriving in one of the few places free of rubble. The firebird gently placed the limp, purple-tailed telepath in the center of the street, having taken him from the emerald caves without X's knowledge. A single feather plucked from Phoenix's prismatic wings ignited like a miniature sun, and the light entered the Sage of Spirit. Almost instantly, Mewtwo regained consciousness with a flicker of his tail. He clutched his head, stunned and blurry-eyed. Without giving him a chance to recover, Phoenix and Rikku explained that their time had been reduced to minutes. The Floating Island was picking up speed and would soon be released from the residual energies that kept it aloft. Everyone had noticed that the towering silver city had begun leaning to one side. If it tipped too far, then the city would be destroyed even before the airborne continent struck bottom.

"I understand," spoke the Sage of Spirit with a telepathic blue glow in his eyes. "We must not fail these people."

Mewtwo, the two aeons and the two Lifestream spirits inside their hosts all meditated closely to one another, gathering energy for their great magic. All of the sages joined the great bird of flame and the lady inferno, absorbing the newly risen Lifestream that had formed from the deaths of so many thousands at once. Mewtwo's Triforce mark radiated, and his powers of Sage of Spirit fully bloomed.

With Mewtwo as a conduit, they all began to see, hear, and feel sensations beyond the telepathic, and the sounds of burning fire and falling rubble quieted. The souls of the dead hovered over the streets in flashes, only appearing as whole beings for brief moments. The wiser dead realized what had happened to them, and their mourning was monumental, a continuous chain of sorrow, hate, and emptiness. Other were confused, unsure if they were dreaming. Some had lost all sense of reality and wandered without coherence.

Raven could not block the emotions or thoughts like she could with telepathy. The force of this pocketed, isolated Lifestream was not the same as the thoughts of the living. Stronger emotions caused her powers of darkness to spark and distort, almost near enough to injure Nanaki and Shadow, the two closest to her.

"Be calm, young sorceress," Mewtwo spoke to her with a great calm in his voice. "Seek a mind who comprehends and accepts what has happened. They are rare, but focusing on such a spirit will help to ease your strain. Inuyasha will help you."

Heeding the advice, Raven breathed deeply, but she discovered that her hands were shaking. Saria, Shadow with Naminé, and Inuyasha with Raven, were able to keep up with Mewtwo, Rikku, and Phoenix, but that was not the case with them all. Rouge was only safe due to her direct contact with Shadow and Naminé, but Sonic and Nanaki had become lost in the thousands of dead. Mewtwo was aware of this, and he knew that prolonged exposure to such activity would damage them permanently.

"Everyone, summon the Lifestream to you. Pull as if you were going to cast magic mightier than any you have cast before, and do not stop until there is nothing left. Thrust all of the emotions around us, no matter how chaotic, directly into me. I will handle the rest."

The green starlight from the Lifestream all around them began reacting. Raven reminded herself of the energies of red materia, of the many hundreds of lives full of ancient knowledge that were required to create it. Then, she forced herself to imagine absorbing a hundred times as many hundreds, and Inuyasha granted her his strength. Naminé guided Shadow in the use of Mako, and his internal strength multiplied hers immensely, to the point where she could barely keep conscious within him.

From city-center to fringe, faint wisps of glowing light with colorful tails worked their way inward, joining with Mewtwo. They came by the hundreds, all slowly merging into the Sage of Spirit. With their combined auras, Mewtwo vanished, then appeared a great distance underground inside the Emerald Cave. Glancing with concern at Mega Man X, he hesitated, but knew that there was nothing he could do for the Hero of Time.

The spirits bonded with Mewtwo resisted the Master Emerald when the telepath touched his fingers against the great jewel of legend. Loosening his stance, Mewtwo crouched and sat cross-legged, relaxing his mind. Only then did the thousands of souls passing through him join the great jewel of legend.

As the Lifestream above Echidnopolis entered and left the sages, voices echoed through their minds, whispers of acceptance, of joy, of confusion, and of anger. Those with anger were among the most powerful spirits, and after a time, their anger was not meant for death itself. Instead, the many echidnas and Mobians possessed a vigorous resolve from their fury. Amongst the many whispers of the glowing dead, emotional resolve began spreading to others, even those wandering mindlessly. They soon sought the sages and joined without hesitance. The power of those who had perished became magnified by their devotion to the echidnas and Mobians who still lived, buried in wreckage, wounded, or deep in hiding from the disaster that sundered their homes. Their desire to protect the living, even in spirit, brought a warm glow to the Master Emerald with every touch.

Lifestream echoes gathered in masses, no longer needing the encouragement of the aeons.

Rouge refused to allow herself to slip from consciousness. She held tight around Shadow's neck, focusing with him, reaching out to any lost soul lingering from recent death. Whether or not she did any good, she knew she had to try. If Shadow did not give up, then neither would she.

"_So strong," _spoke a firm voice. The way it touched Rouge's ears sent shivers rippling inside her. She knew that the voice was meant for her.

Rouge opened her eyes, and a faint outline, barely distinct, appeared within arm's reach. From a burst of pure adrenaline and awe, the white bat's eyes fully widened, and her body ignored agonizing pain as her breath accelerated.

"Knuckles?" Rouge called to the glowing visage.

The spirit's wisps of energy began dissipating, diving into the depths of the Island toward the Master Emerald. With his remaining moments, Knuckles turned to Shadow. "_When she's on my Floating Island, I will always watch over her. Anywhere else, I expect you to do the same."_

"I will," Shadow answered firmly, nodding with respect instead of enmity.

Knuckles glanced at Rouge one more time, clenching his fists.

Independent of the sages, the aeons, or the spirits of his people, Knuckles had a will of his own. He did not need the guidance of others. The Floating Island was his to protect, and without any heir to follow in his legacy, he chose to protect his home until the end of time.

The life essence of Knuckles soared into the emerald cave, over Mewtwo's head, and Knuckles rattled into the massive crystal, piercing its depths with light. The infinite facets of the ancient crystal hummed with high pitched musical vibrations, like glorious bells, synchronizing with its great light. Beams of many metallic hues stretched across the city, reaching out across the Marble Gardens to the perilous Sandopolis desert. From the Master Emerald's many living spirits, energy and consciousness was poured into the Lava Reef mountains, the cavernous Hydrocity, and the whole of Echidnopolis itself.

The imbalanced plummet toward the Mobian continent slowed almost immediately, pressing weight upon everyone as the Floating Island eventually came to a halt. Balance restored itself, and the dangerous slant that the city had adopted gradually corrected itself, evening the whole of the landmass vessel. The tremors ceased, and the foreign mountains visible from the city's edge began falling below the horizon, abandoning them for the open sky as the seconds ticked by.

The destruction wrought upon the Floating Island would scar it for many years to come, but it had survived.

With their tasks completed, the aeons Rikku and Phoenix returned to their owners, dissolving and reentering hibernation inside crimson materia orbs. Sonic and Nanaki were released from the torrent of emotions and souls, and all of them felt an inkling of their stress melt away.

"Knuckles... he saved the Floating Island," Rouge murmured as she nestled her face against Shadow's neck.

"Many of those who lost their lives helped restore the Master Emerald," Shadow answered. "But Knuckles did it without any of us. His soul was the strongest of all his people."

Satisfied with that answer, Rouge fell asleep in his arms.

Raven swore that, for the briefest instant, Shadow had been wearing a faint smile. Unlike Shadow, she could not keep the horror of what had transpired that day out of her mind, but the job was done. The remaining sages had been found, and Zero's final goal on Mobius had been prevented. Allowing herself to feel the exhaustion that plagued her mind, Raven began her descent to the Emerald Cave where she could seek her greatest comfort, her Hero of Time.


	85. The Emerald Challenge

As promised, here's chapter 85! Not sure when 86 will be done. Hoping by Sunday. Enjoy!

**Chapter 85 – The Emerald Challenge**

Zelda's body refused to budge. She felt heavy, breathing hard, strained in every joint. Into the Hylian's pointed ears echoed strange, indiscernible hums that reminded her of nothing at all. Her shut eyes were far from helpful, but the flood of staggered lighting over her eyelids was unnatural. It kept changing, both its intensity and color.

There was a sudden clang of hollow metal, then scraping against glass. Zelda's heart raced, churning blood faster. The sound could only have been Vile.

_Open your eyes,_ she commanded herself. Her wounded leg twitched. Strangely, the terrible laceration didn't hurt, but the leg refused to move properly.

_Open your eyes,_ the princess attempted again. She felt her fingers flex, and her dry lips struggled to separate.

A scoffing, struggling voice sputtered mechanically. It _was_ Vile.

_Open your eyes or we all die!_

The ultimatum jolted her entire body, clumsily rolling her to one side as vision blurred into a cascading disaster of blues and purples. Her head began throbbing. Zelda stumbled several times before even reaching her knees, using her squinted, tired eyes to scan for Tidus, Terra, and possibly Cloud, but the only figure she could see through her muddled sight was Vile. Zelda's breath tightened in her chest as her eyes darted to where her hands propped her up, a surface transparent and thick like glass, stretching in a tube-like expanse for as far as her weak senses could tell.

Determined to be first on her feet, Zelda dragged her strong leg up, again finding no pain coming from the deep gash in her other one. Nauseousness hindered. She rubbed her eyes with the side of her arm and stared at the pale flesh of her thigh until the fog in her eyes cleared, but she saw no injury at all and felt nothing other than stiffness. Her elbow was the same, sluggish but in tact, and perfectly free of the wound she had suffered. Zelda distinctly remembered being shot in the arm by a laser pistol, and Tidus had definitely stabbed her in the leg to help her invoke Chaos Control. The Mako poisoning that had infiltrated her stomach and made her vomit was gone too. What had happened? In a haze of confusion, she remembered reaching out to touch the emerald at the same time as Vile's poisonous appendage had done the same.

Zelda shouted as she felt a touch on her neck, and she swung the barrel of her pistol blindly behind her.

She hit nothing, wrenching her arm as she spun, but she calmed herself when she recognized the sight of blonde, spiked hair and dark eye sockets with a bullseye of Mako green in the center of them.

Cloud. Human Cloud, not a ghost or spirit at all. He appeared as real as her, and Zelda stared at his flesh and blood appearance for as long as she could spare. Pale skin, blemished slightly with discoloration on one side of his neck. Musculature much more defined than his spirit form had led her to believe. Piercing, serious eyes, full of determination and emotion. Even the Buster Sword had changed, ridding itself of dullness and rust for a polished glean and a sharpened edge.

The Gaian man angled his chin forward, and Zelda turned back to Vile. The reploid's energy katanas extended from their handles a moment later, crackling with an echo in the otherwise silent tunnel of glass.

As much as Cloud's presence was comforting, Terra, Tidus and Starfire were not there to help.

The Maverick held his position and stared them down, giving the two a quick chance to observe what was outside the transparent tube.

Zelda was reminded of the Lifestream and the Deathflow, of the endless colors of green and crimson respectively warring against each other, but this place was a rainbow of hues that seemed unintentional, clustered in patches and waves that gently pushed each other about but did not meld. Twinkling stars sparkled in the distance, remaining at a fixed distance from each other. The tunnel itself was straight in places, including where they currently stood, but in other places it was climbing or falling sharply as it spiraled and arced. Because of its transparency, the atmosphere of hues covered all sight, fading from violet into a deep maroon-red above them, while below was an ocean of algae and sky made from many greens and lighter blues.

Golden bands lined their tunnel at even intervals, forged by an unknown blacksmith. There was no overlap in the massive, gold rings, and no evidence of anything bolting it together. Leaf-like patterns of no obvious significance repeated around the insides of every golden link. It was all a seamless and perfect construction. Zelda wondered with awe at where it had come from, or if perhaps it had always been there.

A gruff snarl rumbled from the hollow depths of Vile's thick titanium skull. He carefully stepped toward them, prompting Zelda and Cloud to slowly back away and draw their weapons.

There was no Plasmus. No mutated combination of Maverick and shape shifter stood before them. Vile was entirely machine, the same one that assaulted Titan's Tower to destroy the Hero of Time before their fateful War of Time had even begun for the sages. The reploid still wielded the swords in his grip, built with hooked extensions to guard his hands. Without a word, the bright red energy streams clashed together, dropping a small cluster of sparks, and he tested the movement of his arms and legs, lowering down with the large blade forward and the smaller one to his side. Zelda squeezed her pistols tighter, aiming for his head, but she knew it wouldn't be a simple matter to hit him.

Zelda felt Cloud edge close to her, and out of the corner of her eye she spied his Buster Sword held low. "Where are we?" Zelda asked, still unsteady on her feet.

Cloud shook his head. "It feels... like the Lifestream, but it definitely is not."

"I was thinking the same," the Hylian woman agreed.

At the far end beyond Vile was a tiny, shimmering object that rapidly approached. Zelda couldn't help her eyes from being drawn to it, provoking the Maverick to dash backward and look himself without fear of attack. A scratchy gasp escaped him, and he turned so he no longer faced Zelda or Cloud, uncaring about the two combatants opposing him.

Zelda's chest clenched. "The chaos emerald!"

Its brilliant sheen reflected as it grew closer, zipping toward them at the top of the tunnel, and Vile was closest. The boosters beneath his feet were jettisoning bright blue flame. It was coming right to him. Zelda didn't give herself time to focus. She aimed and squeezed the triggers.

The first shot was too high and ricocheted against the ceiling. Her second shell of light struck Vile in the leg, sending him into a spiral as the flames beneath his boots sputtered and shorted out. Behind her, Cloud sprinted up the pipe's walls, leaping off the side, reaching out for the emerald.

Zelda turned and watched his ascent, relieved that the final chaos emerald was finally in their hands.

Zelda froze as the emerald's swiftly jerked away from Cloud's midair reach and continued on its path. As Cloud landed hard, chest first, the two of them stared toward the jewel that began soaring off past them.

"It's protecting itself!" Cloud yelled, leaping to his feet. "We have to catch it!"

Zelda jammed her weapons in their holsters and began sprinting for the chaos emerald. Cloud soon overtook her, using his greater height and long legs. The metal stomps of Vile were close behind. Zelda pushed harder, feeling her legs burn painfully as she tried to keep up, but the emerald moved faster, exceeding all of them by a faint margin of speed, challenging them, urging them to their limits.

"Get rid... of your sword!" the princess ordered between breaths. Cloud already could run faster, but without that weight burdening him, he had the best chance of catching the chaos emerald.

"Sorry, princess!" He hollered over his shoulder. "I would sooner let the emerald go than abandon my best way to protect you."

Frustrated, Zelda accepted his choice, knowing that it was just as important that Vile _didn't_ succeed in obtaining the white jewel. She caught sight of the reploid in her periphery when she turned her head, and he was gaining on them, sprinting with a forward lean and rapid, short steps, aided by his boosters.

The princess returned her sight forward, and her breath caught in her throat, forcing sharp coughs from deep within her lungs. The length of the great transparent tunnel with its golden bindings was nearing a plummet of spiraling, unknown depth. They were going to have to jump and ride it downward.

Cloud didn't show the slightest hesitation or fear, throwing himself downward just after the emerald did the same, and Zelda felt her lungs expand and trap her breath as the glass surface beneath her vanished and she began falling and crashing against the twisting pathways that descended for longer than Zelda could keep the air inside her, and yet she could not take another breath until a final curve, sharp and disorienting, threw her to a level surface. She held her hand around her neck as she once more managed to grasp air, and she then heard Vile's screeching metal boots rushing from behind her.

The momentum of the Maverick's metal leg battered her shoulder blade, and her body crashed against the glass tubing many times from the rolling tumble she had been forced into. Zelda could only pull one handgun from its place on her hip, and Vile sidestepped the shot from only a few feet away.

"Get up! Run!" Cloud shouted, his thick brown boots planted on either side of her, forcing Vile's energy katanas back with the weight of his Buster Sword.

Zelda obeyed, sliding beneath him as she thrust herself to her feet and continued sprinting toward the drifting emerald, which still taunted them with its closeness. Her arm ached and cramped, barely able run in a symmetric way to aid her chase of the emerald. Moments later, she heard the squish of a sword in flesh and the crackling of electricity. Hearing it made her head throb with such pain that she thought she would go blind, and seeing Cloud impaled through the stomach and chest by both of Vile's blades made her sense the wounds in her own body. Her stomach felt a cold sting that tore at her from back to front, and the feeling in her sternum was similar.

Despite her cringing urge to vomit, to aid Cloud, and to crush Vile, Zelda then witnessed a greater motivating force that made her turn and continue running with desperate urgency. A wall of immense flame careened through the enclosed path. It filled the spiraling descent that they had just traversed, growing closer with each moment whether she held still or ran with all her might, and ahead of her, the emerald had gained so much distance that it was nearly out of sight.

Vile was coming for her too, and faster than she could move. The boosters at the bottom of his legs and at his back, similar to X's, began closing the gap. Zelda desperately told herself to run faster, to fight no matter how much her skin wanted to catch fire or her bones wanted to break. She set her eyes on the emerald and refused to avert her path. Even if Cloud was dead, she had to get the emerald first.

Something strange began happening. Her breathing relaxed. Zelda found the strain in her legs somehow more bearable, much different from the exertion of battle with Plasmus. Pushing even harder began decreasing the ache of her muscles instead of magnifying it. Rather than physical pain, it hurt the inside of her head, her mind, which now seemed to be her source of power instead of her body.

The air around her began heating up, turning arid in her mouth as it stripped the moisture from her tongue and throat. She turned her head and saw the wall of flame, not only careening toward them, but also liquifying the glass and golden bands as it wound through the endless tunnel of the emerald's design. Vile was nearing range with his katanas, and Zelda still somehow gained speed, her legs nearly a blur beneath her.

The gap between her and the emerald had nearly vanished, but the last reaches of distance would not evaporate, even as Zelda's legs propelled her faster.

_How can I reach it? _She asked of herself. _What power can I possibly use?_

Her powers of the Triforce were weakened, and her abilities of light could only attack or defend, not augment. She had no materia inside her to hasten her already impossible speed, and even as she started reducing the distance between herself and the emerald, Vile was practically upon her while her mind burned with pain that muddled her eyesight.

She could hear Vile's footsteps and the crackle of his katanas singe the air they touched. With a prayer to the goddesses, she slid a finger around the trigger of each of her firearms, pulling them with blind faith at her enemy. Blasting fiery holes in the leather of her holsters, Zelda's shells of pure light all missed or were deflected except one, striking the vicious Maverick in the thigh, twisting his flight. Vile crashed and twisted into a dead stop, and the tumultuous lava flow caught up with him. The sound of his attempts to rush forward with his damaged boosters were muffled by the rumbling fire and the sizzle of melting glass, but the princess could still hear his final words as they echoed through the hollows of the endless trial of speed and endurance.

"Damn you, humans! I'll slaughter every one of you! This will never be finished! I'll haunt you for all eter..."

The fire consumed him.

Fed by the Maverick, the scorching fury only wanted more. The heat burned at Princess Zelda's back, and every exposed portion of flesh started to itch with the burning sensation, but the emerald was still only a few arm lengths out of reach. She moved with fluidity and force beyond her comprehension, but every time she managed to push faster, the white jewel of chaos did the same. As the transparent portal weaved up and down, the princess lost track of her breath, reaching a point when even her strained emotions wanted to quit. At that moment, the emerald gained ground on her, snapping her back into focus. Zelda watched with amazement as her realization and acceptance of suffering caused her to earn back the distance she had just lost.

Accepting the struggle of pain without giving up allowed her to move closer, to exceed what she was capable of. She admitted to herself the agony in her mind, pulsing the edges of her skull with such stressed that it caused her eyes to burn. She recognized and allowed herself to feel the conflagration from behind that was hazing her vision and turning her skin into a shade of rosy red.

The heat suddenly lessened. Her legs had become such a blinding glow of colors - black boots, pink half skirt and pale flesh, and a foreign glow of gold - that they all blended together. The princess had to lean forward to balance the sheer force of her own mad dash, and the emerald pulsed with bright rays. Now, _it _was the thing that seemed to be having difficulty maintaining speed.

A familiar sensation rose within her. A force of emotion had overtaken her body, and she felt the connection to chaos that she had used once before to heal the wounded Sage of Light. Zelda understood what was happening to her. The challenge of the chaos emerald... only one who could use its powers would be able to succeed in catching it.

The full weight of her memories flooded in, pushing her to the limit that she needed. Thinking of the hellish and demented Maverick fueled her rage. Knowing that her success would protect her comrades and friends granted her the drive of compassion. X's confidence in her powered faith. The trial of the white emerald was simply to realize the power necessary to use it, and the more she believed that she could rightfully use and protect the jewel of power, the closer it allowed her.

"_Chaos..._"

The mental projection of the Sage of Light the she envisioned with all of her heart pushed her over the edge, causing the light of the emerald in front of her to radiate, filling the tunnel with streaks of white that poured out from the jewel's endless layers and facets.

"..._BREAK!_"

With speed unrivaled, the final gap between them closed. As her fingers reached out to touch the emerald, her heart had filled itself with excitement and longing, knowing that it was the shrouded reploid sage who gave her strength. When she blacked out, her thoughts were only for his face, his voice, and the desire to be near his wisdom and courage.

* * *

Zelda screamed madly, and a moment later she was choking on water as her body was submerged. Her ripped open elbow, her broken wrist, the pierced wound in her leg, and the violent cramping in her stomach and intestines all returned. There was no adrenaline dulling the pain, no spirit of Cloud mending her or keeping the agony at bay. She coughed water from her lungs, screaming more as her arms were grabbed and she was pulled onto the dry metal surface.

"Vile! The emerald!" she shouted, gasping. Her bleeding wounds were so intense that they may as well have been lit on fire.

"Friend Zelda," a soothing voice spoke as arms cradled her. "Do not worry. You are safe."

The princess bit her lip with strained, rapid breaths as she tried to calm herself and resist the terrible torment of her body. It was worse than before, but it slowly began to subside with Starfire's soothing touch, and the warm glow in front of her. Clasped tightly against her chest, the white chaos emerald began to calm as well, its pulse rescinding like a heartbeat.

Terra was kneeling in front of her. The Sage of Earth's forehead was damp with blood, but she wore a weak smile. "You did it, Princess."

"And... and Vile?"

"Sinking," Tidus said with some relief, hunched down not far away. "To the bottom of the lake."

Zelda winced, uncomfortable at the thought of the Maverick.

Terra cupped the hand that Zelda held over the emerald. "Don't worry. We'll make sure that every trace of Maverick presence is destroyed here, and there won't be a third incident."

Exhaling, slowly adjusting to the pain, Zelda felt incredibly tired, content enough with the answer that Terra and Tidus had given her. She held the chaos emerald tighter and relaxed her face against Starfire. Her eyes began to close, but she saw Cloud not far away, returned to his ghostly form. Though his flesh and blood was gone and his features were dimmed, he wore a small expression on his face that was happy for their success, and for her. It was a pleasant final sight before she slipped out of consciousness.


	86. A Story: Birth of Chaos

Chapter 86 – A Story: Birth of Chaos

The aftermath of Echidnopolis's collapse had been a terrible ordeal. Though X had insisted that they stay and help save as many people as they could from the wreckage, their help was not welcomed by Echidna politicians or police. Even with the truth of Balk's actions disclosed to the necessary authorities, the incalculable amounts of damaged combined with the death of Knuckles had badly rattled those who were fortunate enough to escape Balk, Rayquaza, and the tipping of the Floating Island when it had begun falling. The shaken and wounded populace were, at least in the moment, terrified of outsiders.

As for those trapped in rubble or badly wounded, their reactions to what they perceived as Terrans were mixed. Some acted on their fear and called for help, but luckily for X and the other sages, many innocent civilians had not cared who mended their wounds or who saved their children, brothers, sisters, friends, and other loved ones. Others were in such a state of confusion that they had no words of response and simply sat there, staring at what little remained of their city and their lives.

After more than a full day and night, avoiding the police force became too much of a burden for the sages, to the point where it was beginning to threaten trapped people rather than save them. X had been forced to withdraw everyone, even Sonic and Shadow. The two hedgehogs had been under suspicion of involvement and were wanted for questioning, though not in a way that X interpreted as a threat against them. Undoubtedly, the Echidna government had enough questions that it would take weeks to answer, so having the two Sages of Wind cooperate in that more benign manner simply wasn't possible. X wondered if there would be a chance to divulge the entire story in the future and mend the dreadful relations that had been established.

Since they were not welcome, X had been at a loss, troubled with his emotional compulsion to help. The reploid was unaware that Mewtwo and Sonic had been collaborating about their next course of action. Though he said little of why, the Sage of Spirit had insisted that they go someplace private in nature, a place of great meaning. Sonic quickly suggested traveling to his home of many years, during his time with the Freedom Fighters. X and the others warmly agreed, and the trip with the Dreamweaver passed in an uneventful span of less than two hours across nearly a quarter of Mobius.

The Floating Island regrettably had to fend for itself.

* * *

Knothole Village. Sheltered naturally in a valley of dense, vibrant trees, it had been a place of great fondness for Mega Man X in his travels before meeting Raven. Though the laborious and nearly catastrophic events of the Floating Island would not be fully free of X's mind for some time, the peace of Knothole allowed X to subdue his emotions on the subject and put them aside as best he could.

It had actually been pure accident that X stumbled upon the Freedom Fighters and first met Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends. As he always did when approaching a habitable planet that he hadnever been to before, X had swept the surface of the planet with the Dreamweaver's sensors. The Floating Island was obviously a point of curiosity, but he was also drawn toward Mobitropolis, a city many miles away from Knothole. Technology was rampant in the metallic expanse that once was ruled by the vicious Ivo Robotnik. but the sensor readouts from the Dreamweaver had shown X terrible levels of pollution and other foolishness that dissuaded his interest despite unique and unusual instances of robotics. What struck X as particularly strange was that most of the population of Mobitropolis was machine, but not seemingly sentient. Stranger yet, the nearby forest, though shrinking slowly from deforestation, did not contain any sentient life whatsoever. Knowing that he could always teleport back to the Dreamweaver with ease, X transported directly into the heart of the Mobian Forest Expanse, close enough to Knothole that he was able to find signs of sentience, contradicting the Dreamweaver's readouts. Upon discovering that the trees themselves emitted a natural chemical that was harmless to the Mobians but could disrupt sensors and electrical systems, X knew he had found something special. The rest was something that he decided to reminisce about another time.

"The water wheel's been completely replaced," Mega Man pointed at the thin river flowing eagerly along, coaxing the large wooden device in swift circles. "A few of these houses have been remodeled, too, but other than that, it's just like I remember it."

Raven, her arm entwined with his, casually paced in attempted enjoyment of the scenery. She was troubled as well, but as long as X could remain calm about the disaster that had befallen yet another race, she knew she could do the same.

The sorceress noted the gentle brown of the many wood huts, several of them rounded with two to three floors. Hay or wooden slats neatly and thickly lined the roofs, the former of the two having once been bound by a strong arm and tan colored plant twine. At first glance, very little of the village appeared to be created out of necessity, and much more for a comfortable getaway from urban stress, but the things X continued to remember suggested that Knothole could have withstood a military assault if it had ever come to that.

"There's the main hall," he pointed to a particularly wide structure. "Not many of the buildings are made with stone, but that one's got it an arm's length thick. Even a fully charged Buster shot probably couldn't break through it. And there," he pointed at a cliff face, equally shrouded in trees, where she spotted the faint glow of lights. It was the only home that was visibly underground, built right into the existing landscape, but Raven knew there had to be many more hidden domiciles, especially after all the stories he had been sharing about the Freedom Fighters since they had arrived. To be honest, she felt a sense of disbelief.

"This is really where Sonic and his people hid for their lives?"

X nodded, sighing with a smile. "It's incredible what they managed with so little to work with back then. And to think, they survived and fought back for years before I ever arrived."

Only a handful of people who wanted separation from the city of Mobitropolis remained in Knothole, their job being to simply maintain it and preserve what was now a symbol for many thousands of Mobians, even those who had been out of range of the war. No one could ever forget how a decade of their lives was spent hiding from the nefarious Doctor Ivo Robotnik. His revolutionary machines turned flesh and blood friends and family into metal and wire slaves loyal only to Robotnik. The process had been reversed for many since then, and, between the efforts of Sonic the Hedgehog, all the other Freedom Fighters, and Mega Man X, Robotnik was behind bars for good.

Mobius's bright moon was out, as were all the stars in the sky. Few could be seen through the leafy cover of Knothole's covering forests, but the light reflecting off the moon made it easy enough to casually stroll without trouble. The subtle moon glow gleamed off X's jade armor, settling the greenish aura into the corner of Raven's eye as they walked through the setting of Sonic's past.

The water's rush was at a pleasant distance, and a small bird was chirping a strange, baritone 'eee-hoo' for the night to hear. It was just quiet enough, and neither too cold nor too warm. The breeze was like a gentle caress, almost too gentle to notice if the leaves didn't brush with a soft rustle high above them.

"Some of these trees are just..."

"Enormous?" X finished for her. "Second tallest species in all of Mobius. Resilient, too. These trees saved the lives of a lot of people."

"I imagine the peace and quiet helped, as well" Raven considered, sensing it for herself as the tranquility of the night soothed all that they had been through recently.

He smiled a yes, releasing their hooked arms so he could squeeze her against his side. "We'll come back here some time."

They walked on, sharing more sights and stories, enjoying the sounds of the peaceful forest that rid them of their worries, at least for the night. When they approached the clearing, the heat of the small fire in the center pushed back the mild chill that had slipped into the air. It made the flickering warmth that much nicer as they joined everyone else who had come. Saria and Nanaki were there, together of course, saving a seat for the two of them on one of three logs sawed lengthwise and sanded flat, arranged in a large triangle around the fire. Shadow and Rouge sat on the log to their right. Hidden from view, Naminé rested within Shadow, and Inuyasha had temporarily taken on a form that appeared solid and normal enough as long as no one touched him, though he kept near the treeline. Sonic and his close friends filled out many of the remaining seats, and as the reploid and the sorceress took their place, they left a spot open for the story teller, their other newest sage.

As if he had been waiting for the last two to arrive, Mewtwo emerged silently from the path, and, as X realized that it was the first time he had seen the telepath choose to use his feet instead of hover or fly, the Sage of Spirit's smooth gait ended with a graceful placement between Saria and X. His tail continued to sway slowly.

"Welcome, all of you," he spoke with his real voice, no telepathy. The deep baritone was commanding. "Tonight is a solemn night for some of us. The events of the previous days have no doubt reached you and taken their toll. The Floating Island has lost its Guardian in the midst of a great battle, and in the remembrance of Knuckles the Echidna, his wife Julie-su, and the many others who perished in the Echidnopolis disaster, we shall observe a moment of silence before we begin."

Heads bowed. All eyes shut.

No one spoke or moved, and the fire crackled silently in the night for some time.

"Thank you," Mewtwo bowed toward them. "In light of these events, I also wish to share a story that I believe is relevant to many peoples and civilizations across the span of our galaxy, but it is especially meaningful for those of you here, the Mobians, who have guarded the secrets of our ancestry for many centuries. This is the story of how the chaos emeralds first came to be, and how they now embroil all of us in the most desperate of wars."

At that, Mewtwo held his hand toward the fire, making it rise up into the shape of an emerald, composed of flames. A moment later, his hand lowered, and the fire settled as well.

Many subtle whispers passed across the burning wood. Breaths were held or sucked in abruptly, while others, such as Shadow, released subtle growls of discomfort at the idea. The emeralds were such a huge component of their history. Some cultures on Mobius regarded them as religious icons, and questioning their origin was therefore blasphemous. To challenge that history, it clashed with the beliefs of some, but the Mobians and others who had gathered that night were open-minded enough to listen. Mewtwo was given willing ears and eyes.

"The events that created the seven emeralds and their single master took place long ago, far longer than the ages of us all, and those events are reoccurring today for us of the Triforce."

Merely at his word, each member of the Triforce present, seven in total, watched the glow on the back of their hands fade in and fade out. The guest without were mesmerized by the symbol of Hyrule's birth branded on the sages.

"History has no formal record of what I am about to share with you tonight. Only a rare and thinning lineage of people known as the 'story tellers' are aware of this, of a creature known as 'The First' that began to spread death and terror like no other, consuming entire villages, countries, and eventually planets. In a time when civilization was young, the living soul was narrow and knew little more than survival. Violence and malice only arose over food, shelter, possessions or procreation, but these harsh actions taken by those who have long since departed were out of necessity, a natural and forgivable byproduct of ancient times.

"As existence continued to evolve over thousands of years for humans, Mobians, Gaians, and countless other sentient species, the living soul began to grow, but not in a single direction. Our hearts and minds began to guide us in many different ways, diverting our paths beyond simple survival. The emergence of a great power called 'Wisdom' also birthed 'Ignorance.' Another great force that came to be known as 'Courage' then also caused the arrival of 'Cowardice.' Personal pride, competition and revenge became a part of our dark sides and caused our violence to excel. For many of these opposing traits, it was the light side that came first, followed by the darker counterpart. But then, without warning, unnoticed by all, _The First_ emerged, and civilization's development from eons ago became forever poisoned. The First was the beginning of the trait known as 'Evil.' No one knows why it came or where it came from, only that it lived to consume and destroy all that it saw for no purpose other than the enjoyment of watching life itself burn into ashes.

"A corrosive cycle was born, and it continued over countless ages. The First sometimes chose to worm its way into a planet, consuming it from the inside out over many years until it rotted away. Other times it would appear as a great beast that would bring a world's populace to extinction in a shorter time. The First's cruelest power was to attach itself to the negative but forgivable instincts that we are born with, such as killing for food or pride, and corrupt it into something far more detestable. The desire to harm one for survival or revenge would spark disproportionally intense fire within its victims, driving sentient beings into infectious madness, into a downward plunge of torturing and slaughtering for the pure desire to inflict terror and destruction.

"On one world, war broke out over resources, a byproduct of need for survival, which can be understood, as we all need things to live. But one soldier was taken hold of by The First's influence. With sword and shield in hand, killing his opponents was painful for him at first, an emotional burden that no one should need suffer, but his sorrow for his actions began to change. It became more than war, more than pride of strength. He began to enjoy his killings, and not for the step closer it brought him and his homeland to victory. This infected soldier murdered for pleasure, even after the war, slaughtering family and friends until he, too, was put to death, but it did not end there. All who knew of his actions – The First's contagion had spread to some of them. It caused a weakness to be placed in their souls, perverting them beyond return if certain corrupting events came to pass. A burst of rage, a bitter grudge, jealousy over another's mate; all these things allowed The First to send those afflicted into a plummet of darkness from which there is almost no hope of return."

Dancing shadows and flickering lights shaped to the events as Mewtwo continued to weave them. Next, the largest flame of all, towering over an army of smaller figures, began to clash in violent battle. Every swipe of the large, dark flame killed scores of the people who fought against it.

"Many tried over to rise up and kill The First, and some of the mightiest warriors of existence thought that they had been successful. But when these warriors prematurely rejoiced in triumph, they learned the cruel nature of The First. It has many bodies, many souls it has harvested to protect it, and these incarnations made their enemy eternal. Thus the wars raged onward."

"Armies fell to the incarnations and minions of the great evil, and when The First suffered the loss of a host body, it always had another one prepared to take its place, never dying. Victories over slain hosts of the evil beast were short lived. Out of anger and hatred, The First would send another of its hosts to finish the job that the first one failed to accomplished. If by some miracle, a second of The First's bodies fell, it would send a third. No one escaped, their souls reaped from their still-breathing bodies, and The First devoured them.

"One wise group had heard that an unstoppable evil was spreading across their world, and rather than attempt to destroy it, they chose instead to contain this evil, sealing it away for as long as time would hold it. They gathered the wisest of those who survived, _eight mighty sages_, and a leader to unite them."

Mewtwo paused and gestured toward the burning wood. Within the fire's depths, eight different people formed, circling one more who shined with a much stronger presence in the center. The one in the middle held up a weapon, a brilliant, gleaming sword. X and Raven smiled at this, leaning against each other tighter as the outer flames extinguished, leaving just the one figure, holding his blade high.

"The universe was younger then, and there was no word to describe such a person who would face The First alone, challenging the destruction that the great evil so freely wrought. Eventually, the name given to this, the bravest of souls, was 'Hero'. Together, the Hero, the eight sages, and all those willing to stand with them, defeated many of the evil incarnations of The First, and for the first time ever known, the creature... the _King of Evil_, showed its true face.

In the flickering heat, the Hero's head angled upward, never lowering the Master Sword as a black creature began to form from the flames. The creature's appearance was similar to that of the incarnations before it, but the King of Evil was superior, evolved well beyond its hosts. Its body pulsed with many faces, captured souls, and boundless knowledge. Its energies took shape even further, sending the black fire all around the Hero, trapping him inside.

A golden triangle appeared on The First's chest, and a second one began glowing brightly in the increasing flames, releasing bright yellow embers that flew up into the sky. The second one belonged to the Hero of Time, and X's mark again began to glow. Then, a third triangle - the final shard of the Triforce - appeared, surprising X and the other sages. The only exception was Saria, who smiled in remembrance of something she had already experienced. Outside the fire-circle of darkness, but behind and supporting the Hero of Time, was a woman wielding the Triforce of Wisdom. Raven checked her tattoo, and her unique, brighter shard was warm and comforting in its golden glow.

"Legends tell that the Hero of Time and the King of Evil fought for many days, though there is no way of knowing how long their struggles lasted. Eventually, both combatants grew weak, and the Hero knew he would not be able to defeat the creature. Left with no other choice, he used the Triforce's power and the Master Sword's might to transform himself into a living prison in the hope that he could contain the monster for eternity. The very first Hero of Time, thousands of years ago, drained all of his spiritual energy, condensed himself into a massive crystal... and _became_ the Master Emerald."

Murmurs circulated with fervor. Mewtwo allowed the fire to recede back to normal, knowing that his last statement would not be taken well by all. It contradicted some branches of belief that involved the emeralds having been present since the beginning of time, or at the very least, the origin of Mobius, however many millions of years ago that was.

X believed. Raven did as well. The proof, the legacy, they wore it on their hands. When Mega Man scanned the rest of the crowd, he witnessed a number of expressions. A few people chose to leave. Others were very conflicted, racked with confusion and inner turmoil that they were trying resolve. Sonic and Nanaki had surprisingly similar reactions of initial surprise, general fascination, and then acknowledgement balanced by skepticism. Unlike the few whose faces bent with disbelief, Sonic and Nanaki only subtly moved their eyes and postures as the idea affected them.

As prior to the story, Raven and X were most concerned about Shadow. He waited patiently and listened, but his blood was boiling. Despite the obvious outward glare of rage that he wore, the mind reading powers of the Hero and Raven couldn't detect the specific reason why. Somehow he was defending his mind, and they kept a close eye on him as his unrest began to subside. Mewtwo raised his hand to settle the crowd.

"Forced on the outside of the ultimate struggle, the other eight sages followed their leader's actions, but they knew that they could not all sacrifice themselves. One brave person was elected to stay behind, and the seven other sages, with tremendous strength and spirit, but none matching their leader's, became the seven chaos emeralds that you know today."

For those who had already chosen to stay despite clashes religion or upbringing, this was a more minor shock after the previous one. The side conversations were brief.

X was startled as Mewtwo suddenly directed his storytelling at him instead of the rest of the listeners. "The one left behind," he carefully explained to the reploid, "is the long departed ancestor of one whom you have befriended, Mega Man X."

X felt his body clench anxiously for the answer. His mind had never raced as wild from any story; the questions entering the Hero's mind grew to the hundreds.

"The valiant sage who stayed behind to protect the seven chaos emeralds and the Master Emerald became known as the 'legend teller' who would hand down the story from generation to generation, keeping the secret within the family. The current living descendent – her name is..."

Mewtwo took great care in crafting the flames a final time, building the slender form with as much cohesion as the wild heat would allow him. Long hair, regal dress, and then...

Raven gasped, her eyes turned into massive globes. X felt his chest beating as he saw the pointed Hylian ears.

Saria couldn't contain her excitement. "The princess!"

"Yes," Mewtwo nodded, letting the image linger for a moment longer. "Princess Zelda Hyrule is the descendent of one of the original sages. She is the Legend Teller. Somewhere within her, even if she is not aware of it, is a part of the story that we do not know. A part that may make the difference between all time being destroyed and sealing the King of Evil away once again. Or, perhaps..."

Mewtwo went into contemplative silence, withdrawing himself with an unusually emotive expression.

"What?" X insisted. "What else?"

"It may..." he hesitated, speaking quietly so that they had to strain to hear him over the crackle of the flames. "It may hold the secret to _destroying_ the King of Evil. If we should triumph, it would cause a peace that the universe has not known for ages."

A woman, X remembered her as Princess Sally Acorn, the ruler of Mobitropolis city, signaled Mewtwo with a subtle gesture of her hand. Her thick, auburn hair curled around her face, and her strong blue eyes were curious and intent. "How is it that The First escaped his imprisonment and is free today?" she asked, and all looked to Mewtwo for response.

"Because the chaos emeralds are not whole," he quickly answered, which prompted more curious reactions from the crowd. Mewtwo guided the flickers of heat so that they showed the seven chaos emeralds and the Master Emerald. Hovering in unison, the emeralds all released a single tiny spark of condensed light that then took center focus. "Each emerald, the Master Emerald included, has a tiny, undetectable fragment missing from its body. They contain the essence of unimaginable power, but the direction and use of that power is determined by the hearts of those who hold them. It is these shards that both bless and curse, for within them lies a piece of an ancient sage of legend, _and_ a fragment of _The First himself_. Breaking a miniscule piece off of each chaos emerald was the only way that The First could escape its emerald prison, but in doing so, The First was spread so thin that it could not maintain any consciousness. As a result, the holders of a single fragment may be either wholly evil or supremely righteous, but most often it causes spontaneous emotions that can lean one way or the other with little warning."

Shadow's angry hiss interrupted the tale's flow. "I already know that I have one of the shards. I want to know who has the others. You know, don't you?"

Calm as always, Mewtwo bowed gently to him in affirmation. "Young hedgehog, you and I are alike in many ways, but there is a great uniqueness in your shard that, as far as I am aware, has never once occurred before."

"Wait, teacher," X interjected, noticing the subtle implication Mewtwo had made. "You have one of the shards?"

The telepath's tail swayed as he showed a reserved smile. "I am an artificially created life form, as is Shadow. It is the chaos shards that give us soul and will. How they were obtained and harnessed in the first place, there is no documentation of. I only know that one of the shards landed on my home world several centuries ago, and that scientists meticulously studied its power and eventually created me. As for Shadow, his creation is due to the leader of a parasitic race, known as Black Doom, who used the emerald shard to fashion a living weapon. Shadow is the result of that intent."

This was nothing new to Shadow, and his patience was waning. He began slowly digging his heel into the grass and soil. "Black Doom was a fool to think he could control me. Now, how exactly is my shard unique?"

Their storyteller's eyes darted slightly to one side. Shadow followed the glance directly to Sonic the Hedgehog. His blue spines perked up, and he adjusted his position on the mossy log where he sat. At the same time, Shadow dropped his cross-armed poise and clenched his fists.

"Don't tell me..."

"...we both use the same shard?"

Mewtwo nodded. "I do not know how it is possible, considering that you were born several decades apart. My only theory, Shadow, is that the time you spent in hibernation caused you to partially relinquish your hold on the shard, and that it sought someone else, ultimately choosing one with many common traits. Together, you have unmatched speed and strength in such a way that you perfectly rival each other."

X and Raven were careful to observe the reactions of their new Sages of Wind. Shadow's anger and offense at being compared to his other half was easy to predict, though it boiled deeply inside him, kept hidden from all except the telepaths who could not help sensing some of it. Somehow, Shadow continued to block most of their mental power. They could only feel the outward emotions that he so strongly expressed.

The greater concern had suddenly shifted to Sonic. All sense of casual nonchalance and optimism slowly evaporated from him. Outwardly, he frowned and stared at the grass and soil at his feet, becoming silent and withdrawn. The Mobian next to him, Sally, carefully stroked the back of his head in concern as multitudes of emotion crossed the blue hedgehog's face. He could not avoid considering his birth, and how his superior speed was caused by such a random circumstance. It made him feel distant from the rest of his kind than he ever had before. Rather than seeing himself as special and unique, the fact that a chaos emerald shard granted his strength made Sonic think of himself as an abnormality, and aberration. X had never sensed such confusion coming from him.

"We as sages are bound with the responsibility of more than two of the eight shards," Mewtwo continued, ignoring the strife that he had caused through his story. "Our company tonight includes four of the chaos fragments in total." He twisted his slim figure toward the Sage of Darkness, and her throat tightened with anticipation. "Raven, the chakra on your forehead is a physical manifestation of an emerald shard, stolen from your father at your birth."

At the mention of her father, Raven instinctively squeezed her deep blue cloak tighter against her shoulders. Memories tangled her abdomen with discomfort, but she forced herself to touch the ruby diamond, caressing its four edges and the subtle point extending from its center. In a few small words, the reason for her binding blood magic ties to her father had been explained, as well as why Trigon had needed her to ascend to power. It was her very birth that both stole his power and placed a deadly target on her. Had her mother known of his emerald shard? And how had Mewtwo known of her history more than she did?

The Sage of Spirit did not allow her questions to come forth. "X," he spoke to the Hero of Time. "Though the crystal in your forehead has always been reploid in design, it was also infused with a shard in a similar manner to Shadow's and my own."

Like Raven, he could not avoid touching the reddish jewel embedded in his pale jade helmet. In his modified Hylian-reploid armor, the jewel sat in his forehead at the bottom of the arcing extension that rose toward and beyond the back of his armor. Always thinking that the the large, transparent diamond in his chest plating was the grander of his two gemstones, X now found it of little consequence compared to the vital jewel he possessed above his eyes.

Again, Mewtwo did not allow further questions from them. "As for the remaining shards, that is where our story becomes grim. Two of the shards changed souls not long ago, and the consequences were dire. Somehow, Zero obtained a second shard after already possessing the one he was created with."

Sorrow struck X immediately. "That's what caused all of this? But when did it happen?"

X then considered a possibility had already occurred to him, but with a fresh perspective. Always suspecting that the Maverick Virus in combination with the Triforce of Power was the cause for Zero's current state, X now had and additional catalyst to consider. "If Zero killed someone with a shard," asked the Hero, "would he have even known it?"

Mewtwo met his pupil's question with a stern expression, and X wondered if it was perhaps in warning.

"I do not have answers to those questions, nor am I aware of anyone else who does, except Zero himself," responded the telepath. Mewtwo had been deliberately pointed and hostile in his tone. A less comforting reply couldn't have been given, and it left X deeply frustrated, buried in thoughts of his old friend, though it had seemed like forever since he had thought of Zero that way.

"Regardless of how it occurred," Mewtwo continued, "the merging of two emerald shards allowed the consciousness of The First to awaken itself inside Zero's mind, body and soul. When he acquired a third emerald shard from the ancient witch, Jenova, it magnified his power even more."

"Jenova had a shard," Raven whispered, temporarily drawn back to thoughts of her time on Gaia, as well as its thousand-year-future, Spira. "So... that's seven shards, counting the mystery one that started all of this. But with the Master Emerald, there are eight in total. Do you know who has the last one?"

Many became curious and silent at the question the sorceress had posed. It had occurred to some that the emerald shards did not all have to be involved in the war they waged to protect time, but somehow, it seemed fitting that all eight were present. After learning that half of the shards were sitting together under the same moon and stars of Mobius, X, Raven, Saria, the hedgehogs, and all the other Mobian listeners wanted to know if the holder of the remaining shard was friend, foe, or something else entirely.

"I am fairly certain," Mewtwo cautiously suggested, "that it belongs to the Sage of Light."

Raven tensed. Shadow cracked the joints on his fingers. From Saria, X sensed a flutter of suspicion, but it vanished as if she had never had the thought or emotion in the first place. Her behavior was becoming increasingly odd and secretive, but there never seemed to be time to confront her.

Inuyasha, from the fringe of the treeline, tapped the the handle of his sword in thought, bringing attention to himself. "That makes sense. He controlled two aeons, one right after the other, and nearly took out Rayquaza by himself."

Saria added her voice. "Even after finishing the first battle, he was vital in defeating Balk."

"And he helped fight in the Emerald Caves before that," said X, careful to avoid mentioning that the battle referred to was against their storyteller, Mewtwo. They didn't want to unease their Mobian guests, after all.

"Your observations of his power are in line with my perception of the Sage of Light, but it goes beyond that. He possesses the ability to rapidly transport between distant solar systems in a manner that I cannot comprehend, and he does not require the Chamber of Sages as an interim conduit, unlike the way that Saria traveled from Hyrule to Cosmo Canyon so swiftly. His reasons for secrecy are also unknown to me, drawing into question their purity and alignment with the other sages. Despite his alliance with us on the Floating Island, I cannot help but feel as though we may be drawn into conflict with the Sage of Light."

The strongest reaction came from Raven, slipping past her normally cool exterior. Bitter that she had kept the Sage of Light secret, Raven realized that it was now potentially endangering them. Disgusted at her own poor trust, she wore a furious scowl as she began mentally divulging every scene that had occurred between her and the Sage of Light on Spira, as well as Zelda's reactions and behavior at that time. X received her stream of thoughts without pause, able to sort and consider them, though not without difficulty due to the sheer speed at which Raven sent her mind's information.

X quickly came to the same conclusion that Mewtwo was stressing; something about the Sage of Light was definitely off, but no one could seem to put their finger on the problem. With a considerable amount already consuming his thoughts, the last thing X wanted was one more dilemma threatening them. Perhaps Zelda would have more answers back on Earth. X decided that the matter would have to wait until then.

Mewtwo rose and waved a hand of departure to the many who had come to listen. "Though tonight's tale of the past veered greatly into open discussion, I thank all of you for attending. I hope it has enlightened you to the dangers to come, as well as opened your minds to an important part of your world's history. May we all find peace despite the challenges ahead of us." A warm but subtle applause was given by most, and the Sage of Spirit bowed graciously. Shortly thereafter, many withdrew into pockets of conversation, including Sonic with his lady friend and others whom X remembered as former Freedom Fighters. Some approached Mewtwo and talked with him personally, which he appeared content with, answering their questions politely, including those who had harsh words for his legend.

As for the sages, Nanaki and Saria sat together as they so often did, speaking quietly enough that no on else could hear them. Raven, however, seemed distracted as her eyes followed something that X couldn't see, but he soon plucked the thought from their mutual consciousness.

"I don't mind," X approved, kissing her on the cheek before she stood. A warm smile returned his affection as she left for the woods.

Raven had kept an eye on Shadow the Hedgehog during Mewtwo's tale of the chaos emeralds and their origins with the Triforce. The story had been vague in places after who-knows-how-many centuries of being passed on, but it had still affected the black hedgehog profoundly, and Raven found herself somewhat concerned for him. Raven remembered the last time she had felt so conflicted emotionally, shortly after her bond first formed with X, which had been made more difficult by the entrapment she had suffered within her own mind. In the unforgettable chapter in her life when her consciousness was still freshly entwined with the reploid's, confusion had been her most frequent state of mind, but sadness, anger, fear, denial, and also great thankfulness and admiration for Mega Man, all took rapid turns dominating her. Shadow was not so different, tangled with many emotions that he normally had no difficulty suppressing.

As Raven gently probed Shadow's mind under the night stars amidst the tall trees of Knothole Forest, she found that she could not fixate herself on a single mental idea. Like before, Shadow was somehow shielding himself from her abilities, but she could still sense frustrated confusion at the forefront of his troubles. Raven was surprised to find that a number of people important to him were on his mind as well, but his mental armor prevented her from discerning exactly who these faint figures were. Regardless, Raven had expected the defensive, introverted hedgehog to be questioning himself more, not his relationships with others. Accepting that she clearly didn't know him Shadow enough, Raven delved deeper into the forest after him to learn more about the Sage of Wind.

It was not long before the black hedgehog halted his midnight wandering and growled.

"Telepath," Shadow glared. It sounded like an accusation.

Raven tried to remain calm, but found herself somewhat intimidated by his large, fierce eyes. "I'm sorry," she said. "Ever since all of this started, my telepathy has gotten stronger. It's hard to turn it off sometimes. But I didn't know you had that ability, too."

"I don't," the hedgehog spoke with an air of rising irritation. "I was created to sense the presence of the chaos emeralds. As we just learned, you contain a shard of an emerald."

"So you can sense my presence," Raven concluded.

"Especially when you try to read my mind," added Shadow, clearly displeased about his state of privacy.

"I'll try to stay out unless it's an emergency," she offered, hoping to fix the poor start to their relationship.

"Hmph. You might as well keep doing it," the hedgehog angrily shrugged. "Having telepathy makes you sort of a group counselor, doesn't it? I suppose it's your job to keep everyone happy."

"Me?" Raven laughed. "Hardly. Before I met X, I was the dark, sullen, introverted one. Compared to the rest of the Titans back home, I still am."

Shadow snorted neutrally. "He seems to have quite an affect on people."

"Don't change the subject," Raven insisted as calmly as she could.

"We didn't _have_ a subject," retorted Shadow.

"It was implied when I was accidentally wandering around in your head," she countered again as she realized how much he planned on resisting. How long had it taken that bat woman Rouge to work her way in to his comfort zone?

"If it makes it easier for you to play counselor," he explained rigidly, "I suppose I should mention that finding out the origin of the emeralds is like a child discovering that the meat on his dinner plate comes from the torn flesh of other living beings. Even though wisdom is one of the greatest possessions a person can own..."

Raven was startled by the comparison and the power injected into his voice, but she followed. "...sometimes we're better off not knowing."

Shadow glanced at her and then nodded. "That, and if the story is true, then circumstances of my creation make me nothing more than an instrument of a war perpetrated by a nameless bogeyman."

Odd, Raven thought. He didn't say 'The First' specifically. "You don't believe that there's an original force of evil corrupting us?" asked the sorceress.

With a pronounced frown, the black hedgehog began walking away, seemingly offended. "If there is, then we're the ones who created it."

Disappointed, Raven didn't try to follow him any further. He probably wanted time to think. Although, she did see a lightly colored figure hiding in the distance between the tree trunks, waiting for the dark hedgehog. Satisfied that he wouldn't be left alone, she headed back toward the campfire.

Much of the crowd had eventually dispersed, but some of them lingered beyond the warmth of the fire, reminiscing about younger days and their pasts in the secluded village of Knothole. The way Sonic stared at various things with great intimate familiarity told X that the hedgehog clearly felt the same as the other Mobians.

"Go be with your friends," X said to him. "We have to leave for a while after this. I don't know when you'll be able to come back."

Sonic thought about X's statement, eventually choosing to remove himself from the light of the campfire without saying anything. That left Saria, Nanaki, Mewtwo, Inuyasha and Naminé with the Hero of Time. For privacy, they slid their logs closer to the fire, enclosing their speech.

"How much do you know?" X posed to the two spirits.

"Except for the part about Zelda, the entire story," Inuyasha answered quickly.

"Well, we weren't aware who possessed all of the shards, either," Naminé added. "However, we were aware of Zero's, and of yours, Hero of Time. Unfortunately, we aren't any more aware than anybody else is about how Zero found his second shard."

X stared into the fire and considered the story. "I've been wondering all this time how to do more than just destroy Zero. If this creature, 'The First' is inside of Zero, then we need to do everything in our power to remove it without destroying him. It's been done with the Maverick Virus, so I have faith that it can be done with Zero as well. If it comes down to it, we can seal Zero away just like Ganondorf was on Hyrule, but if Zelda knows more, if she truly is the descendant of one of the original sages and the Legend Teller, like Mewtwo says, then perhaps we can do better than just destroy or imprison."

"I'd like that," Saria spoke. "After all... Imprisoning Ganon was meant to save Hyrule, but... the world died anyway. It didn't do any good."

X nodded. "You have my sympathy, and no one else should be forced to suffer as you did. But the problem remains, how do we extract the creature within Zero without _destroying_ Zero?"

Nanaki cleared his throat. "With the utmost respect for the original sages, I've no desire to transform myself into a chaos emerald, and we're now discovering that their plan wasn't as successful as they had hoped it would be."

Mewtwo interjected with a subtle raise of his palm. "Though I realize this goes against the ethics of a storyteller, I must say that the tale of The First makes an underlying assumption that the original sages did indeed confront and defeat the _true_ King of Evil. With the many hosts and layers to the terrible creature that we have already encountered, who is to say that it they imprisoned the true core within the emeralds? And even if we accept that the account is accurate, it does not prove conclusively that some part of The First was excluded in their act of sealing."

"You're right," X concluded. "Rufus didn't know that Jenova was still alive, and no one knew that Balk had been stealing corpses right under their noses. On Earth, the humans had no knowledge of the Maverick installation built in northern Canada. There really is no telling how many bodies The First has assimilated, and if we were to sacrifice ourselves but only seal another host body, then we'd have accomplished nothing. I think we need to keep fighting, to the last man, if it comes to that."

"Then... the Seal of the Sages," Saria spoke. "You don't intend to use it?"

X knew of what she spoke. It was the power possessed by the sages that, when combined, had sealed Ganondorf away for many years in the last campaign of the Triforce. Even without doing something as drastic as transforming into chaos emeralds, they still had the ability to seal even the most powerful enemies. "We could use it to isolate a single host body," X suggested. "But I would rather use it as an offensive weapon, or at least have that as an available option. Can that be done?"

Saria thought for a moment, staring away from prying eyes, glancing toward her hands that stiffened, clasping one within the other. As the only remaining sage from the previous struggle of the Triforce, Saria alone had the answer that X sought. As X patiently waited for her to consider the proposal, he noticed that, for whatever reason, the Kokiri woman had sunken to a state of depression. Her green irises reflected strongly in the campfire light, as did her inward retreat.

"I... think so," she eventually replied softly. "But I won't know until the time comes. I'll have to lead the charge, so to speak. It involves communicating directly with the Triforce's essence. I think I can handle that."

"Good," X nodded to her. His weariness of her withheld thoughts and emotions was not shrinking. Raven had to calm his curiosity before it caused him to act harshly. "Do we have anything left to discuss?"

Everyone leaned back in their sitting positions, considered for a moment, then gave their silence.

X stood and brushed the stray dirt and moss from his leg armor. "Get a good night's rest, everyone. We leave in the morning."

* * *

Long after the camp fire had burned down to flakes of ash and hidden cinders, when even the birds and other animals of the night were retreating to their dens and nests, Mega Man X sat alone on the same sanded log that he had rested on during the historic tale. The moon provided enough light to see comfortably, and it illuminated the sky and the constellations of Mobius beautifully.

X thought about many things, unable to sleep. A part of him wished for the mortal flesh and blood fatigue that had forced the rest of his friends and allies to retire to their guest beds in Knothole Village. For that very reason, it hadn't been difficult to slip away from Raven. They shared a room, though not a bed, but X's colliding thoughts were subdued enough that Raven eventually had fallen into a particularly deep sleep. X took comfort in knowing that she would be very rested in the morning. All of them needed it.

X hadn't encountered Inuyasha or Naminé, who didn't require sleep, but he had learned that they needed to enter a meditative state every so often to restore their spiritual strength and resupply the Mako that they used for their magics. As far as he knew, that was what they were doing.

Free from all minds but his own, the reploid considered his past, or more appropriately, how little he knew of it. Yes, his first years as a sentient machine among humans also shared a portion of his thoughts, but he was more focused on the generation before that, on the several decades that he had remained locked away, forgotten by all.

Doctor Thomas Light was his creator, but also a kind and peaceful man who sought to protect the future for both humans and reploids so that everyone could live in harmony together. Of course, that seldom had been the case. Much of X's world had been devastated in the past century ago by the Robot Wars, and it was that struggle that caused civilization to lose the history of Doctor Thomas Light, delaying X's 'birth.' Mega Man felt thankful to know what little he did, even though the discovery of his chaos emerald shard now altered his perception of the past. Had Doctor Light known the importance of the shard at all? Had the chaos shard been a part of some terrible evil that threatened his world a century ago, that then was transferred to him? It also brought into question Zero's existence. If Zero had a shard as well, then it was possible that Doctor Light designed the crimson reploid. And if so, for what purpose? Would Doctor Light have needed a second war machine to protect humanity?

No, X calmed himself. It wasn't likely that both of them shared the same creator. The discovery of Zero, though one of the most highly classified pieces of reploid information that existed, wasn't a secret to X. Zero was an insanely powerful berserker Maverick unlike any other. It was more likely that two shards of the emerald clashed somehow in the past, and that one ended up in the hands of Doctor Light, and the other ended up in the hands of someone else, someone who may very well have been an enemy to his father. Perhaps the other person, the enemy of Thomas Light, was responsible for starting the Robot Wars.

Now that all the sages were gathered other than the shrouded Sage of Light, X certainly had much of the near future to consider as well. Zero would eventually clash with them more fiercely than before, and the existence of time itself, assuming that Zero was indeed trying to break the chains of reality, was what they were battling to save.

X knew it was selfish to think of himself with that sort of weight on his mind, but he couldn't help it. If he had been created, but without the emerald shard, he would not have been the most powerful Maverick Hunter. He would not have traveled to other planets, found the Master Sword, or met any of the sages who were now his devoted allies. Perhaps none of this would have happened.

An instinctive flash of color entered X's eyes, and his Buster was already charged with humming white plasma before he had reached his feet. Realizing who his company was, he lowered his weapon, the plasma charge dissipating before X finished sitting. He returned to a casual demeanor almost immediately.

"You're much too good at that," X bowed with respect toward Mewtwo, who had somehow appeared on one of the adjacent log benches without X ever hearing his approach.

"I've had many years to practice," responded the Sage of Spirit with a dull but friendly tone.

"Many more than I have," nodded X in return.

For a while, they both sat, contemplating things that were unknown to each other. X wondered if it was a test, a battle to see if the years between their last meeting had given Mega Man enough strength to withstand his psychic attacks fully. When the mental tug of war never came, X relaxed his thoughts some.

Mewtwo held his palm toward the ash pile between them. The lightest pieces of burned matter seemed to shift away from the fire, and the black coals underneath began glowing red until small flames flickered weakly in scattered patches. The warmth was small, buy enjoyable.

"To dwell on the past so heavily does not suit you, nor does it give you aid," Mewtwo eventually said. "Still... I understand the compulsion. These times bring such fear and confusion that we begin to question all that we are. I myself have wandered these woods of fate and change, considering my actions."

X glanced away from the warm glow to regard his Sage of Spirit. The purple-furred telepath did somehow appear emotionally different to X, though his teacher's mind was too complex to be able to pinpoint the subtleties. "You couldn't sleep either, then?"

Surprisingly, Mewtwo chuckled softly. "No, I could not, but that is more of a matter of not needing to sleep for more than ten percent of the day. It took many years for me to finally understand how much rest I require."

"Only ten percent?" X stared. "Most reploids are recommended to get at least fifteen."

"Which is merely a testament to the inefficiency of your creators, no offense intended. Even after the injuries and mental invasion that I sustained, a mere handful of hours rejuvenated me."

"I'm with you. I couldn't stand it, sleeping all day," X smiled as he kicked at a cinder crackling near his boot.

"No, it would be most unlike you," Mewtwo responded. "You have always been one to act, especially if all those around you are idle. It is a good trait."

X thanked him for the compliment, and they continued to watch the small pocket of warmth in front of them shrink. It was nearly an hour before the rejuvenated flames died down one more, and the dark of the night was preparing to give in to the morning's glow.

Mewtwo rose to his feet, his tail swaying as it so often did. He spoke slowly, injecting a powerful command into the deep tones of his voice. "I know you do not need it, but you should rest, Mega Man X."

In the brief moment while X considered a reply, he blinked, and Mewtwo literally had vanished, with no trace of his presence other than bare foot prints in the dirt and ash surrounding the extinguished blaze. X shook his head, amused at his teacher's departure. With his concerns feeling oddly lightened, he took one last look at the dark sky and its thousands of stars, then decided that a good night's sleep would be best. Following familiar paths, X headed back to Knothole village.


	87. Containment

**Chapter 87 – Containment  
**

Two princesses, one of Hyrule, the other of the planet Tamaran, sat calmly in front of the white chaos emerald at their feet. Starfire had chosen a cross-legged stance, leaning slightly forward so she better faced the softly glowing jewel, while Zelda chose to lean to one side with one leg tucked beneath her, taking pressure away from her wounded thigh. Zelda's hands were pressed together as if in prayer, but gently since her left wrist and palm were in a cream colored cast, her broken wrist having healed for only three days thus far. Starfire chose to have her hands resting gently on her knees.

Though it was morning, there were no windows in the central room to let in sunlight. It was there that the white emerald was kept, in a heavily sealed room where many of the most dangerous items from defeated criminals were also placed. The Teen Titans had amassed quite a collection of weapons and gadgets, but the shining chaos emerald that they guarded at all times around the clock was the greatest treasure that the protected room had seen. Most items were sealed beneath armored glass cases, and the room around them was decorated with an all-red carpet and walls and ceilings completely black. The emerald was at the very center, held aloft by only a small, cushioned pedestal lined with crimson silk.

Princess Zelda felt overwhelming gratitude that she couldn't find the words to express. It was Starfire who had saved them from Vile and Plasmus at great risk to herself. The burns on her face had been terrible, but most were now almost gone from her incredible healing powers plus the impressive medicine of Earth, leaving only one of her cheeks bandaged as well as a splotched area of discoloration on one of her arms. It was also Starfire's idea to quell the emerald's influence with calm meditation when the effects of it wouldn't completely subside in the city. On top of that, she spent more time than anyone else in front of the emotive emerald. Starfire was deserving of a Titan-of-the-Year award just in the past few days.

The meditation, incredibly, had been working better than anyone at expected. At first it was difficult to maintain a neutral demeanor with all the energy and power emanating from the jewel, but Zelda and Starfire quickly adapted, learning to find the presence of the emerald's aura relaxing.

Cyborg, Terra, Tidus and Robin had all taken turns at it as well, but aside from Robin, they didn't have much patience for hours on end of meditation. Over time and with the help of Gizmo's technology, they saw the radius and intensity of effect shrinking, and for the first time in several weeks, the Titans had the luxury of sleep. Cyborg, who had been using his mechanical half to push himself harder than most, vanished for two entire days shortly after Zelda's return, looking very refreshed when he emerged from his room 48 hours later.

Beast Boy was the only one who hadn't given the emerald more than one attempt, but for reasons that no one had anticipated. Zelda felt guilty for laughing, even if it was on the inside, when she remembered being the partner for Beast Boy's single session in front of the powerful emerald. He couldn't hold shape at all. A chicken's confused, flopping head, with the body of a dog, the tail of a lizard, and the color of a kiwi was only the first of a dozen awkward transformations that left the poor Titan in a state that was almost gelatinous. He wasn't at all hurt, just a bit exhausted from the short experience, making 'nauseous' the most fitting description of his health for about a day.

Other than that one incident, peace was the theme for Titan's Tower, and its residents all began to reintegrate other joys, like Cyborg's cooking, Beast Boy's playfulness, sports on the beach, reading, and most of all, shopping.

Zelda knew she couldn't be the princess that she once was, but it was still tempting to purchase a gown like those she used to wear, with money that Starfire was all too willing to give her. Somewhat saddened, Zelda declined. The pink and white simple gown that she had been eyeing was fairly expensive to her understanding, and impractical as well. Her active role in fighting recently made the dress nothing more than a hazard. Opting to keep the short jean leggings and knee-high black boots, she replaced her tattered and burnt half-skirt with a purple wrap that covered her left leg while leaving most of the right one exposed, tying at the waist on that side. It was accented with a gold chain pattern that followed the length of it, and the short-length ruching on the seams added an elegant touch. Of course, with that new bottom, the pink heart top no longer matched, and it was also torn, blood-stained and crispy in some places where the slimy matter of Plasmus had singed it. A black, sleeveless top with dark purple ruffles that crossed diagonally around the front, and with similar ruffles in a hanging curve around the back, ended up being her replacement of choice. Her two ribbon sleeves had needed a thorough cleaning, but she kept them since they were remarkably in good condition other than the tough stains that eventually came out. Well, mostly, anyway. Between a few stubborn discolorations and a general loss of brightness too, Starfire thought it best to teach her how to dye them using a shade of dark gold, similar to the color of her hair and matching closely with the chain pattern on her wrap.

Choosing some of the night colors felt a little unusual, especially after Starfire's rendition of an Earth song about black socks and how they 'never got dirty.' Perhaps it was simply time for another change. Zelda felt like being a leader again, but in a much different sense than ruling a nation. Here she felt like she was on the same level as those she led, more like a peer and a friend.

A strange smile rose in her lips without warning, and she found Starfire doing the same thing despite the bandaged half of her face.

"I can hear some of your thoughts," Star beamed warmly. "You heart is most kind."

Zelda was fascinated, feeling the Tamaranian's joy blossom in her own words. "Then, I smiled because you smiled?"

"I believe so," she replied. "I noticed the strangeness last time we meditated together. It was most curious, and I believe it could also be most awkward if it were someone with a different mind."

"It's creating a mental bond between us," Zelda stared at the gem of power. "That's incredible."

"Yes, I agree," Starfire continued to radiate positivity. However, a moment later her face grew serious, eyes slightly wider, mouth straightened into a tight line.

"What's wrong?" Zelda asked.

"I hear someone else's mind," was the swift, uncomfortable answer. "It is someone most unlike you, but I cannot sense anything other than tiny emotions. I also felt this last time I guarded the emerald, but only once in many hours. I do not know where it comes from."

Pursing her lips, the Hylian woman didn't want the happy moment to leave, but she admitted what she was thinking. "I... haven't felt anything like that," she sighed and readjusted her position on the carpeted floor. Zelda tried to seek out the emotions Starfire spoke of, weaving through the mental sights and feelings that the emerald projected onto them. Glimpses of people in heightened states of emotion, of joy, hurt, depression, excitement and many others, were all that she found. There were, of course, negative acts, but they were minor. She found nothing matching what the young Titan described, and Zelda frowned as she opened her eyes again.

"I believe," Zelda guessed, "that it was difficult to do this at first because of all the conflicting emotions, both good and bad, from the people of this city. Perhaps now we are feeling emotions from Vile, or other evil people who have been near the emerald in the recent past."

A smile abruptly came back to Starfire, immediately making the other princess feel better. "You are wise as well. I am sure that must be the reason why we are feeling this way. I only wish it would not interrupt us."

"I feel the same way," Zelda calmly spoke. She shut her eyes again as she focused on pacifying the emerald, and Starfire did as well. A long silence passed between them, and it was filled with the lighthearted emotions of them both. It was almost comfortable enough to fall asleep right where they sat.

After what could have been another hour at least, Zelda considered her excited rise in heartbeat when she thought about the others returning. She genuinely looked forward to seeing them, and she could not wait for the stories of their travels and whether or not they had acquired a new sage. With only Wind, Spirit, and Light left to find, they were becoming quite near the end of their journey to seal away Zero.

With a sigh and a shiver in her stomach, her mind could not help but return to the Sage of Light.

It was time for Starfire's round of duty over the city, and as the Titan said her friendly farewell, Zelda felt that the timing was perfect. As soon as she had though of the Sage of Light in her mind, he had taken over her thoughts completely. Starfire would have been very polite about it, probably giddy, maybe even teasing in the subtle ways she did. But the reploid sage was, for now, a private thought that caused a quiver in her chest and a potent longing that rippled between heart and thought. She wanted badly to hear from him, to know that he was safe, wherever he was. Half of her wanted to steal him from the demons of Zero that he surely would be fighting. The other half hungered to be at his side in support, protecting him from the evils that they all faced.

Zelda considered her more ambitious side, the one craving battle if it meant that they could share each others' presence. With half a grin, she glanced over her injuries. The metal splinter wound in her collarbone that she had received in the city was mostly healed, but she was a disgraceful mess otherwise, and the new clothing of gold, violet and black couldn't hide it. The stab wound in her leg was quite deep and still difficult to stand on, and the bullet or laser that had blown off skin from her elbow almost to the bone was quite unbearable to flex. Her broken wrist made aiming properly with her handguns impossible, and the recoil alone would be agony. Amused at her feeble state, Zelda grinned to herself and thought of what a terrible ally she would be to him. Regardless, wanting his warmth and the wisdom he exuded was at the forefront of her desires.

The reason she felt such attachment eluded her still. He was unkind when they had first met in the catacombs of Turtle Rock, secretive from then until now about his identity other than being the Sage of Light, had allowed her to sacrifice her health to save him, and was unwilling to reveal himself even to the Hero of Time. She hadn't forgotten any of that. Perhaps it was his overwhelming dedication to the Triforce, his strength, and, in a few instances, the affection that he showed to her when her emotions could not handle more, that continued to incline Zelda toward him.

What a complicated thing affection was. He was a machine, and her a Hylian flesh-and-blood woman. He hardly aged while her clock was clearly ticking. What sort of relationship could they hope to have? Illness or disease could take her just as easily as the war they were fighting, but he was probably immune to such thing. Then, with a vocal unease that slipped out as if a cold wind had gripped her, she realized that a sickness had already harmed them both. As unpleasant topics began to overtake her mind, the white emerald pulsed more powerfully, reacting. She struggled to calm herself, to think rationally.

Yes, she was sick. So were the Hero, Raven, the Sage of Light she cherished, and many others. It was reflected in all of their eyes. The emeralds and materia had stolen time from many. Or perhaps it was more appropriate to think of it as a fair but deadly exchange for the use of such incredible power. It was difficult to hope for a cure, but she knew that there was still a chance before it harmed people any further. Mega Man X and all of these Titans had the wisdom and technology that Hyrule and its simplicity never possessed. If they managed to defeat Zero, time might allow for a cure to be harvested. Then there would be no worry of illness for her or the Sage of Light, and the complications of being with him could be worked through. They could travel amongst the stars on a ship of their own to any planet of their choosing, then take more time to study the intricacies of great civilizations that were the most fascinating. Oh, how desperately she wanted for that time to come.

Eyes gently opening to the short pedestal with the crimson silk, she saw the emerald's reflection of her rational thought, pacifying its glow to a softer level, almost as if it was asleep. A sigh of relief exited the princess, and she continued to meditate with a relaxed mind, able to ignore the discomfort of her injuries. For a time, she tranquilly poised herself alone with the emerald, appeasing the waves of emotion that exuded from the infinite depth of the radiant jewel.

* * *

Terra had chosen a remote location to rest once her shift had ended. She had thankfully been given a short stint of duty since her medical exam after the mission in the Maverick base revealed a moderate concussion to go along with the gash in her forehead. Still, the few hours she had spent patrolling the city had been strenuous. It was the same congested mess of traffic and thousands of people that it always was, minus some of the more bizarre incidents that had been caused by the emerald's influence just days before. Whether patrolling in industrial, commercial or residential areas on her floating stone platform, it was difficult to focus on her job, and Terra had also found the sunlight to be particularly unpleasant. It was a symptom that was expected, but one she would have to report to Cyborg and Robin nonetheless for further medical treatment and evaluation. Until then, she was free to spend her off time however she wished, and in the shade of a dry plateau far from the city was her comfort of choice.

Her hideaway, one that she had regularly used a few years back before her time with the Titans, was on the opposite side of the river from the city, a few miles inland in a nationally protected environment, so it was unpopulated, and perfect for escaping. The rocky surfaces were mostly tan or dirt colored unlike the speckled granite of other rocky areas, so it resembled a small desert despite proximity to water. The best part was the absolute silence, barring the wind, which was accepted company. She kicked back against a particular surface of stone that she had no need to shape with her powers. It fit her perfectly, providing both support in her back where she needed it and a proper angle to relax, about forty-five degrees. With the afternoon moving on, the shadows of the tall stone pillar behind her darkened things to help her eyes, and the sun was blocked from view. It was still pleasantly warm.

The only thing that was new was that she was taller. It wasn't something she had paid much heed to at first, but she had grown a couple of inches since emerging from her stone shell beneath the city, possible as a side effect of being older mentally, and her body catching up to that. The odd symptom made her muscles sore in completely random places, and it also required her to make wardrobe changes both for casual and combat purposes. The simple jumpsuit was dark gray with yellow stripes along the sides from underarm to ankle, zippered in the front only up to her chest now that she was off duty. Terra had chosen to leave the optional sleeves unattached for the time being. The jumpsuit had enough give so that the new curves of her body weren't completely obvious, and it was mostly comfortable. Occasionally Terra had to twist her body one way or another in an effort to get more accustomed to the functional garment, and eventually she found a position that suited her well enough.

Damn it. Her head itched. Just as she was about to doze off. What a nuisance. She wore a bandage on her forehead, but also a plain gray bandana to avoid comments and stares from her fellow Titans or the people of the city when she had been on duty. When she pulled at it, her skin pulled too, painfully.

"Really?" she asked of the bandana, which had bonded to the sticky fluids leaking from her forehead that the bandage failed to keep under check. She pulled carefully at a different angle, and the bandana peeled away. Sure enough, it was stained yellowish brown in a narrow strip in the front.

"Just a piece of cloth," she reminded herself. It hardly helped. She became frustratingly tense, and being aware of her frustration only made it worse.

A strange sound vibrated through the stone and captured her attention, but when she recognized it - a noise that resembled something between a raft deflating and the gurgling of a hungry stomach - it simply added to her annoyance. For a moment she considered ignoring it, and she was successful for about five seconds.

She zipped her jumpsuit up to her neck. "Garfield, I know you're there."

From behind a large stone a few hops away, Beast Boy emerged, rubbing his dark hair with an embarrassed grin. "Um, how'd you know?" he asked, his expression trying too hard to be friendly.

"I can hear sounds through the vibrations of stones now," she answered plainly. Terra tried not to be angry at him. "I picked it up when I became the Sage of Earth. It's better than using my ears. A few of your animal forms are probably still better."

"That's pretty cool," Beast Boy smiled more genuinely.

"Why are you here?" Terra asked him coldly. She didn't know why she bothered with formalities at all. It was obvious why he was there, and she didn't want to deal with it.

"Well, um. Just wanted to talk, I guess. You know, if that's ok with you and stuff."

Her head was beginning to hurt. Terra rubbed the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. "I guess that'd be alright."

Terra made no motion to create a stone seat for him, nor did she budge from hers. Eventually, the green-skinned, pointy-eared boy sat and crossed his legs. Waiting for him to begin, Terra tried to enjoy the lingering calm that was slowly ebbing out of the afternoon warmth in the shade. Eventually she realized that the awkward lack of sound was now just as uncomfortable as the opposite. There was no winning.

"Look, I don't know what you expect of me," Terra opened. "I was stuck in another dimension, lost, not even sure if I was alive. I didn't even consider that I might be able to go back. What was I supposed to do? Just wander helplessly when there was someone right there to help me?"

Beast Boy frowned and averted his eyes, just enough to avoid eye contact without actually looking away from her. He silenced an awkward breath and swallowed with an emotion that Terra couldn't quite interpret. She couldn't tell if he was nervous or angry or upset, but the changeling remained sitting and listened.

Terra shook her head and flicked at nearby pebbles with her mind. Though she made the physical motions with her gloved fingers, the Sage of Earth could strike small rocks from yards away and launch them as far as most could thrown them. "Life's not fair sometimes. I was frozen in stone but didn't die. I'm sorry you had to go through just... seeing me there as a statue, but that's the way it is. Things have changed. It's not fair. We just have to deal with that."

Beast Boy's silent expression continued to puzzle her. It made Terra furious to be unable to guess his mood when she wanted to know so badly what he was thinking. The fact that he remained uncharacteristically wordless was even more unsettling.

In the minutes that passed, every brush of wind and ray of light made Terra shift nervously. Her stomach tangled unpleasant, as if something was crawling inside of her. Beast Boy didn't even budge; other than the occasional blink, the changeling was more rock solid that Terra ever was. Beast Boy - Garfield - opened his mouth to speak, though he hesitated a great deal before finally conveying his feelings. The period of waiting was almost intolerable for the Sage of Earth.

"You know what isn't fair?" Beast Boy expressed, barely audible as he spoke. "It's been a couple of weeks since you've been with us again. But you haven't talked to me once. Not once. You haven't even said _hello_. You couldn't be bothered to say that we could still be friends, or that it was over between us, or anything. I think I deserve to know why."

"Garfield, please don't..." Terra began to block him out, but she pursed her lips instinctively as the first sign of moisture and heat arose in her eyes. Tightening the muscles in her neck and jaw, she restrained her emotions. "Don't force me to do this now, please. I can't. If I hurt Tidus badly enough, then... it could destroy everything. He's one of the eight sages, don't you understand? If I give him less reason to care..."

"I get it," Beast Boy interrupted her, but not unkindly. He was nodding, genuinely comprehending what she conveyed. If Tidus were emotionally compromised, or if any of the sages were, for that matter, it could threaten the future itself for many worlds, not just Earth. Billions of lives in the balance, potentially altered by one woman's rejection. It wasn't something to take lightly despite how petty the issue seemed in its isolated sense, two boys competing for the same girl.

"You know I'm not good at this kind of stuff," the changeling admitted solemnly. "Still, if I knew that the end of the the universe was coming, I wouldn't want to be left wondering. I'd want to know where I stand, even if it's not exactly where I'd like to be."

Terra understood his perspective as well, but it was his opinion, his feelings. Tidus and Beast Boy were as far apart as two people could be. There was no comparison. Tidus wasn't born. He was created, fabricated by the Lifestream itself into a living, flesh-and-blood being, but more permanent than aeons, more permanent than Cloud the Lifestream spirit. His memories were half truth and half lie, extracted from a time period in Gaia's near future, but in Spira's distant past. Tidus possessed an identity too complex to be predicted, even by the wisest of people.

Angrily, twisting her lips in self-loathing, Terra reminded herself that she was in no position to judge wisdom or lack thereof. Perhaps Tidus was more like others than she thought, or somewhere in between. Maybe her random, uneducated guess was even right? Frustration and anger built up inside her the more she considered how little she truly understood. Terra threw her fist into the rocky ground, and a thundering crack was followed by a split in the tan rock twenty feet long. Sand and splintering fragments of rock shot upward, landing all around the mini-crevasse she had created.

"Garfield, I don't know what to do," Terra cried furiously, he skull now pounding just as much as her stomach clenched. "I didn't think I'd ever be flesh and blood again. I thought my old life was gone. When I found out that I could be free again, I was such a bitch and didn't even think of what that meant between us, not at first. Now... I'm being pulled too hard in two different ways. Part of me keeps saying that I should move forward and look to the future, but the other part of me won't stop insisting that I need to hold on to the joys and mistakes of my past."

Terra blurted out a strange, sad laugh. "After all that knowledge from the Lifestream, I can't even make this stupid decision. X was right, I'm not wise at all. I'm so full of thoughts that aren't my own, and I don't have any experience to do the right thing."

Terra wiped her eyes against her bare arm, and she didn't notice Garfield move until he had embraced her. Stunned at first, her eyes snapped open and she felt wrong, as if she had been forgiven too easily. As small as Beast Boy was, the feeling his arms wrapped around her was truly comforting. Along with her tears, a soft smile worked its way onto Terra's face.

"I guess you've gotta choose," Beast Boy shrugged as he held her. "I don't want what we had to be gone, but... if Tidus is going to make you happier, then you should be with him. Either way, I'll be your friend no matter what."

A small whimper escaped her. "You're a jerk, forgiving me just like that."

"You're too awesome to stay mad at," Beast Boy answered.

Terra sputtered a small laugh. The happy motion jolted her chest, then several more times as she nearly burst into crying laughter. "Thanks, Gar. Can... can I have some more time to think? I know it's not far to ask, but..."

"Yeah," he answered. "That's alright."

Their embrace lasted for a while, but eventually they both felt that it was time to end it. Wordlessly, Terra crafted a seat for him within reach of hers. Happily, Beast Boy joined her and sat in the warm shade. They didn't speak, and at times there was a compulsion to, but both of them ultimately chose to enjoy the soft breeze, the accommodating heat, and the pleasant, desert mesa scenery.

Things grew pleasantly slow, at a snail's pace, allowing them to think of nothing at all. The warmth eased their tired muscles and melted away layers of fatigue caused by the barriers between them that were now lowered.

"_Eeeep_!" Beast Boy shrieked at the bright mass in front of him, startled so much that the changeling spontaneously shrank and morphed into a duck. He returned to human form with great agitation and excessive swinging of his arms at the spiky-haired Lifestream spirit. "Geez! Don't sneak up on people like that! You don't have footsteps to make any sound!"

"Sorry," was Cloud's deadpan apology.

Terra had been startled as well, but not nearly as much. When there was no further response came from Cloud, Beast Boy groaned and planted his face firmly into both palms. "How did you find us anyway?" the changeling eventually asked, flustered by the interruption. "Do you have some sort of magic powers to sense people's brains or something?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow at Beast Boy, who was several inches shorter than him. "I had Robin scan for the radio frequency of Terra's communicator," he responded blankly. Cloud turned his head with mechanical rigidity, facing Terra. "You turned off the sound."

Terra sighed. "I didn't want to be bothered. But... I guess I wouldn't mind some company now. What did you need, anyway?"

Oddly, they didn't receive an answer. It was normal for Cloud to hesitate, but his pause seemed deliberate. Terra watched him carefully, and a faint touch of concern appeared in his countenance despite the transparency of his appearance. The concern was for someone else. "You're wanted in the tower for... a situation," Cloud explained. "Beast Boy, you need to come as well. You both may be of some help."

The pair of Teen Titans glanced at each other. Then, without any further hesitance or questioning, Terra created a flying platform of stone for herself, and Beast Boy took to the skies as an eagle. Despite their different modes of travel, the two stayed close to each other as they followed Cloud back to Titan's Tower to see what had happened.

* * *

Shortly before noon, not long before Zelda was supposed to trade places with Robin, there was a sudden knock on the door to the secure chamber. Zelda looked up to it, thinking it odd. Though it was heavily enforced with security and almost impossible for even Cyborg or Starfire to break through, all of the Titans had access. Only Tidus didn't, and the knock sounded too small and soft to be him.

Again, the tiny rap on the door came, insistent. Zelda realized. Gizmo. He didn't take turns with the emerald or duty in the city, so she had barely seen him.

"Coming!" Zelda hobbled to her feet. One bad leg with a matching arm that couldn't take pressure made for a frustrating challenge when urgency was added.

From the inside, all that was needed was a simple push of a button for the door to open, prompting the grind of heavy motors, much more powerful than the simple hydraulics of the rest of the electronic doors at Titan's Tower. It took a moment for the interlocking, arm sized clasps to unhinge, revealing the small pseudo-Titan she had expected. His normally squinty eyelids were quite open, and he was tapping his tiny fingers on his legs.

"You gotta come see this,_ now_," he insisted without greeting and turned to leave before Zelda could say anything.

"I can't leave the emerald unguarded," Zelda stated plainly. "What is it that's so..."

"GAH! Seriously, this is unreal!" he scurried back to her. "Leave the stupid emerald for two seconds! You're the only other one here right now, and someone _needs_ to see this."

She shook her head, resisting the urge to treat Gizmo like the little child he only appeared to be. "Someone has to mind the emerald at all times. I'm not making an exception."

"But you-"

"Bring it here instead," Zelda suggested, beginning to feel a little too much like a mother to an annoying child.

He growled impatiently, but eventually Gizmo ran off down the corridors. She waited patiently, standing in the doorway.

It was only a couple of brief minutes before he returned, scurrying with his little legs, holding a cluster of green, semi-transparent stone. Zelda stared for a moment as he held it up before she recognized it as the same crystals that lined the underwater cavern where they had found the white emerald and defeated Vile. Gizmo had apparently been studying samples that were brought back. The difference was that parts of it had been corroded, resembling an ice sculpture that hadn't enough cold air to keep shape

"It melted?" Zelda questioned. "I don't understand the significance of this."

Gizmo blatantly scoffed and grumbled, muttering something about ignorance before speaking up again. "It's almost identical to that Mako poison stuff in Raven and that stupid tin can X, but it's like... hard and compact, like a crystal! And I tested a modified sample of Beast Boy's blood on it, and, well, it dissolved the stuff! It might be a cure!"

Up until that word, Zelda had not entirely understood. She needed to sit, and her body immediately acquiesced by collapsing to the soft red carpeting just inside the sealed room where the emerald was kept. Her chest felt tight, and her eyes were wide with hope. Thoughts of the Sage of Light flooded into her. She imagined his warmth next to hers, of them tending to each other in many situations, some pleasant, some terrible, but always together. Free of the poison, eyes no longer discolored by Mako, they would be able to look upon each other without the constant reminder of the death that loomed over them.

"A cure," she stammered. "Have... have you tested it on Raven's blood... or X's?"

Gizmo's jaw was twisting from side to side. "I tested it, but..."

"But what?" she leaned against the wall and climbed back to her feet.

The small man in the green jumpsuit started pacing. He opened his mouth to speak several times, only to cease and grit his teeth with a growl.

His shoulders were level with her waist, and Zelda grabbed one of them with her working arm. "Out with it!" she demanded.

"I'm trying to think of a way to explain it so that you can understand!" he smacked her hand away. "The infection, it changes drastically almost immediately after it's taken out of the body, even when the blood is still alive. What's inside of you isn't the same as what I've been working with. Hey, you're hurting me!"

Zelda hadn't realized that she had grabbed a hold of him once more and was squeezing his shoulder with undue force. "I... I'm sorry," she shook her head.

"Geez," Gizmo twirled his arm in a stiff circle. "Did you even get any of what I said?"

"Yes," Zelda nodded, breathing herself back to a state of composure. "Even if it works on the blood you've collected, it might not work for us. You would need to test it on a living person."

"Right," Gizmo said with some relief. "I've already tested it on the blood samples, and the best results I've seen without destroying the blood itself is a reduction of the Mako levels by forty-eight percent."

What little composure she had gathered evaporated. "Nearly... half? That's... that's..."

"It's deceptive," Gizmo glared. "The research might look like a miracle, but it's worthless if it doesn't work inside the body."

"Then you need a live patient," acknowledged the princess. "Call Robin immediately, and prepare the treatment. I'm volunteering."

Gizmo froze and, surprisingly, was silent. It occurred to Zelda that she hadn't even considered the risk. When she recapped the thoughts in her head, she found herself no more opposed to the idea than she had a few seconds ago.

"I'm entirely serious, prepare whatever you need to, _now_," the princess commanded, energized with purpose. Between that and her regal authority, she was able to easily coerce Gizmo to do as she asked. When the little engineer scurried off to do as he had been told, Zelda took a deep breath and acknowledged the ramifications of what she was about to do, and she had no intention of letting Robin or any other Teen Titan prevent her from it.

"Is this my destiny?" she asked herself, turning back to the white chaos emerald, seeing it pulse with light in response. "Or is this my penance?"

* * *

All of the Titans and the temporary guests of the tower, with Tidus being the only exception, had converged upon the small hospital facility in one of the wings of the tower. They were busy preparing for something that they continually tried to dissuade, but Zelda would have none of it. Only Starfire held her protest, though the brightness in her eyes clearly the words that were in her heart. Silent, Starfire simply held the hand of her new friend, devastated at the thought of losing her.

Zelda never recalled a moment when her heart had been beating so rapidly while attempting to remain so still. Imagining the Sage of Light's amazement if she was responsible for finding a cure excited her. Muscle twitches and shivers up her spine were frequent, and her many years of formal upbringing barely managed to contain her movements. Starfire's closeness helped.

Cyborg returned with an armful of tanned leather straps, and Zelda eyed them curiously.

"Sorry, princess, but Gizmo says you might react violently. You sure you wanna go through with this?"

"I'm certain," she vigorously confirmed, but the words barely escaped the blockade of nervousness that affected the whole of her body. In response, Cyborg became silent and altered his expression into one that he would normally wear during a state of hard work. The cybernetic Titan began wrapping and fastening the thick straps to the metal rails on either side of her, and Zelda attempted to swallow her guilt.

"Princess," Robin addressed her from the other side. He had not set up any of the medical equipment, but rather appeared to be supervising. "There's no telling what will happen if we put Beast Boy's Blood into your body. It could shape shift and destroy the body part that we inject it in. Worse, it could just poison you. We know how important this is, but you might not survive. With more time, we might be able to find a better solution."

"Robin, you know as well as I that time has become a limited commodity. And if I don't survive, the Hero will not have lost any sages. I am not necessary to defeat the King of Evil, but finding a cure for Mako poisoning may be the act that allows him... _us_ to prevail. I am prepared to die."

Robin hesitated, taking a deep breath. "Normally I would never agree to this, but you aren't one of the Titans, and I understand what you're fighting for. So, I should explain how this is going to work."

Starfire squeezed Zelda's hand firmly. The tall Titan woman, as if she was an extension of Zelda, gave Robin full attention, flooded with worry as he explained.

"We'll inject a small dose of Beast Boy's blood into a major blood vessel in your arm. From there, Cyborg and I will monitor your life signs while Gizmo takes samples of your blood to analyze. He needs to test them as soon as possible, so he'll take samples several times during the procedure whether things go well or not. Terra also says she can monitor your Mako levels in a magical manner, which, in conjunction with Gizmo, will give us a better idea of how well its working."

Zelda nodded, grateful for the explanation, as well as for the way that Starfire stroked her arm and relaxed her. The princess glanced around to the far corner of the room and acknowledged the ephemeral neon glow of Cloud's staid demeanor. The Lifestream spirit, always composed of wisps of glowing light, did not appear as though he would be involved in the operation. However, Beast Boy was especially close to her. Again with curiosity, she regarded the meek changeling.

"What will you be doing?" she asked.

Beast Boy faltered when he tried to explain, and he looked to his leader for help.

"If something goes wrong, Beast Boy is going to shrink down small enough to enter your body near the injection site. At that point, he'll absorb as many of his blood cells as he can to minimize the harm done to you. Think of him as an extra precaution."

Though Zelda had already accepted the potential consequences of what she was about to attempt, the thought of Beast Boy wriggling inside her, no matter how small he morphed, was very odd. She shuddered, but Zelda resisted the urge to scrunch her face into a repulsed expression.

"I understand," the princess stated for Robin. For Beast Boy, she smiled warmly and said, "I trust you."

Zelda squeezed her tired eyelids shut. She loosened her muscles, feeling both pain and strength that she had earned while with X and the Titans. Thankful for the experience in ways that she could only hope to express, Zelda allowed herself to feel happy for only a moment more. She then dulled her emotions, knowing that otherwise she would not be able to go through with the treatment. Blankly, she imposed the image of the Sage of Light into her thoughts, making it the single driving force for her to survive. The silhouette formed first, followed by firm, pale lips beneath an all black visor, surrounded by the earthy, tattered cloak. The only other detail was the crimson reploid leg armor that barely showed beneath where his cloaked hovered. It was funny how little she knew of him, but Zelda knew she would give anything for him.

"Is there anything else?" asked princess Zelda.

"No," said Robin. "Anything else can wait until afterward."

"Then begin."

The restraints were tightened, and Zelda felt soft wool beneath the leather pressing firmly against her arms and legs, producing discomfort on her wounded thigh and elbow. Starfire moved close to Zelda's right side, renewing the warm grip on her hand. Gizmo, propped on a stool so he could reach her properly, held a syringe with capped tip, ready to inject into her left arm. Beast Boy stood nervously at the foot of the bed, ready to go in if need be. He occasionally shuddered just as she had, and Zelda wondered if the skinny changeling would be able to bear the thought of his blood being responsible for her death if it came to that. Then, Terra's hand appeared on his shoulder, bringing Beast Boy a relief from his worry. They stood close to each other. Seeing them together again, Zelda wondered if they had indeed reconciled, or more.

Placidly, she discarded the thought. The issue of the two separated hearts was no longer her concern. Their choices were theirs to make. Zelda breathed deeply, trying to focus on the soft, caring warmth from Starfire's hand in tandem with her perfect image of the Sage of Light. With gentle squeezes agains Starfire's palm, the princess convinced her heart to relax further, and her eyelids began lowering, as if she was prepared to fall into a peaceful slumber.

"I'm ready."

Words and sounds became vague as Zelda grew closer to slumber. She could not make out something that Robin said to Starfire, but she distinctly heard the cap of the syringe slide off with a tiny pop. A lightweight figure leaned upon the edge of her medical bed, and in another moment, a hot pinch was followed by cramping pressure in her upper left arm. The sensation passed after several seconds, and silence fell.

Pure emptiness spread across her affected arm and her thoughts. Her thoughts vacated almost entirely. Zelda did not know how long she remained on the medical bed, but the bold princess refused to let the Sage of Light's presence leave.

Her arm jerked without warning. Zelda felt the muscles twisting near the point where the needle had entered her, and it began throbbing, pulsing quickly. Her heart lost its calm and began echoing in her ears with rapid beats. Aching spasms began crawling out from that spot, climbing her arm and into her chest. Controlled, meditative breaths caused as much pain as relief.

Hardshell worms crawling underneath her skin, biting, shredding. They coiled with bladed segments around the edges of her bones, slashing muscle, nearing the rapid ballooning of her lungs. Wild flailing, trying to throw the agony from her body. Spikes of sporadic pain sizzled into patches of vicious fire.

Hands, panic, people shouting. Was Starfire still holding onto her? Strange sensations discoloring hazy sight. Another needle, this one cold, then hot, then cold again. Spasms turned into shudders, but the hardshell parasites found new places to slash. Tightness on her arm and shoulder. Losing feeling. Less pain. More fear. Fingers twitched instead of flailing, but that was what worried her. Would they amputate her arm? Better than death, better than death.

The power of light, the glow of the Triforce, the poison of the emeralds; all seemed to float inside her dizzy thoughts incoherently. Zelda shouted, shouted something that she herself didn't understand. Nearing blindness, the mess of red on her arm was all her eyes could interpret. Blood everywhere, barely any feeling. She twitched her other arm's fingers and felt them resist, held firmly by a caring friend. The voices were all so loud, so urgent. Flashes of pine green, blonde hair, and so many bright lights.

Something was wrong with her heart. The beating in her ears was weakening. Something, a voice deep within, knew that there was not enough blood to survive much longer. Zelda had told Robin that she was prepared to die. She hadn't lied to him. Her thoughts turned hazily to X, Raven, and most of all to the Sage of Light, to all those afflicted with the cancer that she was giving her life to cure. Yes, she had given her life to protect her Hero of Time and her friends, her new family. Her heart cried in sorrow, then in anger as her heavenly image of the powerful, wise reploid in the tattered cloak began to fade. If her effort was in vain, if she died for nothing, she swore she would find a way to return, to emerge from the Lifestream to protect him.

* * *

Had minutes passed, or an eternity? Not a single sensation gave a clue as to the answer.

Hovering, drifting through the eternal reaches of afterward, the Viridian Vale, the Lifestream. A dream, or not? Nothing more than streaks of light, yet possessing the knowledge of all time, Zelda felt presence after presence reach out and touch her, curious, but nothing more. Thousands passed her in this way, some familiar in thought and emotion, but most were incomprehensible, consciousnesses so different that they could not understand each other. Life of all kinds, great and miniscule, flowed without end. Lost, the drifting princess became numb as thousands more passed by.

Zelda did not know if she had limbs to feel or eyes to see, or if she was a wisp, no different from the rest. Control over her body as she knew it did not exist in this realm, and there was no one to teach her, to guide her through the infancy of her new existence. She longed for those she had been close to, but even her feelings were not in her control, touched and influenced by the endless stretch of jade streaks. Far below, the brightness was much greater, nearly blinding, whereas above was the same pool of living echoes as was in front of her.

A strange thought stirred her with panic, but it vanished before she could consider it. Struggling against the apathy, Zelda sought the emotion again, hoping that it was not the passing thought of a being she could never hope to find in the sea of emerald green.

That was it. The idea had fought to disperse itself, to spread out and lose itself along with the rest of her former life, but Zelda gripped it with all of her mind, eradicating all other thoughts until it consumed and overtook her numbness. It was a simple but vital observation: why were all of the consciousnesses in the Lifestream passing her in only one direction? What could make all of these drifting, glacial beings move together, but against her?

Zelda remembered. Perhaps it was coincidence, or perhaps it was the sight of it that prompted her to recall, but either way, a haze of crimson darkness began to seep from the distance, spreading out, consuming, driving the Lifestream away. The Deathflow's miasma neared. Zero's infectious plague that even touched the afterlife was still consuming the source of Mako, magic, and planet Gaia's living soul. It also was rapidly approaching her.

Zelda could not flee the oncoming cloud of destruction. She did not know how. Praying, all she could do was wait as the bright, cool streaks of jade faded, giving way to the deathly tremors of Zero. The Lifestream itself shook from the two clashing oceans, rumbling painfully in Zelda's thoughts. She could feel the hatred approaching. Would she be destroyed from all existence? Or was the inevitable doom in front of her a spiritual hell of torment?

A savior slashed streaks of radiance in front of her, ripping a wound in the fabric of both oceans, creating a space where neither existed, a place of pure light. Zelda pushed forward, not sure how she propelled herself. Something compelled her to find out who or what had interfered, but the light between the Lifestream and Deathflow was so bright that she could barely see.

The miasmal storm stopped. No, not stopped, but slowed. It encroached carefully, spreading around a lone light, shining with golden rays emanating from it. Daring to go nearer, Zelda saw that the figure was whole, humanoid. The person was cohesive, and it held a short sword in one hand, facing the entire Deathflow with defiant courage.

Bleeding darkness stabbed toward her, arcing widely around the Lifestream's lone defender. The golden savior moved faster than anything Zelda had ever seen. He shredded the poisonous appendages and drove the dark presence further back, and he was then suddenly in front of her, staring with... was it uncertainty?

Though composed of nothing but transparent light, his young but battle worn face was strong. Zelda was drawn to his Hylian ears and his brightly colored hair. He paused for a moment, somehow lost, and the Deathflow began creeping toward them once more. Noticing with a subtle tilt of his head, the warrior raised his hand at Zelda, and a surge of blinding energy made her thoughts slip into nothingness.

* * *

"Hey, she's waking up."

Sound and light overloaded her head in ways that Zelda could not begin to describe.

"Really? Robin said she'd be out for, like, at least another day."

"She's tough. I'll give her that."

Zelda recognized Beast Boy's voice, and Terra's, too. How long had they been there?

The princess became bombarded with sensations. Sunlight and warmth coming from a gap between the curtain in front of the window to her room. The discomfort in her eyes, half gummed together from having been shut for a long period of time, was only outdone by her lips sticking when she tried to pry them apart.

"Water..." she eventually gasped.

"I'm on it!" Beast Boy complied vigorously, and Terra shushed his loudness when he returned.

After imbibing enough to make her mouth feel more normal, Zelda allowed herself to inspect the heavily bandaged arm to her side. Covered from shoulder to wrist, blood stains were soaking through on her elbow and in a wide patch between her shoulder and neck. The sight brought her heart rate up, and she felt a small addition of adrenaline tensing some of her other muscles. Somewhat jolted from her stillness, Zelda was dealt a brutal understanding of how badly she had injured her arm from the treatment.

A more important notion widened her eyes. "A mirror. Bring me a mirror, please."

Ask eager as he was for the previous request, Beast Boy crouched and transformed into a long-bodied, green and black cheetah. He returned moments later, carrying a small hand mirror in his sharp teeth. Using his front paws to climb up, Beast Boy purred as he handed the object to Zelda. She grabbed it with the only working arm she possessed and immediately stared into her reflection.

Her eyes were green. Bright green. No better than they had been before. As hope drained from her, she felt the need to ask the question on her mind, no matter how pointless it had become.

"Was there any... improvement?"

Terra pursed her lips sadly and leaned against the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry. Gizmo is running tests to be certain, but I was keeping watch on the amount of Mako in you, during and after. There's no difference from before as far as I can tell. It didn't work."

The sinking weakness struck her immediately. Sick and miserable, Zelda tried to hide between her long blonde locks as she pressed hard against her pillow. "I... I see. That... that is most..."

"Shhh, I know," Terra finished. "I'm sorry. We were all hoping that it would work, and, well... but you know what? At least we didn't lose you. And Cloud says he can have you healed in less than a week. That's something, right?"

Zelda twitched the fingers on her mangled, bandaged arm. She turned to her leg that hadn't yet finished healing. On top of those, the image of bright, Mako eyes from her own reflection was burned into Zelda's thoughts, and she couldn't help but be miserable. She had failed. Though the situation was no worse than before, she had failed X, and it pained her worse to know that she hadn't succeeded for the Sage of Light.

Beast Boy and Terra shared an affectionate glance, and noticing it momentarily lifted Zelda's spirits.

"You two..."

They both turned to Zelda, and the princess could see the change in their faces. Beast Boy was not uninjured emotionally, but he was happier than he had been, and stronger too. His smile was slightly more reserved, but it meant a great deal more to see it. Terra appeared less conflicted, as if she had finally decided the home that was right for her. A casual youthfulness that had been lost for a long time had found its way back. Together, they appeared happy.

So where did that leave Tidus? A throb of pain in her head forced Zelda to push the thought away, at least for now. When she was able, she would see to Tidus.

Zelda lifted her hand to rub her temples, which helped marginally. When she lowered her arm, she noticed the faint discoloration of her Triforce brand. Adrenaline once again both caused and numbed pain. Her Triforce mark, unless she was hallucinating, was brighter than it had been, and its edges appeared more defined, as if it was returning to her. She was not a sage or a holder of a piece of the Triforce, so what did that mean?

Her dream... had it been real?

One other thing bothered her. The image that she had so desperately held on to, the cloaked Sage of Light, now clung to her mind without effort. It was almost as though she could not get rid of the image, whether she wanted to or not. Something, either during the treatment or during her dream, had made the shrouded reploid's presence permanent.


	88. Leaving Mobius Behind

**Chapter 88 – Leaving Mobius Behind**

The Dreamweaver had become a busier place. With the occupancy of four now doubled, pacing through the limited halls caused more frequent encounters unlike before when meeting someone throughout the ship's corridors was almost always planned.

X had predicted that Shadow would spend much of his time cloistered in the memoriam where he easily found the emeralds. The force field guarding the jewels of chaos should have hidden their power with proportional strength to how badly the black hedgehog wanted them, but he had proved himself the sole exception to the shield's design, knowing exactly where they were the moment he stepped onto the ship. Shadow also deliberately avoided Sonic, his fellow Sage of Wind, but was surprisingly inquisitive toward both Raven and Nanaki. X had also correctly guessed that the darker of the two Mobian sages would not respond well to his authority, but X didn't mind Shadow having a strong sense of independence as long as it didn't conflict with his duties.

The greatest surprise regarding Shadow was something X hadn't anticipated. It came as a bit of a shock when Shadow used scowling silence to express abundant dislike for Saria. X asked him about his opinion after a group meeting, during which his telepathy picked up on Shadow's hostility toward the Sage of Forest.

"I don't trust her at all," the hedgehog had said harshly. "And you shouldn't either."

When X made further attempts to understand why, the hedgehog scoffed and walked away.

Later, in the center of the bridge in his captain's chair, X pondered the situation. Raven sat in the commander's seat next to him, and she noticed the metallic blue of the overhead lights accenting the creases of worry in X's lips.

"What's wrong?"

Naminé was the one who posed the question, though Raven had telepathically sent the same message to X just seconds before. The spirit girl in the white dress was still mysterious to them, but she was wholeheartedly kind, and Shadow assured them that she was, unlike Saria, completely trustworthy.

X realized that she must have some telepathy too (why was it always the females?) since she had been facing away and reading information about Hyrule and Mobius from one of the computer consoles when she abruptly respond to his concern.

"Just hoping no one gets claustrophobic," X smiled wearily.

She beamed back, her hands clasped together at the waist of her pure white dress. "They only need some time to adjust, and for Sonic," she giggled gently, "you might want to divert extra power to the holodeck. The simulations can barely keep up with him."

"I'll have to do that," X grinned. "You wouldn't want to see him when he gets bored or stir-crazy."

"Oh?" Naminé asked with a playful tone.

X nodded his head while tapping on the control pad on the arm of his Captain's chair. "With the chaos emeralds aboard, he'll be able to run even faster than he normally can, and I'm a little worried about what breaking the sound barrier might do to the hallways surrounding the holodeck. "

Raven gagged on her breath. "I knew he could move fast, but... seriously, can he break the sound barrier?"

"He's done it before."

Naminé continued to looked amused and impressed. "You've seen it?"

"It's too fast to see much of anything, but I certainly heard and felt the shock wave. Trust me, we don't want that on the in the halls of the Dreamweaver. And that race we were in? He wasn't trying nearly as hard as he could have."

"That's incredible," said Raven. She added with a sweet smile, "but then again, so are you."

Naminé hummed amusingly. "I think that's something we can all agree on."

"You two are suck ups," X brushed the compliment away with a smile. "I don't need my ego inflated, but thanks anyway. I appreciate having the two of you around."

"Nonsense," the spirit girl said. "You barely know me."

Mega Man couldn't argue with that, and having departed from Mobius barely a full day ago, perhaps it was time to get to know their guardian spirits a little better.

"Sit with us," he offered, gesturing to the empty seat on his left. She kindly accepted, though her body made no impression on the cushioned surface when she leaned back against it and crossed her legs.

"Tell us about yourself and Inuyasha," Raven invited.

"Inuyasha..." Naminé hesitated. "He's hot headed and impatient. As a fighter, he's extremely powerful and has his morals set in the right direction, which is why we worked together."

"What about where he came from?" Raven asked.

The spirit girl thought. "I honestly don't know much about his past. He is half human, and half demon, same as you," she gestured delicately toward Raven, who already knew this, but was no less interested. "His demonic side is sort of... dog-like, and ferocious. Seeing him in action can be frightening at first if he gets carried away with anger. I also know that a lot of bad things happened to him when he was alive, and it made him bitter against humanity."

Raven decided to pry. "What do you mean by 'bad things'?"

Naminé shook her head. "His human mother died when he was young, and his demon father died before that. Other than that I don't know anything, but he once said that everyone close to him always ends up leaving, one way or another. It makes me feel sorry for him."

X shut his eyes for a moment in contemplation of that. He hadn't really ever known what it was like to grow up and have parents. He considered Doctor Light to be his father, but it wasn't the same as a flesh and blood being with parents who shared your upbringing and protected you from harm.

"He's got a strong heart to keep on fighting even after that," X remarked of Inuyasha, and Naminé weakly smiled at him. She was clearly troubled by Inuyasha's past, so X decided to change the subject.

"What about you? You haven't said anything about yourself. I'm interested to hear how you came to be in the Lifestream, too."

For a moment, Naminé turned back and faced forward, contemplating. "It's hard for me to answer all that."

"That's alright," X tried to relax her. "Start with anything that seems relevant, and go from there."

X glanced back to Raven, who smiled warmly at him, and they both turned, waiting for the spirit girl in the white dress.

"Ok," she nodded. "As spirits who have come from living people, Inuyasha and I have some of the memories from when we were alive, but a lot is missing. We can't recall many names of places or people, but our intelligence and experience is mostly the same. If it was necessary, we'd be more than capable of making ourselves food or painting pictures, if that was a skill we had in real life."

"Painting," X repeated. "What made you say that?"

Her reaction was one of embarrassment. "I... liked to draw and paint when I was alive."

"What sorts of things?" Raven asked.

Naminé hadn't expected the conversation to go in this direction, and she stirred in her seat, nervous. After a short pause, she went on to explain how she would draw pictures of her friends and places she had been to. They were often simplistic, portrait-like, nothing abstract, which X found fascinating coming from a life form that wasn't even tangible. She explained how she remembered that a portion of her life was spent in imprisonment for a rare ability that she had to both read minds and rearrange people's memories, though the latter ability was one that didn't stay with her in death. They learned that she had died young, but it wasn't much of a surprise considering her appearance. She spent several years of her life under the guard of the same organization, and she eventually chose to fight back. During the conflict, she had perished.

X held up a finger to interject. "Is that how you got your, what did you call it... keyblade?"

A concentrated shaft of small sparkles extended from her palm, and the blade crackled into existence. It beautifully shifted the bluish light of the bridge, appearing as if it both absorbed and repelled the light with a faint glow in the transparent crystal. It was also wrapped in silver ribbon, spaced closely at the weapon's handle, but it was stretched further out as it reached the end of the crystal shaft where a number of sharp crystal spikes were arranged in about two-thirds of a circle, particularly on one side, making it asymmetrical. It did, as it was named, somewhat resemble a key.

"Honestly, I don't know why I have this," she said, staring at the weapon. "I can't completely remember where it came from, but I know it belonged to someone else, someone very important to me when I was alive. I still see his face sometimes, and I know he was involved in freeing me, but I can't remember much else. Maybe this thing just has a mind of its own and decided to follow me around."

"I'm sure there's a reason," X shrugged. "But if you can't figure it out, is its connection to your previous life meaningful enough?"

"Yeah," she nodded, contemplative of her weapon. "Definitely."

"Then we're happy for you," Raven said to Naminé.

"Thanks," she said in return. "Do you mind if I go check on Shadow? If Sonic is already this restless, I'm sure Shadow is as well."

"If you're not keen on sharing anything else with us," X teased, "Then I don't mind at all." X waved her toward the back corner of the room where the bridge's exit was. "I think I'll check on Sonic in a little while, after I take care of a few important matters."

"Alright," Naminé shared a friendly smile as she rose and gracefully floated out of the bridge.

X enjoyed the conversation with the spirit girl, but he sighed shortly afterward her departure. Raven already knew what was bothering him, though the complexities of it were not something she could glean from telepathy despite the strength of their bond. He tapped a number of buttons on the control pad of his left armrest, frowning as he did.

"I'm not looking forward to this."

"Not even to see Axl?" Raven asked.

X twisted his jaw in a half-hearted expression. "He won't be aboard the Antares. Axl will be out helping with reconstruction, or maybe diplomacy since he's the senior officer."

The large view screen in front of them displayed that the hailing message was being sent, and that a response was being sought. It took less than a minute for the stream of information to connect despite being many light years away. If only physical travel was that easy.

The face staring back at X wasn't Axl, as expected, but it was a familiar one for X, having last seen her on a night that he and Raven could not forget a single detail of. Militaristically rigid, but beautiful, the runic patterns on her orange, conic helmet continued down her shoulders and arms. She was a memorable reploid.

"Ensign Janice," Mega Man greeted her with balance between professionalism and kindness.

"Commander X," she bowed courteously.

The title she called him by was a false one. The reminder of his excommunication didn't make X as uncomfortable as he thought it would, instead turning his warmth into an amused grin. "I haven't been a Hunter for close to two months."

"I know," Janice's face loosened, exposing warm ruby lips and a sigh of exhaustion. "That doesn't seem to matter to many of the other Hunters. You're still one of our leaders, and it's excellent to hear from you either way, sir."

The embarrassment in his face, as always, couldn't show despite how organic his reploid skin appeared. Raven squeezed his hand acknowledging how happy the comment had made him.

"We were hoping to see Axl, but I imagine he's very busy," Raven commented, which Janice uneasily nodded her head to.

"Permission to speak frankly?" Janice asked. X nodded.

"Between you an I, sir, Commander Axl has only slept a few hours in the past week, running primarily on his nuclear cells since every other source of power he's got has been used up. His shapeshifting has been vital to some of the rescue and rebuilding efforts, and if it was only that, he would probably be alright."

That didn't make sense to X. Though Axl was a skilled shapeshifter, able to transform into reploid shells of many others he had encountered, he couldn't imagine anything more exhausting for his friend than repeated use of the ability. He asked for an explanation.

"It's the politics, sir," came another voice, a familiar one that belonged with Janice. The dark green armor, triangular chest sapphire and silvery hair banded at the back of Rayden's helmet completed the seemingly inseparable pair of young recruits that X had last seen on his homeworld.

"It's good to see you again, Ensign Rayden," Raven warmly smiled at him.

"A pleasure to see you again, sir, and you too, miss Raven," he gently bowed to them both after saluting X. "And, actually, it's Lieutenant, if you don't mind my saying."

X was surprised, but it was clear that there was a significant difference in Rayden. Either as a result of the promotion, or possibly the reason that the young Hunter earned it in the first place, Rayden was more confident in himself than their last meetings. He was still brimming with energy and full of youth, but a wizened calm supported his briefing of Axl's difficulties.

Being the face of reploids for an entire planet in desperate need was the last thing Axl would have wanted. Field action and accomplishing the physical tasks that needed to be done was his forte, and as such a free spirit, being a stationary public figure when people needed him was against Axl's nature. Still, it couldn't be avoided. He was the commanding officer of the operation, still better suited than anyone else in the hundred or so who were sent from Maverick Hunter HQ. Axl's job had him bridging the gap between two completely different species of humanoids, meaning that many speeches and meetings had to be arranged, people of power on Gaia had to be introduced to the Hunters, and a great deal of geographical and financial information needed to be shared between Axl and those who supervised so that relocation of the homeless, support for vital industries, and food production could proceed as quickly as possible. X shuddered at the idea of having to attend multiple daily meetings with bickering, panicked humans over the tumultuous state of their entire planet.

"Tell him that I personally said to spend a minimum of four hours in a capsule every day, or I'll tell his ex-girlfriend that he desperately wants her back," X teased, enjoying their attempt to hold in laughter.

"Will do, sir," Rayden grinned. "I assume you'd like a full update?"

X gave a simple affirmative, and Rayden began.

"Gaia is still in temperate flux, but most of the geographic instability has calmed. Midgar is in pretty bad shape, but it survived the tsunamis and flooding, and temporary shelter for the people of Wutai is being exchanged for more permanent housing, though it will be some time before they can recapture the culture of their cities or their general level of living comfort."

Rayden and Janice continued with the mostly good news until it became clear that he was saving the less enjoyable bits for last. Most evacuations had gone very well, and a number of costal tsunami predictions had been accurate enough to provide adequate warning. Construction and damage control was all proceeding quickly and slightly ahead of schedule. After that, the briefing became a downhill plunge. The brightly colored luxury penthouses and hotels of Costa De Sol had been much less fortunate than Midgar with tidal waves. As a peninsula, it had been ripped apart on all sides. The evidence that a resort city had existed there was now meager at best. The evacuation should have kept the body count at zero, but many people hadn't quite fled far enough from the doomed vacation sunspot, drowning or crushing many on Costa's inland outskirts.

Worse, the Golden Saucer amusement park where thousands had chosen to hide themselves was swallowed by the sand that it had been perched so high above. Despite being a miraculous feat of engineering and physics, the tall, thin spire and its many habitat discs could not withstand the ravaging of nature's upheaval. Criminals in the desert prison below were lucky if they weren't nearby when the spire collapsed, but it was the Hunters' understanding that only a small handful were that fortunate, and the deployment of reploids was much too busy to deal with petty thieves or murderers to spare anyone. X could not help but feel sour about the Golden Saucer. He bore sadness for those who had been lost, but it was nothing he could change. They foolishly thought that the inland site would be safe, and from the tidal waves it was. The seismic faults running through that area, however, condemned all who fled there. The Hunters found no trace of survivors, but they couldn't dedicate efforts to a ground search when so much of the sand was still unstable.

Agriculture had taken a worse hit than imagined. Kalm, a modest town a few days east of Midgar on foot, was a vital supplier of coal and many types of produce to major cities on the eastern continent. The flooding of the mines was only a minor setback, but their crops were situated primarily to the north of the city - much closer to the ocean. Not only had most of their livelihood been ruined by the intense deluge, but - and this was the part that the Hunters had not been able to accurately predict - the changed ocean currents had drawn some of the vital heat from the northern parts of both major continents, shortening their growth year enough so that there wasn't enough time to replant before the rapidly oncoming Winter. As a further effect, southern cities on both landmasses that received the transferred heat from the north were forced to abandon their regular practices as well, being used to slightly chillier temperatures. The changes in air currents also created violent hurricanes and typhoons that were situated in the central ocean, centered between the three primary continents, hindering travel by any means except submarine, but that wasn't a technology that Gaia had developed in large enough quantities to be useful.

Cosmo Canyon's crimson and silver valley range was one of the only places virtually untouched by the physical affects of the disaster, which Nanaki breathed a sigh of relief at. He wanted badly to see his cubs, but the wolf settled knowing that they were at least safe and not suffering. Being far inland, mountainous, and away from fault lines at the edges of the western continent, there was no significant change predicted other than a likelihood of increased annual rainfall and negligible temperature fluctuations.

The primary difficulty that Cosmo Canyon faced was the sheer number of homeless who sought the warmth and safety there. Due to its central location on the western continent, it had become overrun with refugees as far as Nibelheim, Gongaga, and Corel. Nibelheim was all but completely submerged at the foot of the Nibel Mountains, killing most who were too slow or stubborn to evacuate. Gongaga and the smaller villages near it were ripped apart by earthquakes, as if they hadn't suffered enough from the Mako reactor explosion years back. Corel had not fared as poorly, avoiding the ocean's violence and the severity of the major fault lines, but the soft sands just nearby at the edge of the Gold Saucer's desert expanse were constantly shifting, creating sinkholes several miles out that could swallow a person or a home in seconds. Several people had died as a result, but the casualties were minor compared to Nibelheim or Costa De Sol. Since then, Corel's inhabitants had pulled their makeshift scrap city a bit further away, but some chose to leave the area entirely for the safety of the mountains to the west. At Cosmo Canyon, the rooms carved from stone designed for a single occupant were being stuffed with a minimum of three, and those designed for two were occupied with at least five hungry, tired people. Even some of the caves beneath the surface had been cleared out for people, giving them a warmth that they couldn't seem to get enough of. Despite sweat forming on their brows, some people apparently just kept shivering.

To combat the despair wherever they could, the reploid Hunters had delegated work for all those able-bodied. Apathy and retreat after the loss of home or family members was deadly contagious, and food sources were in alarming need of being replenished. Replicators on the Antares came in handy for generating food out of thin air in the most dire cases, but the energy that it drained from the ship could not support the many thousands in need, not while also being used to replicate medicine for the sick, which were abundant after long travels and malnourishment. Food needed to be grown the old fashioned way, and quickly placed in the hands of those native to Gaia.

"The reploids planting new crops used materia a great deal," Rayden said, excited at being able to share the experience. "The ones they call 'haste' are apparently pretty rare, but using them has helped us accomplish the same amount of work with half the manpower. Janice and I have been placed in charge of scientific study over the materia that the people have given us when we aren't assisting in other ways."

Raven and X tightened apprehensively, stung with discomfort in their stomachs as soon as the word 'materia' had come out.

"Lieutenant..."

Raven squeezed his hand. X stirred uncomfortably in his seat.

"Is something wrong?" Rayden responded. X couldn't help as he recalled the ignorance and naivety that now consumed this younger reploid's face.

Choosing to be save X the unpleasantness, Raven described the problem as bluntly as she could. "Daily use of materia will act like poison over time, and there's no cure. If you keep using it, it can cause paralyzation, brain damage, or even death, potentially in less than a year." She glanced sideways at the Hero and the Mako painted into his eyes. "Reploids aren't an exception."

X wasn't completely happy with how outright she had been, but he appreciated not having to tell his comrades after already dealing with the stress of their report of Gaia's stability.

Janice and Rayden were stunned, not speaking for several seconds as they shared wordless expressions with each other. It was clear that the two had been friends for a long time with how much they communicated between each other through silence. The Hero and Sage of Darkness aboard the Dreamweaver's bridge waited patiently, unable to gauge their reactions with telepathy.

"A disease that affects humans and reploids?" Rayden finally spoke, clearly unsure if he believed such an outrageous statement.

"It's true," X added forcefully. "My case is already quite far along, and I'd rather not see someone with your potential turning out the same way."

Raven shifted with an unsteady breath. "I'm infected too. And... it made my heart stop a few days ago. I almost died."

On both ends, the discussion fell quiet. The Lieutenant failed to find anything further to say, conflicted between his idol Hunter and his orders. At least, X thought, he's wise enough to realize that Maverick Hunter HQ won't be so quick to discard a potent weapons cache at the suggestion of an excommunicated soldier.

"You'd be better off leaving them on Gaia or launching them into a star," X pressured him. "The last thing we need at home is more weapons, don't you agree?"

"I... yes, I guess so, sir," Rayden answered with far less confidence. "I didn't know."

"I lot of people don't know. Have Axl speak with Rufus Shinra if you're worried about HQ overriding my say, which I'm sure they'll do. Shinra can confirm some of the long term effects of materia. He's aware that both Raven and I are infected, and he is too. That'll help things move along more quickly with Signas."

"I understand, sir. Is there anything anything else I can assist with you?"

X and Raven exchanged quick, hesitant glances. They both knew that the incident on the Floating Island needed greater assistance than what it was getting, but requesting the transfer of aid from Gaia was a request that would likely meet with a great deal of opposition and fury from Signas. On Mobius, Terrans had been willing to donate a helpful amount of rebuilding materials, tools, medical supplies, and food, but their introverted nature as a nation prevented them from sending more than a hundred people to aid many thousands, and the Terrans were not as capable as reploids by a long shot. The Mobians had much more difficulty sending consumable aid. Mobitropolis, the largest and most technologically advanced sector of Greater Mobius aside from the Terrans, was still in a poor state a year after Doctor Robotnik's capture and imprisonment. The massive factories left by the tyrant's reign contained incredibly valuable and sophisticated technology, but very little of it was meant to sustain organic life. Not realizing how large the burden of their victory was, Princess Sally and the rest of the Freedom Fighters who had survived Robotnik's machine armies now predicted that the full restoration of Mobitropolis would not be done for at least another fifteen years, and that was with hopeful assistance from smaller nations, including the Echidnas, which was now an impossibility.

As a result of being only a year into the massive undertaking, Princess Sally hadn't been able to give much in the way of supplies, but to keep relations solid, she sent four hundred workers to assist in the rescue and rebuilding efforts. Still, it wasn't nearly enough with so many metropolitan homes annihilated and a similar number of thousands injured or missing in the rubble. The Terrans had also donated some heavy lifting equipment to help with the rescue efforts, but a single reploid was often able to do the work of those machines with less than half the sleep requirements of the organic Mobians and Terrans. Strength and resilience considered, X figured that a small deployment of maybe twenty-five reploids could duplicate the work of all the aid already sent.

The real question was whether or not Signas would agree.

X explained the situation on the Floating Island as another of Zero's attacks, which was technically true since Mewtwo had been manipulated by Zero into causing some of the destruction. X decided to omit Balk's involvement, which, if it had a connection with Zero, wasn't apparent enough to use as leverage.

Rayden thought about the request. Ensign Janice waited somewhat anxiously for his response, which made X turn up a subtle grin. She was doing her best to respect the chain of command even though her superior was also her best friend.

"I was present when Commander Axl last spoke with Admiral Signas," Rayden explained. "Axl made a request for a small increase in our presence here, but the Admiral was furious that he even suggested it. I'm... sorry to bring you bad news, sir. There's been a Maverick outbreak at home. HQ can't spare anyone else."

X was quickly affected by the news. His stomach clenched, and he had to breathe deeply. He leaned toward Raven and rested his forehead against his knuckles.

Raven had an urge to take his hand and comfort him, but she resisted, deciding that it would be better to wait until the transmission was finished. It didn't help that she felt his pain coursing strongly in her head. The sensation was nauseating.

"I don't suppose you could bring the Antares with a small compliment of reploids?" X continued as if the news hadn't meant anything to him.

Rayden shook his head. "We need the Antares too frequently to coordinate communications, transport various cargo, and to travel."

"You haven't set up site-to-site transport yet?"

"We attempted," Rayden admitted. "The power sources weren't compatible, as expected, but our attempts to merge Gaia's technology with ours has been more difficult than anticipated. They don't use modern plasma relays, nuclear power, or electricity as we know it. Even though they burn coal for energy, what they generate from it is something much different. Once we realized how difficult the task would be, we abandoned the idea since the Antares can handle the transportation sufficiently, even if she runs around the clock. Fortunately the communications systems on Gaia are compatible with ours, so creating smaller command posts hasn't been necessary."

"I understand," X nodded.

"I can talk to Axl. Maybe there's another solution."

"No," X waved his hand at the suggestion. "The situation on Gaia is more severe. The Echidnas will have to handle this situation with local assistance. Thank you for the report, Lieutenant, and good luck with the rest of the operation. When I'm finished with the Dreamweaver, I'll return to assist with the outbreak."

"Understood, Commander X. Good luck with your operation as well. Antares out."

X spent the better part of the next few minutes staring at the blank view-screen. With hands folded together against his upper lip and wearing a substantial expression of discontent, he slowly exhaled. The frown on X's face hardened, and he angrily jabbed a few of the buttons on the arm of his chair. Like before, the signal needed time to establish, and the bright green lettering lingered much longer, eventually expanding into a large stream of data.

Awkwardly, Raven stirred in the seat next to him. She couldn't keep up with the speed of his reading, but she caught enough pieces to understand why his anger kept building behind an unchanging expression. Casualty reports, details of destruction on his home, quarantined areas; fragments of sentences was all she needed to understand the scale of what had occurred. Not knowing whether to comfort him with actions or words, or perhaps just to leave him be, Raven eventually placed her hand in the bend of his elbow.

X flinched, as did his emotions. He glanced at Raven, whose green irises empathized with his sadness. Shutting his eyes, X dismissed the reports. "Sorry," he said.

"Don't be," Raven responded. "Is there something you need to say? Anything that would help you to feel better?"

X's free arm squeezed the opposing armrest, and it creaked unhappily under the strength of his grip. "After how many times Mavericks have ruined my life... no. There really isn't anything that can be said to make things better. And this far away, there's nothing I can do to fight the Mavericks. Maybe I'll kick Sonic out of the holodeck and use it to conjure up some peaceful, isolated place where I can think."

"May I join you?" Raven asked. "I promise I'll stay out of your head."

X contemplated, but his response came quickly. "Yeah, I'd like that."

* * *

The resplendent sun of Mobius had built a radiant sunset of magenta and fire orange, blanketing the silver and gray of sparse clouds with a intensely hued linings. With sand between her toes, the air calm, and her head nestled on her knees, Saria stared up at the first stars to break through the waning daylight, wishing that the sun's retreat beneath the horizon would take longer to complete. The few days when there had been clear skies on Hyrule hadn't been anything like the beauty she stared at. She had always been too hungry, too cold or too frightened to enjoy the stars and the strange comforts they could bring.

Sadly, the beautiful warmth of Mobius' transition to night wasn't entirely real. The holodeck aboard the Dreamweaver provided an incredible facsimile, but knowing that it wasn't real never escaped from the forefront of her thoughts for long enough. Still, it was pleasant.

When traveling out with the stars on X's Dreamweaver, Saria had worried that seeing a different arrangement of constellations on different worlds would be unpleasant, but it somehow did the reverse, comforting her loneliness to know that the endless sea of stars could change, yet be composed of some of the same twinkling lights that she had witnessed on Hyrule. Between the beauty of her holographic scenery, Nanaki's companionship, and the necessary time to heal wounds of isolation, mutilation, and loss of family, Saria was truly beginning to feel comforted by those around her.

But as soon as she let herself feel happiness, guilt strangled her insides, and she was nearly overcome with a terrible compulsion to throw up. As she buried her face in her knees, Saria clenched her belly , trying to ease the air-stealing pain that spilled upward into her chest. Her feet dug deeply into the soft sand, clenched for a few moments until she opened her eyes and released the painful thoughts, fresh tears having already dampened her cheeks.

She looked up again, the pale of her lips barely opening as she said to the stars, "Where are you?"

"Where is who?"

Saria whipped her head around. The brash voice had startled her, and the sight of Inuyasha's long fingernails resting on the hilt of his Tetsusaiga made her shiver uneasily. She rose to her feet quickly, not sure what his intentions could possibly be as the sharp claws slid lower, clasping the handle loosely in his palm as he dug his bare feet in the sand.

"Who are you waiting for?" the half-demon pressed with a tense wriggle of the dog ears on top of his head.

Saria saw no reason to answer. They had never spoken, only fought as allies against Balk and the corrupted Mewtwo. That should have been encouraging, but having a common enemy at one point didn't translate into Inuyasha being there for a friendly purpose. The open frown he wore revealed the sharpness of his canine teeth, and the Sage of Forest had, only two days ago, witnessed the colossal wind scar technique that he had used on Balk, as well as Mewtwo's aeon, Rayquaza. His alignment to the Triforce, Saria assumed, was not courage or wisdom, but nearly unparalleled power.

"I asked you a question!" the Lifestream being snapped at her. He was snarling, his knees beginning to bend to a combative stance. The grip on his weapon tightened, but it remained sheathed.

"And I'm not going to answer it."

Inuyasha's temper flared. "What did you say to me?"

"You heard me. I'm not going to answer you stupid question."

The bladed slide of unsheathing noise clawed up Saria's spine, forcing her to tighten every muscle in her neck, back and arms to avoid shivering. Her heart began beating faster, and she grew angry that the Lifestream spirit had unsettled her with the simple release of his weapon. Choosing to abstain from violence, Saria merely stood in place and breathed, trying to reverse the acceleration of her pulse as the air tickled her neck and tried to lure out her contained shuddering.

Saria could hear his footsteps approaching even more slowly than he had drawn his blade.

"Leave me alone," Saria insisted.

"No," Inuyasha bit back. "What are you, exactly? Some sort of mutation of the Lifestream? No, one of us would have sensed that. It's more likely that you work for Zero. A willing servant, or maybe you're just an empty husk that hides really well?"

A rush of wind was followed by a strange sound, like muffled glass breaking into thousands of tiny shards all at once. The reverberation was so odd that Saria had to twist her waist to see. Brushing her forest colored hair aside, the Kokiri woman was surprised to see Naminé holding her transparent, crystal keyblade at her side. The young looking spirit girl's petite features and simple white dress did not match the stoic expression of experience and leadership that she wore.

"Inuyasha!" Naminé scolded the half demon. "You will _not_ make such accusations against a Sage of the Triforce without consulting the Hero of Time."

"_Excuse me_?" he bellowed, thrusting the hooked Tetsusaiga blade into the dirt. "I'm trying to keep universe in one piece by exposing _her_."

Naminé gave Saria a thoughtful glance, perceiving what she could from the forest girl, then returned to Inuyasha's impatience. "Even if she is hiding something, the Hero has the right to decide what to do with that information."

"I'm tired of talking and sitting around doing nothing!" he insisted, his anger impatient but immensely powerful. "If I _beat_ the information out of her now-"

"_Sit, boy!_"

Saria was so startled by Inuyasha instantly thudding face-first to the ground that she sprang from her spot with a girlish yelp. Frozen for a moment, she wasn't sure what to do other than watch as Inuyasha grudgingly rearranged himself into an angry, cross-legged posture. The entire motion thoroughly confused the Kokiri woman as it repeated several times in her head. He was a spirit, composed of weightless energy and light. So how did it make such a loud sound?

"I apologize for Inuyasha," Naminé gave a small nod of courtesy toward her. "I assure you it won't happen again. _But_..."

Saria was at full attention. The emphasis on her trailing word was like an ultimatum, however diplomatic her words remained. "If you have something that you're hiding, something important that affects all of us, I feel that we are all deserving of the truth. It is most important that you tell the Hero of Time, at least. Do you understand?"

The Forest Sage discovered that her voice had become meek and shrewish. "Yes."

"I'm glad," Naminé said, wearing a smile again. "Come, Inuyasha."

The half-demon spirit sheathed his blade and angrily walked off without a word.

When they had both gone, Saria could not hold it in anymore. Burying her face in her hands, she cried.

* * *

Inuyasha followed Naminé wordlessly to the astronomy lab where a narrow platform extended to the center of the spherical room. At the control console, Naminé began activating the system and zoomed in on their planned route back to Earth, observing the star systems they would pass along the way. She knew what was on Inuyasha's mind, but had no desire to provoke him to say it. For several minutes, as she browsed some of the information about primitive cultures dwelling on planets near their path, Inuyasha leaned against the railing, occasionally making growls of impatience or anger.

There was enough on her mind already, but Inuyasha's meager restraint eroded, and he approached her very closely.

"You must know by now," Inuyasha glared coldly at her.

"Of course," Naminé replied.

The dog-demon's ears twitched angrily. "That's it? That's all you have to say? Link is _gone_!"

"I know that," Naminé spoke meekly.

Now snarling and furious, Inuyasha's anger disturbed the holographic projection of the galaxy. "I'd rather be forced into being human again than admit it, but you're in charge now! So what exactly are we supposed to do now, leader?"

"I'm going to continue protecting the sages and the Hero of Time," she responded, still feigning emotionless. "You can go if you wish. So can Cloud, if that's what he wants. I won't try to stop either of you."

"You think that... wait, what?"

Naminé's reflection against the many stars in the spherical astronomy lab began to fade. She gathered strength and made herself whole. With the appearance of real flesh on her face and golden blond hair down to her shoulders, the spirit in the white dress sternly met Inuyasha's eyes, and a rare scowl crossed her lips. "Weren't you listening? You can leave. Fight as you please, or do nothing at all. Just don't get in my way."

Frozen in contemplation at an offer that he had never expected, Inuyasha rubbed the handle of his sword and studied Naminé's stoic demeanor, which he suspected was a facade to hide her sorrow. She had been close to Link, the only Lifestream spirit he expressed any sense of friendship with. Many minutes later, the solidity she expressed was unchanged. If anything, Naminé was more irate with each passing moment of indecision.

"I'll stay," Inuyasha decided, and it was not to placate her. "We've come this far."

"Thank you," Naminé whispered. Her physical manifestation of flesh faded back to an emerald green reflection. "Now, I have things to attend to here. Will you see if X and Raven need any assistance on the bridge?"

"Yeah, sure," complied Inuyasha with a sour tone. The half-demon's pointed dog ears twitched angrily, and he knew that he was stuck in a situation without any pleasant outcome regardless of his decision. He paced back along the narrow metal platform and left the spirit girl to her thoughts.

* * *

When the stars no longer interested Naminé, the girl in the white dress decided to tend to the task that she never completed in the first place. Within the hidden memoriam, she passed through the second holographic barrier at the top floor amongst the rarest artifacts and devices that X had collected on his journeys. She passed through the barrier with hesitance since the intangible forcefield produced a lingering dizziness in her head, which was really quite odd since it caused no affect at all for physical beings, such as the hedgehog whom she had come to visit. As expected, he was sitting quite close to the emotive glow of the six chaos emeralds in X's possession, meditating. The black hedgehog made no move to invite her, so Naminé took a seat next to him, adding her pale radiance to that of the emeralds.

"Hello Shadow," the spirit girl asked.

Shadow the Hedgehog tilted his head in her direction with a neutral expression. Seeing him unperturbed by her presence reassured her that she was not unwelcome. He also seemed to be waiting for her to continue.

"Are you well?" she continued.

"Yes," Shadow replied. "It's a little cramped aboard this ship, but I'm comfortable in front of the emeralds."

"I'm glad you have a place where you feel that way," Naminé smiled. She glanced at the bandage on his wrist. "How is your arm healing?"

Turning his attention away from the emeralds, he glanced at the bandage that was not sufficiently concealed beneath his large, white glove. "It should be good enough by the time we reach our destination. Did Raven send you to check on me?"

Naminé was surprised at that. She pivoted at the waist, facing him more directly. "No, I wanted to. Should she have sent me?"

The black hedgehog responded with a gruff exhale of amusement. "Apparently we have two people making sure that we're all still sane."

With a smile, the spirit girl returned his humor with a soft chuckle. "It's not like that, you know. As I said, I wanted to see you. I could have visited anyone, and although circumstances have thrown me into nearly everyone else's path on the way, I chose to visit you. I like you, Shadow."

Having just refocused his thoughts on the emerald, Shadow found himself ignoring their many-hued glow. "And what about you?" he asked.

Naminé, perfectly content without his eye contact, "Me?"

Shadow rephrased. "Do you have a place where you feel comfortable, welcome?"

Unsure of how to respond, she glanced at the emeralds, then to Shadow. "I... I don't know."

"Is it because your memory isn't whole?" Shadow asked bluntly, remembering what she had told him of the curses that came with being a Lifestream spirit.

"No," she shook her head sadly. "I lost... someone close recently. He was important to me, more important than I realized. I'm having a hard time... well, feeling anything, I suppose. It's like I'm blank."

Shadow reacted with a displeased hum. "And now, even if you can manage to keep fighting, it isn't the same. There's less value for you in the outcome."

Naminé responded with silence. She reflected on what he had said, and she soon found his statement to be remarkably fitting. The chaos emeralds pulsed with slow, emotive rays several times as the girl in the white dress realized how accurate Shadow had been. Sedate emotions came to life, but not for herself. Rather, she glanced at the black and crimson hedgehog, gripped with sadness, knowing that he had experienced the same thing.

"You're right. That's exactly how it feels. I know how important it his to defeat the King of Evil, but if I can never see Li-"

Naminé cut herself off, flustered and angry that she had almost revealed the name. It wasn't a name that would mean anything to Shadow, but it would mean much to others aboard the Dreamweaver. Fearful of offending him, it took time to gather up enough to courage to pry into his past. "We've all lost people close to us, but it's different when they're a part of what you're fighting for. May I ask about who you lost?"

"Maria," Shadow answered bluntly.

Though stunned at his abruptly willingness to share, Naminé waited after that, allowing him the choice to divulge more or not.

"You... resemble her."

"Oh!" Naminé reacted with embarrassment. "I could... change my form if-"

"No," Shadow insisted, standing. "You are you. Maria _was_ Maria. I enjoy the traits that you share with her, but you are unique. The times when her death consumed me with anger have long since passed."

Shadow continued to speak briefly, yet comfortably about the horrors of his past. Naminé wondered how he dealt with it so easily and how he surpassed the emotional strain of the loss. Unsure of how to even begin to overcome the sadness and apathy that plagued her, it occurred to the girl in the white dress that perhaps she had never lost someone quite in this manner when she was alive. Stranger yet, she was hardly grieving even though it seemed like the natural reaction under the circumstances. Having not experienced such a fundamental part of being a warrior, how could she have been strong enough to become cohesive and whole within the Lifestream? Frustrated, Naminé questioned what gave her the power to live again after death. She wondered if the gaps in her memory might be to blame for her sense of loss, but that didn't feel like the right explanation. With the emeralds nestled in their perfectly fitted divots right in front of her, Naminé considered asking them for help. Shaking her head at the foolish thought, she turned to Shadow for advice.

"May I ask... how did you get over something like that?"

Shadow sighed, and Naminé hoped that she wasn't bothering him. "You remember why they were fighting, and you find something or someone else to fight for that you still have. It takes time, but the more you think about what's important to you, the faster it will get better."

"I see," responded the Lifestream spirit. Though it sounded simple enough, every time she tried to consider the fate of the sages, of X, or of the Lifestream itself, Link's death overshadowed what she knew needed to be protected.

"Don't rush it."

Naminé opened her eyes, and the black hedgehog was sitting with his arms crossed, choosing to attend to her instead of the chaos emeralds that were intricately connected to him.

"Thank you, Shadow," she smiled at him. "I'll let you return to your relaxation. I'm sorry to have disturbed you."

"You're welcome," he answered plainly.

As Naminé stood and turned to leave, something came to her mind that made her grin as she spoke it. "Make that _three_ people trying to keep us all sane."

Although Shadow had already returned to the comfort of his meditation, the black hedgehog grunted in amusement. Feeling better, Naminé passed through the dizzying holographic wall and decided to go to the lounge where she could watch the stars pass behind them with Mobius in their distant wake.


	89. Those Who Hide

**Chapter 89 – Those Who Hide**

Choosing between the lesser of two unpleasant situations always has a way of invoking deep bitterness. Tidus, placed in this predicament, ruffled his blonde hair angrily, sending the short locks into more disarray than normal. He was constantly bothered by everything around him, unable to tolerate the same scenery for more than a handful of minutes. The bronze armguard and gauntlet he wore on his left side seemed to itch incessantly, and his other hand constantly wanted to squeeze the handle of the Brotherhood blade. Doing so helped calm him, but never for long enough. The sun-yellow, high collared stripe shirt that exposed his tanned, muscular chest urged to be readjusted despite there being no need, and even his Triforce brand occasionally grew hot with light that Tidus attributed to his emotional and physical unrest.

Deliberately avoiding contact with others, Tidus mostly kept to the alleys between buildings, knowing that his status as an 'honorary Titan' would garner a great deal of public attention. Unable to fly or hover like some of the others, he was more restricted to the streets. If he used his power of water to leap from roof to roof, the resulting rainfall that he would drop below would only draw more onlookers to him, which was the last thing he wanted.

A confrontation with Terra was inevitable. He could not avoid Titan's Tower forever, especially not with X returning from Mobius soon. Terra's standpoint on their relationship was becoming depressingly obvious in her increased distance from him, and she was spending more and more of her time with that green changeling.

The thought of Beast Boy enraged him, and before Tidus realized what he was doing, a pine green alleyway dumpster reeking of tomatoes and trash suddenly had a gash in it from corner to corner. Though unsavory colors stained the sharply hooked edged of Brotherhood, the ocean glow dripping from it quickly cleaned the blade. Angrier at the fact that he had become angry in the first place, Tidus returned his weapon to his hip and quickly moved on, finding a wrought iron escape ladder that he used to scale the brick building that the dumpster probably belonged to. As he climbed, sour thoughts and more discomfort entered his mind, wondering what Terra could possibly see in a childish, bizarre, poorly spoken changeling, especially when Tidus and Terra had spent so much time wandering the Lifestream together.

It was amazing how quickly sadness and longing for the past could overtake the anger seething inside him. Tidus reached the rooftop some ten stories up, a rather bland sight of concrete, brick, and ventilation systems. Along the edge of the roof, overlooking the moderate traffic of the streets below, Tidus dwelled on his initial meeting with her. It was if his consciousness had been awakened by hers, and vice versa. Two minds with transparent, ghostly bodies, like two diamonds swimming amongst plain stone. They quickly had learned to speak to each other's spirits, to share excitement, questions, fears, but Tidus had thought of how beautiful Terra was before they reached that point, and their attachment only grew. She exuded such happiness as she learned to see throughout the Lifestream and learn what was happening on planets many light years distant from each other, and Tidus had eagerly shared in that happiness as they floated endlessly. They spoke about their lives as physical beings, oddly one thousand years apart from each other. It was only when they began to watch more of Terra's friends through the portals of the Lifestream that they found purpose aiding X and becoming Sages of the Triforce, destined to fight against the King of Evil for the sake of the universe.

And what now? They grew distant. Despite having even more to share in the physical realm, they became strangers to each other. Their lives no longer seemed to coincide, their kinship lost with their freedom. Perhaps that made the physical world a prison, with the Lifestream being the true release. But then, Zero was destroying both of them.

Tidus perked up when he heard a police siren, but he chose not to react. He didn't have the speed to deal with the nuisance of a high speed chase. Then, a screech came from the streets. Engine brakes, grinding in desperation. An impact resounded upward, deafening. Then again, again, and again.

The violence of the cascading crashes spiked goosebumps on Tidus from head to toe. Throwing himself from the building's edge, the Sage of Water plummeted toward the accident, catching only a glimpse of destruction as wind resistance forced him to squint. With Brotherhood aimed, a column of liquid shot toward the pavement, slowing Tidus's descent so that he could upright himself and land with a tolerable strain on his legs.

Surveying the damage and any immediate ongoing threat was the first priority. Whatever had been the cause of that siren from before, it had forced a tanker truck of oil to topple over onto two other cars, and several other vehicles had amassed into the twisted pile of metals. With the wreckage placed in the middle of an intersection, traffic was blocked on all sides, and the screams of panicked, fleeing people spiked tension in Tidus. Out of the corner of his eye, one vehicle that had strayed off towards a building had clearly crushed a pedestrian against a solid stone wall. There was no saving that one.

The Sage of Water shrugged off the thought of the blood stains he saw and focused on helping those most in need. A small, silver hatchback had been pummeled aside by the oil tanker, and all of its windows were broken, but attached. Through the in tact fragments of glass, Tidus spotted a man in the driver's seat, barely moving, blood seeping quickly from his forehead. The man's hand closest to Tidus had fingers that were twisted in abnormal directions. There were no other passengers.

A groan of pain emanated from within the vehicle.

"Hang on!" he shouted to the bleeding driver. He gripped the door handle and yanked hard, but it wouldn't budge.

Shuffling back, Tidus gripped his aqua sword with both hands and forced in a deep lungful of air. In a swift trio of swings, a triangular section of the smashed car door and window came free, allowing Tidus to easily pull him out to safety. The sirens of emergency vehicles began wailing, but before they could arrive, the ground was rattled by an explosion of sound and heat coming from the other side of the tipped-over truck. Tidus sprang up onto the oil tanker and waved his blade, throwing plumes of water at the blazing sedan whose heat was dangerously close, but it refused to subside even with several swings of greater force.

Knowing that too much heat would cause the nearby oil rig to ignite and explode, he had to abandon the survivors of the crash until he calmed the overturned vehicle's blaze. An explosion with that much fuel would kill dozens or more in nearby buildings, and those who survived the initial crash would be condemned to a horrible, incinerating death.

Tidus noticed water leaking from a fire hydrant that had been damaged during the crash. Another was on the opposite corner of the intersection. Placing Brotherhood back in its resting loop on his hip, Tidus adopted a wide stance, lowering his hips and bending his knees, breathing in a slow, deliberate manner. He increased the depth of his breaths, allowing his diaphragm and lungs to expand to their full capacity. The motion of his hands began at his chest, with both palms facing the ground. He reached out, sensing the water beneath the hydrant's reserves. With a final, energized breath, Tidus roared and swung his arms down, then violently back up with palms facing the sky.

Geysers launched the hydrants violently from their bolted positions as if they were nothing more than small stones, and the two columns of water formed a massive sphere above the burning car. The blaze had become so hot that the drops of liquid falling against Tidus's face stung like drops of ice, sizzling away immediately after. The Sage of Water bellowed once more, toppling the water sphere on to the car, not only completely dousing the flame, but smashing the car inward on itself.

Finally, the heat and the resilient flames subsided.

Though drained from the use of his powers, Tidus turned his attention back to those who needed it. The Sage of Water leaped to the street and quickly searched the crushed black car beneath the fallen truck. The driver was dead, and Tidus felt ill seeing the caved-in, blood soaked mass above the person's neck. In the passenger seat, too short to be crushed by the smashed roof,was a young girl who was barely old enough to be in the front, covered in cuts from shattered windshield glass, but quite possibly alive. In the back was an infant, seemingly unharmed, screaming in helplessness and terror.

As before, Tidus slashed and openings in the frame of the vehicle and pulled out the injured girl in the front seat. A single step later, he froze, seeing Terra mimic his actions on the rear passenger door with a blade crafted of dense, dark stone that she wore like a gauntlet.

"More people need help, go!" Terra shouted, rattling him from his daze.

Tidus quickly shook his disoriented thoughts away, growling angrily until he felt adrenaline surge into his muscles. He placed the young girl safely on the sidewalk where concerned citizens would take care of her until the ambulances could safely get through. As he and Terra continued to rescue people from their vehicles, emergency medics with rolling stretchers were nearing the blaze for those still trapped, and those who had been taken a distance away were getting the attention they needed. The misty plume of fire hoses sprayed the scene in a wide area, ensuring that the sedan flame he had doused earlier wouldn't resurrect itself. After an unfathomably stressful amount of time spent finding and executing ways of rescuing the more severely trapped, everyone still alive had been evacuated to a safe distance and was being cared for. The threat of fire had been quelled, and blockades and detour signs were being set up at every path that led directly to that intersection. It would be much longer until the tipped over oil tanker was removed from the scene, but the immediate threat was resolved.

Three died in the crash, including the driver of the oil truck. There was also the hideous impact of the bystander crushed against the side of the stone building at one corner. A fifth expired while receiving medical attention; broken ribs with lacerated internal organs were too severe to mend. A few were hospitalized with various breaks, cuts, and other injuries, and a handful more were lucky to escape with nothing more than terror and weeks worth of nightmares that would follow. Overall, a miserable event, but not nearly as awful as it could have been. Like the Titans, Tidus wasn't comforted by that rationalization.

When Tidus could finally breathe a sigh of relief, he saw Terra slowly approaching him. She walked with a sway of attitude, slowly, and similarly strained from the long traffic collision. Her blonde hair was draped, half against her chest, the rest against her shoulders and back.

A distraction from the corner of his eye: "Excuse me, sir?"

Tidus turned. A paramedic, young, dark haired, and about Tidus's height but less physically built, insisted upon treating his injuries. When the Sage of Water insisted that he was fine, Terra grabbed him just above the elbow and squeezed.

"Oww!" Tidus reacted with surprising pain. He glanced at the source, a stream of red coming from a gash on his upper arm, though he had no idea when or how he had been hurt.

"Let them stitch you up," the Sage of Earth pressed. "Saria can look at it more back at the tower, later."

Hesitantly, with a glare of defensiveness toward Terra, Tidus allowed himself to be sewed up. The brief time spent immobile was frustrating, but only because Terra stood so closely to him. She tied her hair back and cleaned the grime and sweat from her face, careful to avoid being too firm with the gash on her forehead that she had earned in the Maverick stronghold. She winced at a splotch of discolored skin on her arm that was bubbled with blisters. It was a nasty burn that, like Tidus, she wasn't sure how she had earned.

"You're next," Tidus said to her without looking. He stared at the dark grey tar beneath him.

"I guess so," she answered with an equal measure of avoidance, and a slant of anger.

As Tidus was tended to, Terra remembered protocol. When an emergency event happened, the nearest Titans would respond, and backup would be sent even if the situation was expected to be contained by then. So, it shouldn't have surprised her when Cloud arrived on foot. However, the Lifestream Spirit appeared completely human, and although Terra knew that the facade wouldn't last forever, it still made her study his appearance for what was probably an inappropriate amount of time. His muscles appeared quite defined, but he was thin. The blonde of his hair was not as uniformly hued as Terra's, but the texture of it appeared soft and well cared for. But then again, he was a being of energy, probably capable of making himself appear however he wished. Either that, or he had died that way. His darkly shaded gray turtleneck appeared very real, and his boots clopped with perfect reaction against the ground, sounding so convincingly authentic.

Cloud ignored the police barricade that had been set up and walked with purpose toward the back of the ambulance where Tidus sat. He looked oddly out of place with such a massive sword against his back, the Buster Sword dwarfing even Tidus's ocean blade.

"Is the situation fully under control?" he asked with emotionless rigidity.

Tidus shrugged. "Yeah, it's fine."

"You seem shaken," Cloud observed from Tidus.

Tidus glared at him, then away, saying nothing, particularly since the Lifestream spirit was wrong. After being so lost in thought about Terra, then drawn into a disaster where people had died, Tidus was simply exhausted, both in a physical and mental sense, though he wasn't sure which of the two was worse.

"I'm sure it's just the adrenaline wearing off," Terra suggested to Cloud. The blond Titan held out her gloved hands. "See? Mine are shaking too, but I'm fine."

Cloud crossed his arms an watched her hands tremble for a few seconds before he seemed to accept the explanation. "Alright," he responded blankly. "I was told to wait here to make sure there are no further problems. The two of you should return once you've finished receiving medical attention. Starfire and I will handle the rest, once she arrives."

The Lifestream spirit turned without waiting for a 'thank you' or a 'goodbye' and inspected the violent car pileup for himself, and the emergency medic finished sewing up Tidus's wound. Both Terra and Tidus observed Cloud's emotionless behavior as he surveyed the crushed vehicles, dead bodies, and general destruction.

"Some burn cream for you, ma'am?" the medic asked politely.

"Yes, thank you," Terra answered. She removed the glove on her uninjured arm as the medic handed her an individually wrapped dose. As she ripped it open, Terra found that the bluish substance smelled faintly like suntan lotion and raw vegetable greens. The cool gel eased her discomfort as soon as it touched her skin.

The medic, finished with the two of them, left the back of the ambulance to confer with colleagues who remained on the scene to treat those with more minor injuries. His absence left Terra and Tidus by themselves.

"Hey," she tried to begin a conversation with him. Tidus glanced angrily toward her, then back to the tar.

"I'm sorry about yelling at you," she tried again. "When we were in the Maverick base, I mean. I shouldn't have done that."

Tidus exhaled, annoyed and drained. "It's ok," he answered meekly in automatic response, even though it really wasn't alright. With his elbows propped on his knees, Tidus found himself squeezing his fingers together until it became uncomfortable.

"Would it be better if we talked somewhere a little less stressful?" encouraged the Titan sage.

"Yeah, that would probably be good," Tidus agreed.

Relieved at least somewhat by the thought of being away from the sight of smashed cars and flashing lights of sirens, as well as the stink of burnt metal and vehicular fluids, Tidus nodded gently to Terra. She waved a palm and gathered the earth and stone that she had used to slice open crushed vehicles, shaping it with simple hand gestures into a flat platform that she sat on.

As the stone seat began lifting her from the ground in the direction of the river bay and Titan's Tower, she said to Tidus, "I'll wait for you until you're ready."

With fatigue and stress turning into lethargy, Tidus watched her leave until she was out of sight, around a street corner.

The small island situated was originally the last place he wanted to go, but the intersection of the car accident had taken over that position. Tidus eventually followed logic and began pacing toward the dividing body of water where Titan's Island resided, easily as uncomfortable and stressed as he had been before, but thankfully too tired for the itching and fidgeting that had aggravated him before. The journey was slow, and the young man found that his legs were much heavier than they should have been. It was almost funny, knowing how much he needed to think of what he was going to say to her, and how knowing that made him avoid thoughts of the topic all the more.

Tidus walked, unsupported by any sagely power that he could have used to shorten trip. Whether he did this for the sake of time, avoidance, or both, he wasn't sure. Regardless, putting many minutes between him and the confrontation ahead was his desire.

Terra was, unexpectedly, at the water's edge with her feet dangling in the cold river water, sitting on jagged, water-worn stone that she had smoothed into a seat that was much more comfortable. Surprised, Tidus wondered why she hadn't chosen to traverse the river back to her home, rather choosing a place more comforting to him. He approached so that she could hear him coming and wouldn't be startled. When he was closer, Tidus came to a stop, allowing himself to be lost in the stupor of a sigh.

"Hey," Terra said a second time, concealing her hands in front of her as she stood, back to.

Tidus heard sadness in her voice. Having been so close with her in the Lifestream, the emotion was effortless for him to detect when he wanted to.

"Hey," he answered back, and he heard how emotionless his own voice sounded. Part of him wanted to take back the single word.

Hesitant, Terra chose her next words carefully. "We should... figure out what we are to each other."

Tidus immediately scoffed at that. "Should we? Is there even anything to talk about? You've decided."

Terra paced her response, resisting the urge to rush the discomfort of the moment. The waves of the beach helped, calming her thoughts.

"Decided..." she repeated. "No, I don't think that's right. When I was released from my prison of stone, it was decided for me."

Tidus approached, making no effort to gentle his steps. "What exactly is that supposed to mean? We were fine when you first came out. It was different, but it was good to be alive again, inside bodies, not just floating about the Lifestream forever."

"It _was_ good, Tidus," Terra added a slant of firmness to her voice as she pivoted to face him. He was close, only a few steps away, and it made her heart excite with nervousness, regret, and confusion. The sand beneath her feet, small granules of earth, gave her support, but being so near the water, he shared an equal foothold. Perhaps that balance was why she chose to meet him there, to bear her heart and her honesty in a place where he could do the same.

Breathing softly, gently, she remained calm, but not weak. "When we were in the Lifestream together, it was just you and I. And we... it was wonderful, what we had. I can't lie to you and say that I didn't appreciate or care about you then, and I still feel that way."

"Then why?" Tidus countered angrily, raising his voice so that the waves nearby rippled backwards in response. "If you still care, why are you with that... changeling?"

"Because I love Beast Boy!" Terra roared.

Several heartbeats later, plumes of wet sand fell around them.

Tidus pursed his lips and nodded. "I see."

"No, you don't see," Terra stepped closer. She was shaken. An instant of anger had stolen her fortitude, and her emotions threatened to spill out. Focusing on calm breaths and the sandy earth beneath her feet, she dropped her voice to nearly a whisper. "When we were trapped in the Lifestream, it was just the two of us. We didn't have anybody else. We were alone. Once we became free, of course things would change. Everyone we once knew, still there, waiting for us. Don't you still love Yuna?"

The leather in Tidus's glove compressed and stretched. The metal gauntlet on his other arm clinked and scratched from how tightly he squeezed. Suddenly, the waves licked the back of Terra's leg, coming in much farther than they had before.

"Spira has been poisoned by Zero. Yuna _isn't_ the same anymore. Everything I knew from there is gone."

Terra frowned, disappointed at what he could not see. She gritted her teeth. "I know it's not the same, but it didn't change the way that she felt about you."

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Tidus snapped in a fit of anger and slashed his blade into the sand. The waves followed, drenching them both.

Before Terra could wipe the salty dampness from her eyes, Tidus dove into the waters where she would never be able to follow him. Left with words still trapped inside, she sat in the sand and watched as the inlet's waves subsided, returning to their former equilibrium, falling just short of her feet.

The tears down her face were not for herself, but for him. She despised hurting him, and Terra knew she would be forced to do so again until Tidus had enough time to resolve his broken emotions, if he had the strength to do so at all. But how much time would they have? As much as it pained her, Terra watched the breezy waves between her and Titan's Tower, knowing that she would need to try again soon, and their next argument would be much worse than this one.

* * *

In a place far away from Earth or Mobius, the Chamber of Sages had been abandoned for many weeks, left in peace despite its many purposes. On the cusp of physical reality, it bridged the living world and the ephemeral plane, but neither the Deathflow or the Lifestream were permitted without a being from the realm of true existence granting them passage. As something not entirely alive nor dead, Zero and the bodies that he stole were unquestionably barred, and there was not a living soul capable of breaching its walls who would grant entrance to him. It could not be more secure.

On the outer circle of the pedestal of the Triforce were the emblems of the eight sages who held the key to the dark divider of realms. Seven of those eight had come to activate their seals. Saria of Forest had been first, her crest brightened for decades since the days when Hyrule still lived, and she was the only sage from the previous Triforce struggle against the King of Evil. Mewtwo of Spirit, at an unknown time during the century that followed, was the second to activate his shrine symbol. Raven of Darkness came with the Hero after that. Then Nanaki of Fire, Tidus of Water, Terra of Earth, and most recently, Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog, the dual Sages of Wind.

And yet, the most active sage of all, having watched from beneath the radar of the others, had left his seal darkened – a great mystery to the other seven plus the Hero. A great irony, the Sage of Light still maintained his shroud. However, the decades of weathering and combat tainting its original appearance had almost entirely reversed itself. The golden cloak was almost brand new, faded in only a few small splotches, perfectly uniform at his feet except for a handful of torn spots that continued to slowly mend.

The Sage of Light, a crimson reploid of ancient creation, stood on his seal, bright gold, almost the exact shade of his shroud, perhaps a bit brighter. On the crest beneath him, three narrow triangles faced each other at the center, and three small spheres filled the gaps between. It had been years since his last visit, and the reploid was not sure how he felt returning to a place of such importance and conflict. It was here where he had been bested by an old man of flesh unlike the combative metal and circuit enemies of war in his old home. He was then taught the ways of light, and finally succeeded Rauru in becoming the Sage of Light, first of the new generation over a hundred years ago. All of that was so long in the past, and his memory, though mechanical and superior, was not perfect enough to remember every detail as he could with more recent days.

The air had a slight chill, its motion almost imperceptible. All around, the pillars of flowing matter, sky blue as always, radiated light in the distance, but like every other visit and memory of this place, there was no clear end to the blue spires in either direction as they faded into darkness above and below. It was odd to consider that the vital pillar that he and the seals were placed upon was the only one with any clear endpoint. If there were others, their existence was unknown.

He knelt down to his crest, staring at it for a while, unsure of what delayed him. As soon as his palm touched the crest, he felt another presence, hearing the arrival of someone who should not have been able to breach the hallowed chamber. The magenta blade of energy ejected from his arm where his hand retracted, but when the Sage of Light glanced at the shrouded figure standing in the center on the Hero's Triforce seal, he slanted his head curiously, unsure of what he was seeing.

Whole, but not whole, shrouded in white. The figure was seemingly composed of Lifestream energies, but he was much more cohesive and solid-looking than the other spirits that had been present on Mobius, Naminé and Inuyasha. The Sage of Light could only see pale chin and lips sticking out from beneath where the hood of the robe hung. An intruder, but not immediately hostile... it gave the Sage of Light an uneasy sensation all over his body, as if tiny spiders were crawling on him.

The shrouded one stood as tall as the reploid sage, almost exactly the same height, but his head was hung, as if he were staring at the crests they stood on. Of much greater concern, if he was completely or even partially dead, he should not have been able to enter the Chamber of Sages.

"Another spirit from the stream," he commented, making it sound like a statement instead of a question. "Like that half-demon, the keyblade girl, and the man from Gaia who got himself killed by the Ultima Weapon. Did Link send you to cause more trouble and disrupt the flow of mana?"

The figure in white made no movement or answer.

"How did you enter this place?" the Sage of Light inquired more forcefully. When there was still no answer, the magenta hue of his energy saber was thrust with a hum, aiming for the being's chest.

"Answer me, or I _will_ kill you."

The being gave no inclination that he had any desire to speak, or that he was in any way afraid of the threat. Standing in the center, he merely watched and stared.

The Sage of Light narrowed his eyes, aggravated by the intrusion, but the way that this being made his circuits crawl was far worse. With annoyance bolstering his discomfort for the intruder who wouldn't make a sound or move a muscle, the reploid sage decided to retract his blade and tend to his task, not moving his eyes away, but a question kept passing through his thoughts. Why didn't the intruder feel like an organic, a reploid _or_ a Lifestream spirit? If the being shrouded in white in front of him was none of those things, then what was exactly stood in front of him on the Hero's Seal? What other sort of being was there that could be given passage into the Chamber of Sages?

He returned to the kneeling position he was in before. The Sage of Light pressed against one of the three triangles on his seal as he watched the cloaked figure, who was watching in return. One of the spheres next to the triangle clicked, popping loose. Still keeping his eyes locked on the hidden face of the one in white, he picked up the small, golden orb, pinched it in his fingers, and it opened. Inside was a small, glittering light no bigger than a marble that he could not resist looking at.

The intruder made a miniscule step toward the tiny glow, and the crackle of the sage's energy blade cut the silence once more. Tension gripped the Sage of Light, and he began clenching his jaw as he backed away what little he could. Glaring hatefully, the sage didn't take his eyes off of the figure a second time.

"You must be wondering what this is," the reploid spoke grimly, gently cupping the tiny glow after he replaced the golden orb that it had come from. Whether he was right or not, the sage could see that the spirit who had broken into the sacred chamber was very interested in the glow. It was not tangible, but the glow followed the sway of his hand, hovering barely above it. Holding it out for the intruder to see, it was like a heartbeat, the light expanding and contracting. "This is my 'flaw.' With it, I am as limitless as Mega Man. My power can expand beyond imagination, and it will revive the greatest source of light inside me that has been kept bound and chained for all these years."

The intruder shrouded in white finally spoke with a voice wracked with age or sickness, barely able to utter the words through the terrible rasp. At first the all that came from him was a vocal expression of anger, one that was feeble and cracked, but he eventually formed slow fragments of sentences amidst an ill wheeze.

"_I know..._ _what that is_."

"Do you really?" the Sage of Light sneered. "I extracted this, a part of my soul, years ago. I am weaker without it, yet I am superior to all of the sages already. Reuniting with it will give me the right to challenge the Hero of Time, and when I destroy him, I will take his place and defeat the King of Evil."

_"You are... a liar."_

"You understand _nothing_ of my past or of the future I have been striving to achieve," the sage glared.

_"I... understand... that you are... corrupted." _

"Speak for yourself, ghoul. You are neither living nor dead, not spirit nor flesh. For you to witness this moment is disgraceful, but this shard of the chaos emerald cannot leave unless it is with me. If you dare interfere, I will tear you apart."

Holding the sparkling star in his palm, the Sage of Light pressed the tiny glow into his chest. There was no reaction, no bright transformation or discomfort of any kind. He did not swell with apparent power either. He only breathed a small sigh. For a short time, the sage ignored the intruder's presence, allowing a lifetime of memories to pass through him, like a collage of the many moments that brought him to the day of his restoration.

Slowly, his cloak's final tatters and stained spots began to mend, regenerating like flesh.

Both of them drew their swords. When the Sage of Light witnissed his opponent's blazing green energy saber, his teeth bared with hostility beneath his visor.

Before either one could make the first strike, every distant pillar that they could in the infinite realm began shaking, tilting, and they both crouched down. The Sage of Light sought the source of the distortion, but the sensation of presence was all around.

"_This is a scared place!_" roared a woman's voice, reprimanding and furious.

The shaking stopped, and a bright emerald streak shot across the darkened plane, landing on their platform with a blinding flash. Almost within arm's reach, Saria, Sage of Forest, stood on her crest, glaring at them both. An eerie collection of lights swirled around her, each orbiting in a unique path. The Sage of Light did not know what they were, but that they definitely were not one of her powers of nature or any kind of materia that he was familiar with.

"How dare you draw your weapons here!" Saria said to them both before turning to the unfamiliar one. As she pivoted, her orbs of neon green shifted, as if preparing to attack with sentient thought. "Who are you?" she demanded of the person in the white cloak. "_What_ are you? How did you breach the goddesses' dimension?"

"He won't answer you," the Sage of Light replied in his place. "I don't know what he is either, but he's incredibly powerful. Possibly an incarnation of Zero."

The Sage of Forest's glare narrowed at the being in the white cloak. She didn't know what to think. Her instinct at first glance disagreed with the Sage of Light's assessment, but the chills up her spine were similar to those that struck here when Zero or his hosts were near.

"You're not X," Saria insisted, but with a fear that rattled the consistency of her voice. She glanced down at the large Triforce crest in the center of the pedestal. "You don't belong there."

Surprisingly to them both, the cloaked figure stared down at the Hero's Triforce crest as well, then to Saria. Slowly, he backed away and stood in a gap between two of the sage seals, where an eerie blue light followed his footsteps. Then, he weakly bowed the Sage of Forest.

"_I... did not... mean offense._"

Saria did not mimic the gesture of respect, but she had to admit her indecisiveness about the being in the white cloak. "I would accept your apology, but I don't make a habit of trusting people I don't know."

One of the intruder's sleeves lifted and aimed it at the reploid in the golden cloak. _"It is... him... who you cannot trust. He... is dangerous."_

The Sage of Light scoffed and angled himself toward the emptiness beyond the platform. "That is a judgment that could just as easily be cast upon you, but I suppose it matters not. If you could have done something to stop me, you already would have."

Saria's was drawn to the emerging aura beneath the Sage of Light's feet, on his symbolic crest. With a simple exhale of contempt, the cloaked reploid vanished in a cloud of golden rays and mist. Unsettled by the encounter, the Kokiri woman stood impartially on her circular crest of the forest, trying to determine who, if either of them, was worthy of trust, as well as what should be done about the matter.

The figure in the white shroud inclined his head very slightly, exposing ghostly pale skin on his chin. "_The Sage of Light is... infected."_

At the statement, Saria's breath felt icy and cold, and it was if an invisible blow had struck her chest. "Wh-what did you say?"

Particles of greenish light began separating from him, like a pillar of sand slowly crumbling away. "_The virus... is changing. He... is not alone._"

The white cloak began vanishing into nothingness, and the spirit within followed, slowly dissolving into streaks of Lifestream energy until nothing remained.

"Wait!" Saria called, but the cloaked intruder had almost entirely evaporated, and the lingering traces of his presence dispersed into the endless abyss beyond the pedestal of the sages. The Kokiri woman glared at the spot where the stranger had stood, somehow hoping that her tired, angry glare would make him return, but silence held the sanctity of the Chamber of Sages.

As much as she knew how important this event was, something compelled Saria to keep the intrusion a secret from X. After what had happened on the Floating Island, the Hero of Time was already suspicious of the Sage of Light, and how could X benefit from knowing what little she did of the other cloaked being? Moreover, if Saria revealed this secret, she knew she would be forced to share her other, much deeper one as well. Refusing to put herself in that situation, she chose to keep the encounter private and form her own plan to deal with the Sage of Light, as well as the shrouded being in the white cloak.


	90. The Missing Light

**Chapter 90 – The Missing Light**

The arrival of the Azure Dreamweaver's elegant frame, with silver wings pointed forward and half-halo backing elongated higher than Titan's tower, was a celebrated moment, and all of the Titans and Sages attended, assembling themselves on the grassy hillside stretching out along the peninsula of the island. As the heavily sealed side door of the ship hissed open, it silently extended, unfolding metal steps until it met the ground with a soft impact. Social fervor spread quickly with Starfire leading the charge, tackling Raven into an embrace that knocked both of them into X.

"It is so wonderful to see you again friend Raven!"

The sorceress smiled and returned the friendly gesture, but in a less forceful manner. "It's good to see you too, Star."

Cyborg was next to greet Raven with his boundless enthusiasm for his friends, and he gave a firm handshake and shoulder pat to X. They exchanged pleasantries briefly, knowing that it would take too long to recount everything. Even it was short lived, the reploid was happy to receive such a warm welcome from Cyborg after their past troubles.

When the two hedgehogs and Mewtwo stepped out into the light, X introduced them.

"Everyone, this is Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog. They are our Sages of Wind. I'll explain how exactly that happened a little later."

"Hey everyone! Nice to meet you!" Sonic beamed as he hopped off the exit ramp, landing gracefully. The hedgehog stretched his arms and legs. "I don't wanna be rude, but I've been cramped on that ship for days, and I need to get this out of my system!"

The more carefree of the two hedgehogs took a step back into a low stance, and a moment later he was gone, leaving an explosive trail of dust and wind in his wake. A wide trail of grass was forcefully bent in the direction that he had bolted. Having shown those who had just met him why he was nicknamed the blue blur, Sonic was the object of many dumbfounded expressions, and X and Raven simply smiled.

"Okay," Robin stared with astonishment. The Titan leader's hair had become wildly disheveled. "Sage of Wind, check."

Shadow snorted in irritation, still standing at the entrance to the Dreamweaver. "I'll be with the emeralds."

"Wait," X responded to Shadow's callousness. The black hedgehog glared defensively and squeezed his hand tightly around the metal handrail of the exit ramp, but he remained there.

"And this," X gestured more gracefully toward the very alien-looking, pale purple telepath, "is our Sage of Spirit, Mewtwo."

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," Mewtwo bowed at the waist with his knobbed hands pressed together, and the gesture made his fluidly swaying tail visible. As Mewtwo passed by Shadow, the telepath gave the hedgehog a glance that was understanding, but disapproving.

Naminé and Inuyasha exited last, bathed in a glow that X expected would draw surprise. Rather, his telepathy detected recognition, and the reploid ended up being the confused one, and then he spotted Cloud as the other spirit made his way through the crowd.

"Inuyasha, Naminé," Cloud greeted them. With all three so near each other, it was difficult for most of the Titans and Sages to tell where one spirit's ghostly glimmer ended and the other's began. Inuyasha's whitish hair tinted green by his Lifestream essence blended with Naminé's white dress, and their similar skin tones were also hard to separate.

"It's good to see you again, Cloud," the young spirit girl smiled at him, while Inuyasha quietly trailed behind. "I hope operations with the Titans have gone well."

As the spirits conversed, Raven and X pressed forward to the other Titans. Saria and Nanaki emerged shortly thereafter, passing by Shadow's increasingly irritated growls. The forest girl and the fire wolf weren't as closely bonded with the Titans, but having Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy present ensured that no lack of friendship was extended toward them. Saria was a little startled by Starfire's crushing hugs, but Cyborg was inquisitive about her experience, asking how the journey went and if she had any good opportunities to observe the plant life on Mobius. Saria happily complied, describing the resilient mesa shrubbery close to the central mountains of the Floating Island, as well as some desert cacti in the Sandopolis region that possessed remarkable antibiotic properties.

In Nanaki's case, Robin was the person whom he found most enjoyable to speak with, though Terra and Beast Boy were friendly and inquisitive as well. Strangely, the Sage of Earth and her changeling companion appeared quite close, unlike the distance they had kept before. Nanaki found it an amiable difference from their last encounter.

"Where is Tidus?" the Sage of Fire eventually asked the three Titans he spoke with.

Terra withdrew, sharp but unintentionally, and Nanaki noticed. Beast Boy, on the other hand, was clearly trying too hard not to be affected. Obviously something was wrong.

"He hasn't been feeling well and wanted to get some extra rest," Robin keenly cut the silence. "We'll all still be here when he's better, so don't worry about it."

Don't worry about it? Nanaki narrowed his eyes with displeasure at the unwise suggestion. The fire wolf swung his tail about in brief agitation. Even sick or injured, Tidus should have been present for such an important reuniting. Nanaki halted his tail's glowing sway and made finding Tidus his first goal once pleasantries were finished.

"Where is Zelda?" X asked loud enough so that all could hear.

"I am here, Mega Man X!" A voice declared from the grassy knoll between them and Titan's Tower. "And I have a welcoming gift that we all fought hard to get for you."

The reploid spied her through the crowd, but the sparkling jewel in her cupped hands made X forget about everything else around him.

With a snowy brilliance like no other, the chaos emerald was resting in Zelda's hands as she approached. The sight of it made X blindly discard his conversations with the Titans, the sages he had left behind, and Cloud, the new Lifestream spirit. Shaking his head in astounded disbelief, the reploid had to remind himself that he held the utmost confidence in Zelda's ability to lead and fight, but the sight of the seventh and final chaos emerald exceeded anything he could have hoped for. He was almost certain that they would fail to obtain it. Seeing and feeling the emerald emanate power and emotion so close to him was an awesome sensation, one that he would never fully grow accustomed to.

"Shadow," X called as he gently took the emerald from Zelda, bowing to her with deep respect, and she did the same. It was then that he noticed the full arm bandage that spanned from Zelda's wrist to her elbow. It was stained with healing wound fluids, giving the bandage a poorly spotted appearance that made X grimace.

X turned, and Shadow was there waiting for him, having clearly been no more social to the people he barged past. "Would you care for the honor?" he asked.

"Of course," he declared bluntly, carefully taking the white emerald from X. Without another word, Shadow returned to the ship to place it with the others.

When X turned back to inspect Zelda's massacred arm, she had hidden as much of it as she could behind her back. The position looked uncomfortable. X noticed other injuries as well. She favored one leg over the other, and the dark circles beneath her crimson eyes indicated that she was sleep deprived.

"We've all missed you very much," said the princess, drawing X's attention away from his concerns momentarily.

"Likewise. I'm sure it's been difficult being split up like this," X replied politely, though he was still trying to comprehend the extent of her arm's damage. He smiled warmly. "I was hoping for a detailed briefing, one that perhaps we could enjoy over dinner, as friends."

Sparkles lit in her tired eyes. The idea sounded positively wonderful to Zelda, and it showed in the excitement on her face despite how reserved she was in conveying it with words. "I think that would be lovely, but only if Raven doesn't mind."

"It's fine," the dark woman waved a hand at whatever concern there might have been. "Besides, I find debriefings pretty dull, and Starfire is insisting upon doing something with my hair now that it's longer. Lucky me."

Zelda and X watched Starfire giggling with handfuls of Raven's violet locks in her hands.

The dark sage rolled her eyes at X. "I would never have put up with this before we met, you know,"

"If it makes you feel better, I'll let her style mine later," X teased.

Raven finally caved to Starfire's insistent tugging. "Alright, but I'm holding you to that!"

Terra decided to follow the girls for hairstyling while Beast Boy and Cyborg stared in awe at Sonic sprinting across the river, from the city to the canyons, held aloft by nothing more than the surface tension of the flowing waves. The wake left by the blue blur held their attention until Beast Boy realized that Terra was headed with Raven, and he chose to accompany the ladies as well. Robin seemed interested in greeting Naminé and Inuyasha more officially, as a representative of sorts, and Saria paced very casually on the green island plains, seemingly relaxed, but definitely avoiding conversation. Red XIII had gone elsewhere, but that didn't concern Mega Man. All seemed well.

"Shall we, princess?" X suggesting, raising his arm to interlock it with her uninjured one.

Zelda was caught off guard by the gesture, and she hesitantly slipped her fingers around and past the crook of his elbow, sensing the warmth of his reploid flesh. She smiled, both pleased and nervous at the act of closeness.

The atmosphere for dinner had to be forged aboard the Dreamweaver's holographic stage, but it was no less enjoyable when using X's teleportation to arrive there, bypassing the halls of the Dreamweaver. Cool lilac fragrance immediately tingled in Zelda's nose, and she observed the tall blue vases full of them at every table. Human couples filled most spaces in the facade restaurant, but theirs was in a private corner, isolated from most of the fabricated chatter. The décor was old fashioned, log tables and benches smoothed and polished for comfort as well, with many wide-framed paintings and pictures of nature on the walls.

As they sat down, X glanced at the crossing black ruffles of her sleeveless top. "You look quite lovely," he said. "The skirt matches nicely as well."

"Thank you," she smiled. Her cheeks reddened as she smiled and looked at him. "Starfire helped me pick it out. Goddesses know I couldn't have done it myself, not without looking like a fool to the people of this planet."

Amused, X laughed as he watched Zelda take in the scenery. There was a subtle curiosity and a softening in her face. Goodness, she was tense, but it didn't prevent them from speaking candidly about all that had happened. They began to share the experiences of their time away while the waiter went for their drinks. All it took was a small hand gesture and a friendly ear from the reploid to get her to recount the events of Earth in the past few weeks. Though her story began slow, Zelda explained how each day had brought the same never-ending struggle to contain the perilous intrusions into normal life that had been perpetrated by the white chaos emerald. After giving examples of the most devastating or bizarre affects that the emerald had caused, she explained her attempts to manage the awkward combination of Tidus, Terra, and Beast Boy. X was pleased to hear that Terra and Beast Boy were reconciling, and the reploid quickly began thinking of ways to tend to Tidus's increasing self-isolation. Beyond that, he didn't want to discuss the love triangle over dinner, so he pressed the conversation in other, more interesting directions.

X convinced Zelda to share her experiences with modern culture and technology on Earth, which had often ended in embarrassment, confusion, or criticism of devices that she considered unnecessary, like doors that open themselves. When her face had become sufficiently reddened by a particularly unpleasant recollection of an electric toothbrush mishap, Zelda told of the shopping cart spear that almost pierced one of her lungs during a chaos emerald-induced crime wave. X commented on the fatigue of the Titans, which made Zelda rub her eyes simply at the thought of how tired they had all been. Not long after, the conversation came to the eventual decision to seek out the white emerald under the ocean.

Throughout her deep recount of recent days, X laughed in the places where it was funny or awkward, asked questions to press all the fascinating small details out of her, and in general had an enjoyable time as they ate appetizers and ordered their main courses.

The part of the story they had ventured after the emerald were more intense, beginning with Robin's encounter with the Maverick base's torpedo defense and the massive whale that had sacrificed itself for him. After that, she recounted their journey under the ocean, breaching the last refuge of the Mavericks. At some places in her account, Zelda allowed tears to flow, finally free of the burden of leadership, no longer in the presence of someone she had to be strong for. X took her hand when that happened, but the misguided affection that had once been there was gone, replaced with a deep friendship and trust between two leaders. It was something X liked, feeling a sense of equality between them. All of the sages were tied to him with obedience, even Raven to a certain degree, and although Zelda had sworn her life to the Triforce, she was not in any manner beneath him.

Their meals came, hers a deep fried catfish that she was excited to taste, and X's a very spicy beef dish, not that the capcasin from the peppers could ever overwhelm him. They broke from sharing stories, but only until Zelda could not contain the urge to divulge the entirety of their dangerous foray into the Maverick stronghold, discovering the red materia aeon Odin, and Vile merged with Plasmus.

"Are you alright?" Zelda reached for his hand, squeezing his fingers when he became frozen in a angered expression. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable with talk of Vile. I know how unpleasant that is for you."

"It's ok," X glanced at his meal, prodding the hot morsels carefully with his fork. In truth, he mostly felt guilty for not being there to help them with the heinous Maverick who had affected him so profoundly throughout his life. For them to face Vile merged with the strength of Plasmus... it was an unexpected threat, and X felt responsible for it, even as an excommunicated Hunter.

"Please, go on," X insisted, eager to hear more.

The emerald was the next aspect of the story, and ultimately the most important. The seventh chaos jewel had already been added to the memoriam, all of them together within the barrier supplied by their own energies, secluded away. Anyone with the slightest hint of emotion would not be able to break through, but then again, Shadow seemed to have little difficulty with that. X was more interested in the story, _how_ they had managed to acquire it, and the tale of the emerald protecting itself was nothing short of phenomenal. The reploid tried to picture the realm that she painted with words, unsatisfied with his second-hand envisioning of the strange dimension that Zelda beautifully conveyed, and the more she described her trials there, the more X wanted to see it for real.

"Zelda... may I see it the way you did?"

"Using telepathy?" she asked, and he nodded. "Of course you may."

Sliding around the polished wooden booth, she positioned her injured leg for comfort and closed her eyes, face very close to X's. His fingers splayed out across her cheek, and in moments, her thoughts became his thoughts. Recounting the event lacked perfection; some instances of the rainbow sky and the endless glass tube with its gold bindings were blurred, but it more than sated X's desire to experience the emerald's challenge. Watching the standoff against Vile, feeling the heat of the oncoming flames, chasing the relentless jewel as it soared ahead of them, always just out of reach; he felt as though he was experiencing it through her eyes, firsthand. Her emotions from the experience rushed through him. X could feel Zelda's terror after Vile and Cloud were engulfed and the flames pressed after her, unrelenting. The only thing that wasn't real enough in the telepathic revisiting of the event was the way she embodied chaos. At that point the memories blurred, illuminating the vision excessively and making it difficult to see properly inside her mind. So potent was the emerald's influence that even X's mental prowess couldn't penetrate it. Once her fingertip touched the jewel, the memory ended, separating them with a subtle force.

"That was intense," commented X. "Absolutely incredible. I had heard stories about the chaos emeralds protecting themselves before, but I've never experienced it for myself."

The princess agreed, a little winded.

"If you ever want someone who can relate, talk to Sonic and Shadow. Apparently they've been through emerald trials before."

What remained of the 'briefing' after that was less eventful, but still added to Zelda's many accomplishments in X's absence. He couldn't have expected a better outcome. The Mavericks were destroyed, the emerald was not only obtained but subdued enough to return the city and the lives of the Titans to something that resembled normal, and the princess had even helped mend broken, confused romances between Beast Boy and Terra, though Tidus had not been fully dealt with.

"You've done an amazing job," Mega Man smiled. "I'm truly impressed."

"Thank you," she beamed happily. "And thank you for the food as well."

"You're welcome," X responded kindly. "But it's only a collection of holograms. If we were in the real place, it would be much better."

"You'll have to take all of us some day," she said, not just for conversational politeness, but genuinely hoping for the chance to actually visit his world. She wanted to better understand the things he had suffered, as well as the marvels his home had to offer. With no home of her own anymore, Zelda realized how much she wanted to travel, seeking out all the incredible things across the galaxy until she could find a place where she felt she belonged better than any other she had visited.

"Enough of Earth's happenings," Zelda suggested. "I want to hear more about Mobius, and the things that you've been through, if you would be willing."

"Of course I would," X swallowed a forkful of his meal. "Where should I start..."

The race, of course, X recalled with amusement. "I joined the Floating Island Derby to look for Sonic. The Derby is a race with all kinds of different machines meant only for one thing: speed. Some had more than a dozen wheels, and others hovered just above the ground with technology that manipulated gravity. I thought I was crazy at first, competing against the fastest inventions of the Echidnas and Mobians. The people of Mobius, they're much different from you and I. They look like animals, but with human features too, standing on two legs, opposable thumbs, all those sorts of things."

"That reminds me of the Zora people," Zelda considered thoughtfully, resting her chin against her folded hands. "So there are many sentient species on their worlds?"

"Hundreds," X smiled. "It's really incredible. Makes biology and medicine pretty complicated, but there's no end to all the things you could learn."

"Are there people who look like me? Like the Titans?"

X nodded at that, explaining the Terrans. "They're a very secluded group of people, and more advanced technologically than most of the rest of Mobius. They look a lot like us, but have different hair colors, and they all have highly developed physical features. I'm sure you've seen people here on Earth or on Hyrule when you were young who were out of shape and overweight. That almost never happens with the Terrans, both in their lifestyles and in their genetics."

Zelda tried to imagine the subtle differences, and what potential hair colors he referred to, wondering if any were bizarrely shaded, like the purple fabric of her wrap skirt, or solid green like Saria's. "Do they have magic?" Zelda asked next.

"Not really, which is surprising now that you mention it."

"How so?"

"Mobius is where the Master Emerald resides. I had expected it to give off the same sort of energies that create materia and other things like it, but that isn't the case. It's more... stable. There's practically no trace of magic on Sonic and Shadow's home world, even on the Floating Island. Unfortunately, too much exposure to the Master Emerald can still give Mako poisoning."

Zelda, saddened, withdrew her lips. "That's terrible."

"I know," X sighed. Of course, he knew that there wasn't anything that could be done about it. The Floating Island needed the Master Emerald to stay aloft.

They talked about the Floating Island itself, the dominant echidna race and their busy city, and eventually they returned to their original topic of the race, Sonic's appearance, and how X used the powers of chaos with his modified Hylian-reploid armor to nearly outrun the blue blur. With a renewed enjoyment in their conversation, X explained how he and Sonic caused a social uproar within the media, passing the finish line simultaneously, Mobian and Terran together, or at least that was what the echidnas and other spectators had assumed from X's appearance. His audacity brought out another youthful laugh from Zelda as X told the story of his and Sonic's personal whispers, contemplating how best to mess with the world's nations.

Balk became the next topic, as well as the disaster that followed his terrible reign. X tried to explain that Shadow knew much more of the events that they had missed, and that X's involvement was mostly finding Sonic, then being thrown into a chaotic string of battles that he only had a meager understanding of at the time. It was luck that brought them to Mewtwo, even if it meant fighting him to break Zero's control. X watched Zelda's subtle facial movements, and he made sure to be clear. She was following as best she could, but her experiences on Earth still didn't erase the fact that she came from a much less technologically advanced civilization. She understood the aeon Rayquaza that Mewtwo had summoned, but describing Balk creating a symbolic rune across the entire city confused her slightly. Or perhaps, X thought, maybe he just wasn't explaining it well enough. Like before, X eventually decided that the best way would be to connect minds.

"Oh my," Zelda was clearly thrown by the intensity of the combat. First, of the beast that tore apart the echidna soldier from within, consuming his flesh and that of those around him. Next, of the colossal mutation that transformed Balk into a beast that toppled the high rising silver structures of Echidnopolis. Rayquaza was an incredible sight to behold, its long, dragon-like body soaring across the sky, spitting pure energy from its sharp-toothed maw. Before that, witnessing the fight with the metal-bodied Mewtwo was intensely straining, far more emotional as the struggle to free him succeeded.

Throughout all the visions he showed her, the disorienting experience of the Master Emerald being dislodged, thrown from its resting place in an attempt to sink the entire Island into the land below, was the most troubling for her. The weight of so many thousands in the balance, the recollection of the disorienting imbalance as the Floating Island began falling, and finally restoring the emerald by using the spirits of all the dead, left her breathing rapidly, almost panicked. The princess moaned, pulling away from the mind link as X's vision blurred in the memory, affecting her eyes as well.

"Sorry," X half-frowned, stunned from reliving the moment as much as he was. "I guess I wasn't thinking about it as much at the time. Was just trying to focus on stopping Balk and Mewtwo and the aeon, too."

"I can't comprehend how you managed to fight in that state," Zelda commented, turning the unpleasant experience into flattery. "Knowing what would happen when the Floating Island crashed into the ground made me ill after just a few moments. It's such a relief that you were able to restore it in time."

"It saved thousands of lives by getting the emerald back in place. If we hadn't..."

"There's no need to talk about horrible things that didn't happen," interrupted the princess with X's well being in mind. "We're all much too happy to have you back to have you become depressed. And you shouldn't focus on such unpleasant thoughts when they are things that have already been averted." She touched a hand to his cheek. "We want you to be happy, too, all of us, just as much as we want to be the best we can for you as sages."

"Thank you," X said sincerely, glad to have chosen Zelda to lead in his absence, and glad to have her as an ally in general. He only wished he didn't have to bring up a topic that would undoubtedly be awkward, possibly uncomfortable for her, especially after such kindness.

He cleared his throat. They had already finished their meal and were told by their server that they could stay as long as they liked. As Zelda thanked the holographic waiter, X adopted a stern posture, as neutral as he could make it. When her face turned back to his, she saw the clear difference, and she fell silent and attentive.

"We've almost found all the sages," X stated. "There's only one left. Light. And we've already met him, but he won't show his face. And I know that you know at least part of the reason why."

Her face flushed, and her lips slowly hid behind clasped hands. As the fake customers began to file out, the restaurant grew quieter, but Zelda couldn't find the words to explain. What was there to explain? She had sworn to protect the Sage of Light's secrecy, and as much as she felt indebted to X, she wasn't truly a sage under his authority.

"Please," X took her hand again. "Please tell me what you can."

All the deep breathing she attempted failed to ease her discomfort. Conflicting loyalties made the food she had eaten settle with unease, and her face was hot with the pressure of what she wanted to say getting in the way of what she _could_. How much freedom did she have to help her Hero of Time?

"He... I don't know who he is," Zelda finally admitted. "What I mean is... I don't know his name. He wouldn't tell me. He said that I could not tell anyone even if I figured it out."

"Did he say why?" X asked, trying to be as calm as possible, though the hidden sage concerned him too deeply to make his plea for information as kind as he wished it to be.

She simply shook her head, unhappy that she was of no help. "He only said that his name had to be hidden. That Zero couldn't find out what it was, and that it could destroy everything if that happened."

"Meaning that it could be someone Zero has met before," X pondered as he prodded the remains of his meal with his fork. It wasn't helpful information. Zero had been a Hunter for a longer time than X had, and he often went on solo missions where he could have met any number of reploids that X wouldn't have any knowledge of. Since Zero's age was also undetermined, there was no telling who else Zero could have encountered while X had been asleep, buried in that capsule during the robots wars. Another dead end, essentially.

"I know that he's incredibly strong," Zelda added after a while. "I don't know the extent of his abilities, but he's much stronger than the other sages, even Raven. I've always had the sense that he's been holding back, too."

"Holding back..." repeated Mega Man. "The others Sages said the exact same thing after Rayquaza and Balk were defeated and our mystery sage left. But with all the Sages gathered except for him, it won't be long until we're ready to confront Zero. I guess we'll find out soon enough how much the Sage of Light has been... holding back."

"I'm truly sorry that I don't know any more," she said earnestly, wrapping her gentle hand around his fingers, briefly squeezing them before withdrawing back into her seat. "And I think that you're right about the Sage of Light. He won't stay in hiding for much longer. To be honest, I'm excited. Nervous as well."

The waiter approached them to see if they needed anything, and Zelda asked somewhat shyly for some water. He returned with it quickly, and in the brief minute of the waiter's absence, the two didn't speak.

Unsure if he should push the topic further, the reploid sighed. Zelda glanced at his expression of tension, coaxing him to speak his mind. "There was... one other thing I wanted to ask about," X cautiously approached the topic.

"What is it you wish to ask?" Zelda answered kindly, folding her fingers over her lap.

He knew it would be sudden, invasive as well, but X simply asked. "Did your parents or caretakers ever tell you any stories about the Triforce? I mean... different stories from the ones that all the other Hylians know. Something that was special, that _only_ the royal family knew, that maybe you weren't supposed to tell anyone else."

"Why do you ask?" she responded quickly, but her tone was hardened, defensive. She was slowly leaning away, pressing against the polished wooden backing of the restaurant bench.

X had asked Raven to explain the story of chaos that Mewtwo had shared in Knothole to the Titans, Tidus and Terra, and the princess was being told separately. Mega Man carefully revealed what he knew, that she was the only living descendant of the eighth sage, the lone warrior who had stayed behind to protect the emeralds and the story of what they were now reliving.

Zelda began to react with hostility, as if he X had forced his way into a secret that he was not welcome in knowing, worse because so many now knew. As soon as a bitter, frustrated expression fell on her lips, they were both distracted by the appearance of their waiter. Dessert, though neither of them ordered it, had arrived. With gentle grace, the holographic attendant placed a cerulean plate with marble cake, fresh strawberries, and a light drizzle of chocolate sauce, centered between them.

X avoided eye contact, instead casually observing the plate and its enticing contents.

The princess grinned slightly, maintaining the firm defense in pursed lips and tensed cheekbones. "I have a feeling that this was very deliberately timed," she said. "And at some point I imagine you forced your way into knowing that a have a fondness for strawberries."

"I have my ways," X teased, hoping that she would speak freely. "Besides, what better way is there to get a woman to share her secrets about stopping the greatest evil that the we've ever known and save the universe than by feeding her sweets?"

Zelda glared, then suddenly blurted a chuckling scoff that she couldn't contain, if only at X's shrewd manner of softening her up. She tapped her fingers anxiously against the wooden table next to her dessert, half amused, half furious. The tale that Mewtwo had shared on Hyrule was something that, when she was a child, had been conveyed as a secret that no one other than the Hyrule Royal Family knew, and in limited numbers even then. Like so many other experiences since being freed from the Dark World, it seemed that her life on Hyrule had been small and blind compared to the universe as a whole. The greatest evil that had ever lived... of course more people knew of it. Zelda prodded at the textured flavors of cake and strawberries, eventually spooning off a small piece, containing a bit each of berry, cake and chocolate sauce. She frowned the entire time, knowing that X watched and waited for her response. Was there even anything that he didn't already know about it? The princess ran through every word of her version of the tale that she could remember, which she had long since memorized after having been taught it by her father.

"I was told never to reveal that story to anyone but a single person of my choosing within the royal family, whomever I felt most trustworthy and reliable," Zelda explained. "I was never even told _why_ I was supposed to do so, only that it would be very important someday."

Zelda resisted the urge to moosh one of her strawberry slices when she let out a melancholy laugh that was hardly half-hearted. "I wonder what all of my ancestors before me thought on their deathbeds. The story never meant anything to them, did it?"

"I guess not," X empathized with her frustration. "But you're not them. And it looks like... there isn't anyone in the royal family for you to pass it down to."

Dropping her spoon with a clank against the dessert plate, Zelda became visibly upset, unable to hold her lips still.

X's eyes widened as he sensed her anguish. "I'm sorry," he apologized promptly. "I shouldn't have brought that up."

"It's alright," Zelda shook her head. She used her napkin to wipe underneath her eyes. "And you... I suppose you make a good point. There isn't anyone left in the family line. There aren't any Hylians at all. No Zoras, Gorons or Deku-folk, either." Her fake laugh returned again, this time to hide her tears. "We're lucky to have a Kokiri, you know."

"We are," X agreed, politely allowing her to stall.

Zelda knew he would not back down no matter how kind he was. A small part of her was regretting coming to dinner with him, but she forced that part of her to silence itself. Her pride and her past needed to put itself aside. Still tense and upset, but somewhat relieved at the release of emotion, Princess Zelda Hyrule began the historic tale, as she knew it.

As X listened, he compared it to Mewtwo's. They were quite similar, though told in different manners. Where Mewtwo's version was literal, Zelda shared the legend of The First in a more allegorical way, speaking of the King of Evil's frequent resurrection rather than speak of the body and soul possession that Zero had shown himself capable of. Some parts were omitted from the story that had been told on Mobius, particularly the part about the original sages and Hero of Time becoming the chaos emeralds. Legend instead spoke of all the sages but one sacrificing themselves with brilliant light that created stars in the sky, and that those stars could be seen on clear nights in the sprawling plains of Hyrule, no matter how desolate they became.

"The very first Sage of Light," Zelda slowed, emphasizing it. "Unknown millenniums ago, she was the one who stayed behind to carry on the story. She became the Legend Teller, and she relayed her story to a young, chosen child, and then that child did the same, and the cycle continued hundreds of times, eventually arriving at my time to carry the story."

Patiently, X watched the subtleties of her face. A number of micro-expressions revealed many emotions within her. Downcast lips in sorrow from the loss of her home, scanning eyes in recollective thought, an upward incline of her chin from the satisfaction of finally being able to use knowledge that had been sealed away for so long; there were also many slight alterations of Zelda's face that he couldn't perceive.

When the princess began speaking, her face resumed a more regal, unmoving posture. "Not long after the King of Evil was sealed inside the chaos emeralds, the Legend Teller received a vision, a prophecy, though from where or whom is a secret that died with her. In this prophecy, the Legend Teller learned that a being of such pure hatred and destruction can only be purged from existence when the Great Sages and the Hero of Time sway the evil one against itself in three manners, Body, Heart, and Soul. When these things come to pass, an era of peace shall reign for many years to come, in all lands, amongst all peoples."

X waited, and Zelda eventually sighed.

"There is more after that," the princess explained. "But it isn't of consequence. There's no explanation as to how we can turn the most destructive force of evil that's ever existed against itself, let alone what it means to do so by body, heart, and soul."

Giving the matter thought, X realized that he had no clue what it meant, no better than Zelda, anyway. He ate a spoonful of the strawberry dessert on the table and shrugged. "So... I guess we'll spend some time between all of us trying to figure that out over the next few days?"

"Isn't that being a little nonchalant about the matter?" Zelda eyed him, chastising.

"Probably," he nodded. "But you know what's occurred to me over the past several months while this has all been happening?"

Zelda grinned as she leaned against her palm, propped against the table by her elbow. "What's that?"

Mega Man exhaled slowly, allowing the possibility to appropriately affect his emotions so he would appear more concerned than he was a moment ago. "Lots of people have defeated incarnations of The First throughout history. Obviously we should strive to destroy the King of Evil for good, but we might have to settle for forcing its retreat instead, which has been done in the past. I'm not saying it's impossible to defeat Zero, just that we might not be the ones to do it."

Like a switch had been thrown in her emotions, the princess discarded any sense of casual manner that she had been wearing. "No," Zelda countered forcefully, glaring with uneasy concern and tensing her face and arms, causing her to wince in pain from her heavily bandaged arm. "No, we mustn't let this cycle continue. And there is more at stake in this fight than there ever has been before. Did it ever occur to you that the King of Evil has never truly given his all against Sages and Heroes from the past? Did you consider that perhaps the foul creature that preys upon the soul's weaknesses has been building toward this very moment in time?"

X swallowed hard. Zelda leaned over the table at him, and he found himself leaning further back against the hard wood.

"Have you forgotten that the time we live in is a small pocket protected by the Master Sword? The past, the future, and even the in-between Lifestream are being twisted and consumed. I saw existence itself change before my eyes in the land of Spira, and it was for the worse. Likely it will only grow more bleak as Zero's influence spreads. If The First's goal is to snap time, he has all but claimed that goal. We cannot afford to simply knock him back and allow him to lick his wounds when he has already conquered so much and assimilated such powerful hosts as Jenova and Sephiroth."

"And possibly the Master Emerald's spirit, Chaos," X added, mostly to himself.

Zelda's face paled. "I was not aware of that."

"It's true," he solemnly inclined his brow. "And there's no telling what other bodies The First has stolen to attack us with. Maybe other Mavericks from my world, or even some terrible beast from yours."

"And that is even greater reason why our goal should be to eradicate this menace, not simply seal it away so it can bide its time for the next disaster, assuming we can even repair the damage that has currently been wrought on history and the future."

"I see your point," X attempted to alleviate her concerns, but tentatively so. "However, you forget that I was once a high ranking officer of the Maverick Hunters. As much as I would prefer to destroy the King of Evil, I'm not inclined to do so without a clear plan of attack, which we don't have until we can interpret the original Sage of Light's prophecy."

Zelda straightened her posture, ignoring the discomfort of her injuries as well as she could manage. "Your point is also accepted. We can... _selectively_ reveal the part of my legend that tells how to slay Zero to some of the sages. Perhaps they may be able to come up with something before the final encounter comes."

"I agree," nodded X.

The tension between them slowly calmed, helped by the fact that whipped cream was slowly melting against the ruby red strawberries plated between them. After a long, strained silence, they both stared at the dessert, then to each other, and they shared a short exchange of tired smiles. They continued talking the night away, some about the challenges ahead of them, but also about the new Sages and allies, as well as who would be the most ideal to share Zelda's guarded legend with. Though Nanaki and Mewtwo seemed like logical choices due to their greater age and wisdom, X couldn't help but consider the lady of the forest, the last Kokiri. She was supposedly much older than any of them by far, but she presented a danger that he left unspoken with Zelda. After so much suspicion from her unusual development of strength and abilities, and also from Shadow and Inuyasha who openly declared their distrust for her, X was finding himself more and more compelled to discover the mystery behind her.

The forest woman with the wavy green hair had shared so little of her isolation on Hyrule. What had happened in that century? What could have affected her so profoundly beyond the death of her people and struggling to resist the temptation of killing herself? She had grown older, more mature both physically and mentally, and that was not something that was supposed to happen to Kokiri.

An odd contradiction, one that X had considered before, entered his thoughts again. Despite obvious mental damage and terrible living conditions on the dying Hyrule, Saria had kept herself in impressive shape, slender but with some muscle, and healthy curvature. Though the strain showed in her face when he and Raven next saw her, she was still strong after a century had passed. What kind of power had Saria gained to prevent her own decay when the world around her turned to rot? Not knowing if he would come to a conclusion, X pondered the Kokiri woman's mystery while enjoying his time with Zelda.

* * *

The Sage of Forest paced anxiously in her quarters aboard the Dreamweaver. With so many extra guests, some of the Sages had to stay on the ship, and she decided that she didn't want to get to know the massive, sprawling cities of Earth or the Teen Titans in particular. She wanted to keep mostly to herself and her thoughts, and she had met enough new people on this journey already, several of whom had openly despised her, like Inuyasha and Shadow, for starters.

Much worse than those two brooding jerks, she feared X's opinion of her, and her mind also raced with the encounter she had just experienced in the Chamber of Sages. The Sage of Light's behavior worried her, and the other person, the mystery being in the white cloak, made her almost ill with concern. They were too close to the end for something unknown to arise, and to have someone break into the Chamber of Sages was serious. There was no way of knowing the white cloak phantom's intentions or what kind of power he possessed.

But what of the Sage of Light? There was no need to go on hiding at this point. As the oldest Sage, there was no good reason she could think of for secrecy, and other than helping them defeat Balk on the Floating Island, there was no indication that he had their best interests in mind. There had never been dissent amongst the Sages when Link was the Hero of Time. In her many centuries, even though she was much more innocent and ignorant for earlier years, she never had encountered any act from any Sage that she could understand as treacherous, so why now? Why, when so much was at stake, would the Sage of Light act so distant, cold, and secretive?

Saria felt sick to her stomach. She needed to tell X, but going to him for that purpose... it would force her to reveal the one thing that she couldn't reveal to anyone. Her shoulders hurt from tension when she tried to stretch them, turning her anxiety into anger. Gritting her teeth, she gripped her long green hair, pulling and twisting tightly at locks of it until her knuckles turned white. With a pained shout, she threw her fist at the nearest solid object.

Her hand immediately throbbed, aching, not broken, but Saria forgot about the pain when she saw what she had done. The solid metal frame that composed the bunk bed in her room... she rubbed her face and eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

"H-how?" she whispered, frightened as she stared at the rectangular steel support a second time. It had completely snapped off and was twisted back on both halves where her fist had struck it. Only when she stepped back did she realize that the entire frame had been knocked part way across the room, and it made the sickness in her stomach burn much worse.

Rushing in to the small bathroom that her room came with, she spit into the sink, thinking that she would throw up, but the release never came. She hadn't eaten all day; there was nothing to expel. Still, a terrible taste in her mouth and feeling inside her wouldn't subside.

"What am I becoming?" she asked herself.

The pain refused to subside, and her fear of what the Sage of Light and the strange intruder were intending to do at this late time in the war against Zero only made the sickening ache spread. She kept spitting out the awful sensation without success, even once her mouth had gone dry from trying. Saria realized how badly she needed help, and there was only one person she completely trusted for that.

Hoping desperately that Nanaki would be in his quarters, Saria left hers in a stumbling rush, almost crashing against the sliding doors. She reached his room quickly, since it was not far from hers. Saria knocked gently three times. She waited. There was no response. She knocked a little harder, several times more, and called for him. Again, there was no answer.

Saria felt worse, more upset, but foolish as well. "Computer," she called, surprised to hear how pitiful her voice was. "Computer, is Nanaki on the ship?"

Promptly responding with a soft mechanical blip, the computer said, "_Nanaki is not aboard the Azure Dreamweaver._"

"Of course," she bit her lip, and she cursed at the computer, as if it had done something unkind to her.

Without her wolf friend nearby, Saria didn't dare search Titan's Tower or the city. The thought of being near others was distressing, whether it was those she knew or those who were foreign to her. Without either option, she could only hope that perhaps he would seek her out on the Dreamweaver. But how long would that be? Between duties shared with the Titans, combat training with X and the others, and whatever else got in the way, it could be hours before he showed up.

Trying to push thought altogether out of her head, Saria traced her finger along the warm, sky blue lighting that lined every non-distinct hallway in the starship's corridors. She struggled to stop thinking, and eventually, the longer she stared at the tranquil glow, the more blank her thoughts became. But even that was a failure. As she pushed out fear, emptiness that was tightly bonded to desperation and self-loathing wriggled inside the Sage of Forest. Her stomach acid curdled and climbed, almost forcing her to vomit, but she stopped and breathed, slowly. A clammy sweat gave her hand a repulsive sensation as she wiped her pale forehead and cheeks.

Her head snapped as footsteps vibrated softly in her hears. She didn't recognize them. They were louder than Raven's graceful movements, but they lacked the metallic impact of X's. Saria tried to inhale enough oxygen to return some color to her face, and she leaned against the wall in a casual position that probably looked idiotic. It was a surprise when Sonic the Hedgehog rounded the corner at a normal pace, which meant that it was a practically glacial speed for him.

"You're... taking your time," she remarked.

He stopped and grinned, ever pleasant. Did he even notice her terrible appearance?

"I might be the fastest thing alive," he shrugged unconcernedly, "but that doesn't mean I can keep it up forever."

For a while, Saria stared at the blue hedgehog, and he at her with a relatively neutral smile that felt somewhat friendly to her. Eventually, Saria turned her head to the side and ran her fingers through her hair, readjusting some unkempt, stray locks. Something about his kindness made her want to fix the train wreck of her appearance. In response to her readjustments, Sonic chuckled.

"What?"

"Nothing," the blue hedgehog smiled back. "I just think it's weird how Shadow dislikes you so much. I can tell you've got a really big problem on your shoulders, but you don't seem like a bad person. Maybe you just really need to stop holding it in and tell someone? I'll listen if you need someone to..."

"No!" Saria snapped. Sonic's friendly expression waned, just slightly, and Saria realized how loud she had been. "I... I can't. I can't tell anybody. You don't understand. No one can understand."

"And we'll never understand as long as you keep holding it in," Sonic retorted. "You've got to open up to someone. I know Red XIII's fond of you, and he's pretty smart, too. He can definitely help."

"I... I know," she avoided the sight of his large, warm eyes.

"Alright then," Sonic smiled, and he continued at the same slow pace that he had been on before meeting with Saria. "Next time I see you, I expect a happier looking face."

He waved his hand over his shoulder in a nonchalant farewell, and Saria silently listened to his footsteps fade away, making no motion to go anywhere herself as she watched his blue arced spines round the corner, out of sight. Something about Sonic's presence was oddly calming, but it wasn't a solution to her two grievous problems. Between her poor choice with disastrous consequences and a bizarre matter of circumstance that continued to warp who she was, she dared reveal neither to Mega Man X, and no amount of comfort could fix her daily nightmare. But really, how long would it take before X forced the answers out of her? As she leaned against the non-distinct corridor with lined lights of blue, Saria acknowledged that she had become stronger than the other sages, but X would likely surpass her mental abilities.

A deeper thought spread out like a sea urchin in her gut, stabbing her with many sharp pains of fear and discomfort. She once again felt sick. If the other personality inside her somehow took over, Saria considered with dread, would there even be a Sage of Forest left for the Hero of Time? If not...

* * *

The next two days were swimming with tasks of a vital nature. Of greatest importance was making sure that the Titans and Sages could effectively fight together. Everyone was experienced, but the speed of Sonic and Shadow was difficult to coordinate with, and they eventually discovered that it combined best with the tag team effort of Saria as she rode on Nanaki's back. Mewtwo's abilities were not identical to those he held when possessed by Zero, but the long distance psychic orbs, ability to shield and heal, and smooth dodging made him effective with most anyone. It required a lot of practice, but the telepath was eventually able to work with Terra best, particularly when using telekinesis to increase the velocity of her projectiles even further while keeping close-range enemies distracted. Tidus, who had been emotionally distant but cooperative was clearly best matched with Beast Boy since the changeling could morph into an aquatic creature and use the Sage of Water's tidal attacks as a mode of transportation and stealth attack, but it was just as clear that Tidus wanted nothing to do with him. X and Raven were able to incorporate Cloud's brutal mix of heavy swordsmanship and magic with relative ease, and Inuyasha combined with Starfire and Cyborg created a deadly team of distanced attacks. Most of the downtime for all of them was dedicated to fighting as a more cohesive group.

After a little time, Zelda was able to overcome her hesitance about sharing the original Sage of Light's prophecy. There were many theories discussed over meals, during patrols, and even in the middle of training, that ranged from the silly and literal (Beast Boy suggested that they needed to make The First's heart sick like overweight people who have heart disease) to the very abstract (Robin theorized that Body, Heart, and Soul could refer to the different aspects of one's thought processes and emotional drive, and that the three are actually one), but it was Nanaki who, after much silent contemplation, ultimately arrived at a conclusion that seemed most logical.

One evening, Nanaki was observing Earth's bright moon from the Titan living room. The massive window panes were so wide that they allowed the old wolf to experience the starry night almost as if he were atop a grassy hill while enjoying the warmth and comfort of being inside. Saria stroked the fur on his head, weaving past the subtle feather headdress he wore, down to his shoulders, slightly above the black "XIII" tattoo that was permanently branded into his skin and fur. From there, she spread her fingers out in a massaging way. The motion helped him focus as the cool blue light illuminated the otherwise dark living room. Not knowing what compelled him, the Sage of Fire glanced at the waves furiously lapping the beach below, then to the light of the moon, then to the city, where the rooftops were chilly with the moon's reflecting brilliance.

"I have an idea," the wolf gently interrupted the moment.

Saria reacted slowly, as if her reflexes had deadened.

"...if you would like to hear it," added Nanaki.

"Yes... I'm sorry," Saria shook herself back to reality with a deep breath. "What's your idea?"

"We know that Zero has many host bodies that protect him from complete destruction," the wolf explained as he also scrutinized Saria's exhausted, unfocused eye contact. "So, what if his heart, mind, and soul are within some of these incarnations that he has developed? And if that is the case, would it be possible to turn Zero's hosts against him somehow? If we were to steal away one of his allies and make it our own..."

Saria's gasp was a soft whisper. "We could gain a way to penetrate straight to Zero's core."

The idea was shared by Nanaki to everyone else, and all concurred that it was the best theory suggested. Though, without knowing exactly who and what Zero had acquired for host bodies, there was still little that could be done in the way of planning. The matter was discussed over dinner in the Titan living room (courtesy of Cyborg and Robin, which consisted of a surf & turf mixture of shrimp and chicken stir fry dishes, baked potatoes, and a simple pudding for desert), and when the moon had risen high in the sparkling night of stars, everyone slowly filtered to their rooms for sleep. X and Raven were the last, rising from one of the burgundy red couches just after Robin, ever the workaholic, decided to call it quits until morning. After that, Raven smiled longingly at X. She reached out to his hand and, with her palm covering a delicate yawn, led him to where she wanted.

* * *

X woke at first light. Raven was next to him, in the same large bed with dark violet sheets where X had, in what seemed like years ago, fed her golden chocobo eggs and spoke to her for the first time. They hadn't decided verbally to sleep together, it simply happened that way. With each other's warmth, they had both fallen asleep in minutes, and they had rested in complete comfort, though dreamless, for the entire night. Raven wore a simple slip made of something silk like, with a glossy sheen that could be seen even in relative darkness.

Something disturbed X. As with humans, he slow for a handful of minutes after waking from sleep, but on this morning, he had risen from rest without so much as a second of sluggishness. Though the symptom would have been a blessing to most, Mega Man X was unnerved by his mind and body's reaction. He stepped out of the bed, and his joints were as fluid as if he had been moving for hours.

"Raven," he called simply, but X's perplexed fear jolted her awake.

She threw off the covers and stumbled as she jumped to the foot of the bed, next to him. "What's wrong?"

Unlike him, she was physically unprepared, and her eyes weren't fully widened from the adrenaline pumping through her body. The straps of her evening slip had fallen down on both of her shoulders, but dark spheres of energy were waiting in her palms, ready to attack regardless of her state of undress.

"I don't know. Put some clothes on. Call everyone."

Raven stared at X in concern for a moment, but she trusted him. She grabbed her leotard and cloak and phased through the nearest wall.

Not fully comprehending the force that commanded him to move, X left Raven's room without looking back, and he followed the red carpeting toward the stairwell entrance. Though the dark gray walls and black metal of the stairwell were no less ventilated or insulated than the rest of Titan's Tower, it felt cold, enough to cause the reploid to shiver. Stepping in slow, controlled movements, X paced up the metal staircase, alone, heading toward the source of his anxiety with footfalls that rang heavily in the tall corridor.

The presence was calling for him, luring him in. X knew that the person responsible was a threat, possibly waiting in ambush, but reason and knowledge did nothing to prevent his forward motion, each step the same speed as the one before it and the one ahead of it. At the final step, before exiting onto the Titan's Tower roof, the Hero of Time froze with his grip on the thick metal of the handle. A thumping sound echoed in his head, resembling a heart slowly beating. Resounding in pairs, the strange, echoing portent seemed to come from two places. The first half of the paired sound was coming from beyond the airtight door, and the second half belonged to X, within him.

"I'm with you," Raven's voice called softly, penetrating the Hero's trance.

Behind the reploid, down the stairwell, was Starfire, Terra, Robin, Sonic, Naminé, Saria, Cloud, Tidus and Zelda.

"The rest are on their way," Raven tightened her fingers around his wrist, trying to instill confidence into his shaken mind. "We're all here for you."

X pushed on the door, and the seals unlocked. Only open enough for a meager sliver of the outside light to come in, X halted. The light seeping through fluctuated, almost like waves on the beach, pushing forward then receding with a consistent rhythm. X glared at the phenomenon with curiosity and concern, but he also sensed the spike of emotions from one of his allies. It was Zelda, whose heart rate had risen alarmingly, and whose thoughts raced with lightning speed from idea to idea faster than X could discern.

Raven stood alongside him and stroked the black, soft armor around his neck, then up to his cheek and the pale green of his helmet. She nodded once, noting both the unusual glow and Zelda's emotions, and then together, they threw the entrance open, stepping into the unnatural glow.

There stood the Sage of Light, wearing a gleaming cloak of pure gold. Mega Man X approached him with Raven at his side, and his fear twisted into pained anger in nearly an instant. Having fought against hundreds of sentient machines in his lifetime of civil war, X knew with certainty that the reploid standing in front of him was their enemy.


	91. Brotherhood, Part I

**Author's Notes:** Before you get this chapter underway, I want to express something that I learned. From reading more work of others (most recently Jim Butcher, who is the amazing author of both the Codex Alera series and Dresden Files), and also from self reflection, I realized that chapter 91 was too blasted long. More than 12,000 words, over 25 pages, to be specific, and not quite finished. Because the rest of this story is entirely planned out, I got stubborn, and it hindered my ability to write. What did I get stubborn about? Splitting the chapter into two pieces, of all things. Realistically, it ought to be split into three, but two works well enough. For some dumb reason, I wouldn't break it up because I was too set in my planning. A writer needs to be flexible. A writer needs to be practical. I was neither of these, and refusing to split the chapter caused it to be far too daunting a task and a much larger nightmare to both complete and edit. So, here is the truncated first part of that chapter, which leaves me much less stressed with the last part. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 91 – Brotherhood, Part I**

"It's been a century," the cloaked reploid's voice called to X.

For the first time, all eight sages were in one place. The sensation was ominous, rife with flesh and fur that shivered in defense of an icy presence, but the air around Titan's Tower was dead and calm. At one side stood a nearly complete army of the Triforce, led by the emerald reploid, the dark sorceress, and the former princess of Hyrule. On the other half of the rectangular rooftop was the final sage, shrouded in a cape of gold, wearing a serious expression from what little could be seen beneath his hood and visor.

It should have been a time of relief or victory, but all those siding with X, telepath or not, could feel a heavy fear restrict their movements. Even Sonic kept very still, fists clenched defensively. Shadow's reaction, though angrier, was much the same. Saria and Nanaki shared each other's warmth, as if the presence of the Sage of Light would freeze them if separated.

Zelda took cautious steps. The trust she had shared with the hidden reploid gave her courage others did not have, enough to take her to the front line with X and Raven. Slowly, she surpassed them, but only an arm's reach further.

Mega Man looked at his team, his friends, out of the corners of his eyes. They were scared of this man, this _reploid_. He eyed Terra, seeing her hand tightly squeezing the young changeling's. Robin and Starfire stayed close to one another, their backs angled toward each other and the Titan leader ready with his staff. Misguided anger burned at the water sage's muscles; he was planning on releasing his rage on this enemy if he needed, and his ocean blade Brotherhood was already dripping against the metal and concrete.

The Hero of time cautiously paced to match Zelda's position. "You fled on Mobius," X spoke across the high roof. "But you're facing us now. Why?"

A simple huff responded.

"I've seen glimpses of you in Raven's mind, and Zelda's, too," X prodded accusingly. "You wanted to be kept a secret. Everything you've done has been deliberate. So what now? I can tell you're not here to join us. You want something else."

Mewtwo's presence hovering up behind him was so subtle that X scarcely noticed until three smooth, spherical fingers were on his shoulder.

"_Calm yourself, Hero of Time_," Mewtwo's eyes glowed as the deep syllables echoed only to him. "_I do not know what his exact intentions are, but he is shielding them from me with little effort. Something has happened to augment his power greatly since our last meeting._"

A harrowing notion to Mega Man, considering how powerful the Sage of Light had been already. "Thanks," X noted his mentor's assessment, not letting his glance falter for a moment.

Skyward… was it growing brighter? The sensation bothered Raven as well, and an odd thought came to him.

X had spent so much time fighting in two decades that he wasn't able to read as much as he wanted, but adventure and fantasy novels often had one thing in common when it came to enemies. Many stories held their most frightening moments in cradles of darkness. Cloud cover and rain, literal shadows, underground. Flickering, fading lights were often all to guide the protagonist, and when written well, it shook him every time. The feeling here was the same, and yet it was light that held the tremble, not the darkness. An electric bright blue that seemed to be everywhere; the aura possessed the same power to blot out everything but fear. The faint change in the sky was at a fixed intensity, as if the opposing sage held an adjustable knob over light itself.

The cloaked reploid took a single step forward, tilting his head up toward the sky, showing the bottom half of his face more clearly.

With a malicious grin, the Sage of Light addressed them. "I've spent over a century honing my skills, learning, growing, fighting, all for this moment. I far surpassed Rauru, my flesh and blood teacher, to become the most powerful Sage of Light since time began. But," his glance descended on X, "a sage can't be more powerful than the Hero. That simply isn't allowed, and for the sake of eternity, I have to do something about that."

"You aren't stronger than X," Raven countered, joining X and Zelda on the front line with a mark of controlled ferocity. "We found you almost dead in the future. Zero saw to that."

"That was a trap, foolish girl," he snapped back, but not with anger. The tone in his voice was confident in every way, casting accusations of her ignorance. "Had I defeated Zero then, I would have been sealed in his void and you would be without a Sage of Light to fight the rest of Zero's hosts. You know as well as I do that he could never be sealed without all of us."

Beneath the crimson of his feet, rings of faint white echoed with his footsteps. He was literally radiating the force of light. The small clinks and scuffling shoes that responded to his approach indicated how uneasy the other Sages had become. X had the same instinct, the same fear, but why? With trepidation clinging to his body, the emerald reploid and the sorceress had to fight to hold their ground.

For a moment, the intense direction of the Light Sage's stance changed. The golden cloak whipped in Tidus's direction, and the shrouded reploid's intense stare startled Tidus backwards, caught by Cyborg's hulking frame.

"Thank you, Sage of Water, for holding on to that for me," he held out a single, white-gloved hand toward Tidus. "I'll be taking my sword now."

If his grip had been any tighter, the oceanic blade Brotherhood might have ripped Tidus's arm from its shoulder. The handle darted in a straight path and landed firmly in the crimson reploid's grip. The Sage of Light waved the Brotherhood blade around, testing its comfort, ignoring Tidus as soon as he had acquired what he wanted. The water sage lunged forward, but he halted immediately once the blade was aimed in his direction.

An invisible line had formed between them, one that separated the enigma from the many. X had wanted to intercept the blade, and Tidus seethed from its theft. X knew he could have stopped the sword, but the emotional barrier kept him still, chilled with a haze of uncertainty in his thoughts.

The Brotherhood stopped its slow drip. The motion of waves ceased in the metal, as if solidifying. Icy rays began to encircle it. It appeared as though the aquatic blade was hardening, growing in length as it matched the color of the sky. A second blade hook, pure white, appeared on the top of blade, symmetrical to the first one. Like an anchor with shortened wings, the new Brotherhood could snag and slice apart with ease.

"We don't have to do this," X attempted, toeing the dreaded line as the sky blade filled the gap between them. "Fighting each other will only give Zero the advantage. Is that what you want?"

The Sage of Light's stolen sword angled toward Mega Man X. "What I want… is to make you remember before I kill you."

The Master Sword's collision with the Brotherhood sent more than sparks and the vibrations of metal. The warping hum continued many seconds after X had stepped too far, the physical reaction unleashing a jagged ray that cut across the roof itself, splintering concrete and tile. In defense, Raven's arms were pulsing with dark energy, and many others had readied their weapons.

Zelda remained fixed in place, merely watching, nearly as close to the Sage of Light as Mega Man was.

"Stay back!" X called to his comrades. He could sense their hesitance to listen to him, but they all listened. X glared at the reploid sage with contempt, spitting words of fury at him. "Why do you want to kill me? Who the hell are you?"

They both shoved their blades forward, enough to knock each other back, skidding to a halt a short distance away. X watched the Sage's movements, realizing that their landings were very much the same. He replayed his own motions in his brain and layered his sight of the Sage of Light against them, finding them to be nearly identical. X felt an odd sensation in his insides, a crawling familiarity that he couldn't place a name on.

Golden fibers on the sage's cloak began to glimmer white. In seconds he was enveloped in a white aura, and it began to shrink, smaller, smaller, until his cloak was a mere band around his neck, a golden yellow scarf.

Zelda stared in awe as much as X and Raven did. Metallic red boots, wide and dense like X's emerald ones, reached the sage's knees. Simple, slim looking upper arms were encased in a silver gray material, same with his thighs, also similar to the way X originally looked before donning his modified Hylian Armor. A thick plating covered the sage's chest, the same deep red as his boots, and centered over the chest armor was a circular symbol, similar to a yin-yang. Further akin to the way X's armor had first appeared, the blood red helmet bore three sharp uprisings, one in the center and two off to the side, though all connected in a tri-point pattern and pure white. The two reploids were undeniably similar.

Having never seen him in his entirety, Zelda was drawn to the Sage of Light more strongly than she had yet experienced, influencing her heartbeat to hammer harder. Only by X's orders did she stay back, and they were orders she didn't want to obey. As confused as she was by the Light Sage's actions, she could feel in her chest, her lips, and her unsteady palms that she wanted to embrace his reploid flesh, to do anything if it meant being with him.

"My name…"

Both reploids sensed fate's weave shearing apart. The demons of their war to save time and all those who desired to protect or slay the Hero of Time realized that a secret was about to rattle their destinies. Deep within X, he heard the aeon of resurrection ringing a siren in his subconscious, The Phoenix calling him with more intensity than their first meeting, more still than when X showed his aeon to Raven. The Phoenix was conveying a warning.

Zelda could not breathe as she awaited to hear his name.

Aware of the cost, the ancient reploid of scarlet and light revealed the long kept secret. "My name is Protoman, the _first_ reploid!"

The declaration numbed Mega Man X. Though faltering and breathless, X's mind scanned, using the full resources of his machine nature to find the name somewhere in his memory banks. With a simple thought, he connected his brain to the database of the Dreamweaver, and still nothing came from that name. Why? He had to know it. His planet, the beginning of reploids, had to known something.

The _first_ reploid. Could it be true that The Sage of Light was the origin of the species? The weight of the question was unparalleled, and X sensed unruly emotions of panic and confusion from those behind him. Mewtwo did his best to calm everyone.

"Of course you're confused," Protoman declared with authority as he leered at X. "Only one living soul still knows of my existence, standing right in front of us with the information locked away, hidden against his own will by the father he so trusted."

X's face flared. "Who the hell are you to speak of my father?" he roared, jamming his sword into the roof as his face mask slipped into the sides of his helmet, revealing white teeth grinding in anger. "You're still a coward!" he stepped forward without reserve, ignoring Raven's pull as he stepped across the unmarked barrier. "If you're going to reveal yourself, just do it!"

Then, against all logic and safety, a forced hiss-click released X's helmet from it's binds, and he tossed it over the building's edge. No one dove for the important piece, once again only by his commanding hand demanding that they freeze. X's hair was a symmetric craft of medium length, silvery smooth locks that reflected the light around them, as if in perfect health. His ears appeared Hylian, pointed like those of their two companions from the Master Sword's home.

X glared, unblinking as Protoman cocked his head and slowly brought his hands to his own helmet.

The Sage of Light grinned in a way that was plain, yet causing a tremendous unsettling in them all as the exact same hiss-click followed. The helmet was, like X's, sent into the sprawling waves that lapped the marginal beach on the small island.

The silence collapsed, but no one could form a question as to the possibility of what manner of creature The Sage of Light was. The face of Protoman was almost identical to Mega Man X, as if they were twins. The same high cheeks, tone of skin, pointed Hylian ears, and hair, though it was only the ruffled shape of the hair that stayed the same. Protoman's hair was a chocolate brown, and his irises also differed, crystal white against Mega Man's poisoned jade.

X pressed his memory harder, though he knew it would be no less accurate that the sweep he did before, bearing no fruit toward understanding. Human suggestions encircled his thoughts, ones that, as he rejected his non-mechanical mind, frightened and confused the core of his being.

A clone? A relative? Worse, Mega Man X contemplated that he might be one of hundreds or thousands, crafted decades ago on an assembly line where he was no more unique than the next machine. The possibility made him ill, made his head and stomach throb.

"It can't be," gritted the Hero.

"You've got theories, but you still can't recognize me, can you?" Protoman glared with a hint of satisfaction. "I know the key to your memory, back to a time nearly one hundred and twenty years ago when you were called by a different name. Nothing more than a household robot, little '_Rock_' has now become the Hero of Time. _Father_ could never have guessed that something so grand could happen to you."

He had pronounced it condescendingly. _Father_. As if they shared the same creator. X narrowed his eyes, a hot breath exhaling from his mouth as his grip on the Master Sword tightened. Protoman reacted similarly, bearing a sharpened grin in realization that his brother understood perfectly well.

X could feel his muscles tensing, his systems raging with power. "You... are my...?"

A whistle escaped Protoman's lips. A whistle that was, unlike the name or the face, very familiar. Just five notes, the first few quick, the last two ascending slowly, X felt like he had heard it a million times.

Immediately, X fell to his knees, his whole head burning. He shouted. He screamed, surging with an overflow of energy and thoughts. The pain was unimaginable, like all his memories being forced apart, crushed in every direction of his mind to make room for a surge of invaders. Emotions tore violently across each other, rage and happiness, joy and loss, all fighting to the surface at the same time. Bright pulses of electrical current began to dance around him, forming a hot blue shell of energy that encased him solidly in agony.

He heard something through all of the noise. Raven's voice was calling to him. He felt the softness of her words bringing a release, a small reprieve in the emotions that were driving him mad. Other sages attempted to intervene, to somehow shake X free from his torment, but they were all thrown back by the unstable energies encasing him in a crackling blue sphere. Raven pushed harder, piercing the wake of electricity until she was able to touch him.

Her mind had already sensed the disorder inside him, but touching X threw her mind into insanity with him, forcing thoughts and emotions into her brain until she felt as though her skull was going to explode from the inside. The aura around X melded with her dark magic into an ocean blue hue before her sense of sight gave out. So many thoughts, so many people, the calculations of a machine, the memory of a super computer, the emotions of a righteous soul, the suffering of his youth, all penetrating into their own experiences, bearing years of moments, events, and people all trying to get inside.

Raven felt her other senses give out as she tried to hold on, not knowing if her hands were still gripping him, wondering how bad the smell of charred flesh was becoming after that sense failed her too. She couldn't hear the vibrations of their screaming or the crackling energies that surrounded them.

She felt X calling, needing her, unable to take all of it at once. His mind was the only thing she could still feel, and, knowing that X needed her, she accepted his plea. An instant later, a bright light overwhelmed her eyes, reactivating the rest of her senses, throwing them apart.

Foul smelling smoke and residual energy hung in the center of Titan's Tower. Unable to see X and Raven through the dense cloud, the other Titans and Sages cautiously sought the two.

Before the other Titans or Sages could come to their aid, they heard a command to stop. Mega Man X was numb all over, but he began collecting his new memories more calmly, breathing with tremendous difficulty as hot, black smoke coughed up from inside him. He sensed Raven, injured, but alive, also struggling to contain her forcibly altered mind. When the Hero's eyes restarted, he couldn't see his own hands until he brought them up close. Sounds slowly came back in, and his legs were shaking, but functional. His bond with Raven was cleared of its haze, and they briefly shared the realization that many years of his past had just become a part of both of them.

X smiled, rising above the slowly clearing haze. He aimed his X-Buster forward. Protoman lividly stared back at the Hero of Time.

"You should have reverted to your original armor," he snarled, scrutinizing the steaming but unchanged light jade garb that covered Mega Man X. "How could you have..."

A distinctly reploid sound was heard, but not from X or Protoman. It was a twist of metal hinges at the same moment that Raven began struggling to her feet.

Protoman backed away, his white eyes furious with disbelief. "She... there is no way that a thing of flesh could..."

Raven's discarded her cloak, letting a fierce gust take it without care. Her body gleamed in the bright sun, covered in ornate metal plating that accentuated her slender figure and the curves of her hips and breasts. Small trails of blood trickled from her face, and the joints of her armor were stained with fresh red, but she, like X, weakly grinned at their mutual survival.

Mega Man X picked up the Master Sword and aimed it for Protoman. "Hello big brother. It's been a long, long time."

The reaction on the elder reploid's face was furious. His eyes narrowed, his jaw tightened, and his every joint of his hands stiffened with malice.

"How?" Protoman demanded.

"We share everything," Raven huffed, burdened with tremendous pain, but it slowly began to subside, and she found herself standing more firmly with each second. Her body felt insanely strong, lighter than it ever had been. "Memories, thoughts..." she spoke confidently, taking in the strange sight of her arms covered in reploid plating. "We even share DNA that makes me compatible with any part of him, like reploid armor. You, on the other hand... you're a vile excuse for a Sage of the Triforce who doesn't deserve to share even a speck of blood with him."

Protoman slammed his whitened Brotherhood into the Tower, piercing through as if it was rain-soaked soil, but Raven continued her verbal assault.

"You tried to turn X back to his original form from a century ago, as if that would be a honorable fight with all the years you've had to grow stronger. You hid selfishly. We could have kept your secret and supported you with your burdens, but you wouldn't even give us the chance. And now, with what might be trillions of lives in danger across the galaxy and who knows how many thousands of planets supporting living culture, you try to kill the Hero of Time? How can you think that what you're doing is justified?"

There was a glow in Protoman's white eyes, an unnatural one, similar to the magnification of Raven and X's green irises when they used the powers of materia. X saw the small fluctuation. He knew that something was not right.

"I have long since planned this day," Protoman's face sharpened angrily, and X again felt the sensation of darkness and corruption within the light surrounding them. "And I have no intention of allowing the Hero's destiny to die. When I destroy you, Mega Man X, I will become the Hero of Time."

"Ludicrous!" Nanaki shouted.

"We'll never follow you," Tidus lashed.

Protoman's face became even more hostile, his voice filled with malicious discontent. "You are all so loyal to this lesser reploid, when it is only the _idea_ of the Hero of Time that needs to survive in order to defeat Zero. If it is possible that there is a better candidate more deserving of the Master Sword, then it must be proven.

Terra fought back next. "You think that gives you the right to kill X? Even if you are stronger, he can still help us defeat Zero!"

"Two candidates for the blade cannot coexist when they are so closely matched!" Protoman roared fiercely, and the aura of light around them spiked, forcing many to shield their eyes. Once again, X witnessed something unusual. A streak of darkness, like a deep purple artery rising to the surface, appeared and then promptly vanished on the Sage of Light's face.

Saria hesitantly left Nanaki's comfort, meeting eyes with X's older brother, the first of the reploids. "He's right," she said meekly, refusing to look at Raven or X out of fear. She turned back to the others, still averting her glance, even her peripheral vision, from the two as the remaining sages awaited her explanation. Saria's throat felt tight. "If... Protoman can defeat Mega Man... then that makes him more worthy to hold the Master Sword."

"She comprehends it," glowered the Sage of Light, but Saria quickly released a shriek of anger and spat at his feet, contemptuous and disgusted.

"Burn in hell," she replied, shaking with anger. "You may have a point, but I would take X over you any day!"

Every Sage and Titan joined together, readying their weapons, ready to fight for their leader. The gesture made X swell with pride, but he knew it would not be that simple.

Protoman pulled the holy Brotherhood from the tower's concrete with one hand and waved the blade at them, deepening his stance as he extended his energy saber from his other hand. The shield on his wrist, though retracted, was something X now remembered well, and he knew that the dual bladed posture he adopted did not mean that his methods would be fully offensive. X decided to test his theory, and he communicated his idea to Raven's thoughts. She concurred.

X and Raven stepped just over an arm length's distance from each other, and, synchronous in their thoughts and actions, X raised his X-Buster, and Raven raised her Mega Buster. Raven winced from the pain when the reploid glove retracted from her blood stained hand, but the tremendous mechanical forces that X was born with were like nothing she had ever sensed. Strength, light, emotions and pure fire touched ever molecule of her flesh, her bones, even her blood, without harming her. Merging with her sorcery, Raven was nearly overcome by the sensation of a being a reploid, however short it would last. Soon, she knew that the dark power responsible for resurrecting his armor on her body would fade and vanish. Before that time, she would experience what it would be to unleash all of this force against an enemy, together with X, whose energies burned in a sphere of bright white and blue, the brightest of it concentrated at the tip of his weapon.

A gun cocked behind Raven's head at the top of her spine. "Dissipate it," Zelda commanded.

Silence fell, and the integrity of the Triforce suddenly began to unravel.

X felt his heart plunge and his mind crumble at what he was seeing. "Zelda... you..." he whispered without thought, not sure if he believed what was happening.

"Yours too," Zelda demanded of X as she prodded her other gun against the curve of Raven's back.

They both sensed her emotions. Princess Zelda Hyrule, the ruler who aided the Hero of Time a century ago, fully intended to put a bullet in the head of the Sage of Darkness, most trusted Sage to the Hero of Time.

The Legend Teller was a traitor.

X's mind raced. Zelda was fast. Her experiences with the chaos emeralds heightened her abilities. Could he stop both of her light pistols before she fired? If he failed, Raven would either be paralyzed or dead. He looked back to the rest of his sages, who were frozen with shock, not daring to act. Saria was the only one who moved. Her body shook with tiny tremors, so broken from the betrayal that even her tears were numb against her face.

With no other choice, X allowed his gathered energy to fizzle out.

A flash of darkness discolored everything before their eyes, distorting the fabric of time. Zelda pulled both of her triggers. X witnessed the action, watching Zelda truly attempt to kill the Sage of Darkness. In a chaotic blur, Raven was pushed inches forward, enough for Shadow and Sonic to slip their hands in, each catching a bullet of light in their hands.

Zelda roared with a golden aura and disrupted the Chaos Control, firing wildly at X and Raven. With the extra distance, they were able to deflect or dodge, and when Raven rushed forward and countered with a swing of the Lotus blade, Zelda dissolved into a stream of light and reappeared next to Protoman. Raven was unnerved by her disappearance; the Sage of Light had controlled her solidity at a distance.

"You alright?" X shouted to Sonic and Shadow.

"Only went through one hand," Sonic grimaced.

"It will heal," added Shadow.

X was about to speak to his Sages, but the light around he and Raven began to melt into colorlessness, not entirely dissimilar to when X teleported. The two hedgehogs and the rest of the sages vanished from view. So did the entire tower. An endless sky with flowing, milky pillars of white connected to no ceiling and no floor. Much like the Chamber of Sages, but with eternal sky instead of night, it exuded a foul and unwelcoming twinge in their noses and eyes. Fragmented voices whispered through the sky, floating like clouds gone rogue. Beneath them, a large platform of reflective onyx spread out to where clouds touched the edges.

Raven and X watched as the Sage of Light and the Storyteller of Legend emerged from the soft belly of a passing nimbus. Protoman swung the white Brotherhood fiercely.

"Let's settle this, once and for all, brother!" Protoman bellowed to the sky with Zelda loyally at his side. "Let's see which one of us father made _best!_"


	92. Brotherhood, Part II

**Chapter 92 – Brotherhood, Part II**

Protoman lunged, crossing his two blades in a scissoring slash that X somersaulted away from, countering with streaks of Buster fire. If X had been slower, the attack would have decapitated him. Tall magenta blade waves of energy followed, ripping across the onyx surface. The attacks were angled, forcing X to constantly shift his body into vulnerable positions as Protoman closed in. X watched as his brother spun and snapped the white Brotherhood sword horizontally, unleashing a massive shockwave. With only two ways to dodge, X knew he did not want to leave himself vulnerable in the air, so he dropped flat to the ground, letting the blade wave pass over him.

Disturbingly fast beam saber shockwaves followed, timed so that X would either have to rise and collide with the massive white beam, or stay down and suffer from the smaller ones. Defending with the Master Sword would only cause the energy waves to wrap around the sacred blade upon impact and strike all the same.

A black aura jutted upward in between the white and magenta energy waves, barely absorbing the second volley before shattering into a dark mist.

Raven.

Protoman hadn't waited to see the result of his attack, having closed the distance as he thrusted both blades down at X's spine before the Hero could rise. X ignited his boosters and collided with his brother's legs, latching on tightly, using the propulsion to twist up in a disorienting spiral. With a violent heave, X slammed his brother face-first into the onyx pedestal. Only after landing did he notice the burning sensation from Protoman's boosters, which had singed both of his hands during the grapple.

X quickly directed his eyes toward Raven with the miniscule bit of time she had. The crook of her elbow was bleeding, having been struck by a light shell that had slipped between the hardened plates of robotic armor she wore. As much as the sight of her wearing his old armor tugged on his freshly revived memories of the past, X turned his attention back to Protoman who had expanded his oval shield in defense as he rose to his feet. X used the moment to return Raven's favor.

A meteor of flame careened past the dark sorceress's side, throwing heat against her as it flew toward Princess Zelda. The materia-charged sphere collided with the surface of the battlefield, spraying hot cinders and magma toward the intended target, but Zelda vanished in a bright dissolution, reappearing a short distance closer to the edge of the pedestal, safe from the fireball and its burning entrails. Not far from X, Protoman wore an expression of satisfied bloodlust as he charged once again in a flash of blades.

Zelda fired repeatedly from a distance, her light shells crackling against Raven's dark aura, and the sorceress returned fire with bolts of shade mixed with her Mega-Buster, forcing the princess to halt her attack and dodge the explosive projectiles of magic and technology. The fireball had been a helpful distraction, but Raven failed to close distance between the Hylian woman, only able to use X's assistance to catch a few breaths. Every time Raven formed a transparent black shield, the radiant bullets from Zelda's pistols penetrated it quickly. No more helpful were the telekinetic black tendrils that Raven could use like impaling spikes or whips, because they could just as easily be disabled with light. Century-old armor modified to her body shape was her only solace. When bullets collided with the thicker plating on her chest, shoulders or lower legs, the pain was minor, allowing Raven to grant her focus to a smaller set of vital areas.

Raven carefully lobbed two wildly weaving streaks of dark plasma, one high, and one sharply to one side.

Zelda halted her attack briefly, preparing to dodge them both. She somersaulted backwards a number of times as the black plasma slowly redirected itself to follow.

The Sage of Darkness waited until the two swirling masses of unstable energy were near impact with the spot where Zelda had been. As fast as she could utter it, Raven chanted: "Azarath, Metrion, _ZYNTHOS!_"

The two dark matter globules snapped out of their curves and away from Raven's outstretched hands, directly at Zelda, who crouched and surrounded herself with a warm cocoon of light, but Raven's dark streaks penetrated, crushing the barrier as they elicited a pained scream from the Hylian woman.

Raven threw herself into astral form before another storm of holy bullets could block her path. Becoming solid at high speed in the air, Raven thrust her legs outward, forcing Zelda to raise her forearms in defense. The momentum sent them both crashing to the hard crystal surface, and Raven braced her foot out to stop their rolling, giving the dark sorceress top advantage. Not thinking twice in the face of the traitor, Raven slammed her elbow into Zelda's mouth, staining it red. Too close to each other to use their distanced weapons, they grappled dangerously close to the platform's edge.

The Master Sword's collision with Brotherhood threw the clouds apart and distorted the waterfall pillars of white surrounding them. Each clash of their blades brought the faces of the two reploid brothers together, and Protoman's fury matched X's resolve.

X was constantly forced to dodge the dual blades. The Brotherhood blade was slower and more devastating, so he twisted and dodged it while deflecting the rapid swings from Protoman's energy saber. Every shot from the X-Buster exploded on contact with either sword, but they caused Protoman no injury.

"Why, Protoman?" X demanded. "Why did you abandon us when we were younger? What about Doctor Wily ever appealed to you? You were always better than him, or any of the robots he built!"

"Isn't the answer obvious?" Protoman snapped back as he thrust his energy blade and followed with an overhead swing of Brotherhood. "As long as I was Wily's 'servant', I knew I would always end up fighting you!"

An opening revealed itself to X. As Protoman hammered Brotherhood vertically, X sidestepped inward, directly toward the magenta glow of the energy sword. Rather than block with the Master Sword, Mega Man leaned in and threw his Buster arm elbow into Protoman's abdomen, simultaenously firing two swift plasma shots into the crimson reploid's beam saber arm. Catching him off balance, X continued the motion, swinging the Master Sword in a rounded arc. Protoman somersaulted backwards, but the sacred blade grazed his cheek. He crouched on his landing, then sprang forward in a spinning leap with his blades crossing in opposite directions. X's boosters propelled him just above the attack, but a cold pain erupted in his leg as a light shell struck him. He spun out of control and landed hard on his side, sloppily rolling to his feet and fighting pain as he eyed Zelda, making sure that the same thing did not happen again.

"And what of father and sister?" X pressed Protoman further as they circled each other. "Are you saying you abandoned them too, just because you wanted to be better than me?"

X twisted and skipped carefully to the side as trio of Buster shots whizzed past him. Three more quietly sizzled out of Protoman's arm before the hollow socket was filled with a magenta glow once again. "I sought a higher cause and found the Triforce!" Protoman defended himself adamantly. "Just as I allied with Wily to become stronger by fighting, I left our home world in search of something greater, more important than the petty war of robots, Reploids and Mavericks!"

The response made X seethe with a blend of century-old anger and fury of the present. "You bastard, you let them die! Father may have been near the end of his life when you left, but Roll could have lived for decades more if you had only stayed and fought to protect her! You let our sister die?"

Emotion struck X with disorienting surprise. The jolt of thoughts and feelings that stunned his mind seemed to be coming Protoman, and yet from someone entirely different at the same time. Regret, anger, confusion, guilt, and defensive justification, all in a span of a long blink.

Both Reploids had halted in their tracks, needing respite from the emotional barrage, but with an additional blink, that time had passed, and Protoman no longer cared for his brother's words.

Panic emanated from Raven as Protoman switched his focus to her, closing their distance in an instant, aiming for her forehead with both blades. Raven shifted hard to one side, but Protoman literally radiated a burst of light before vanishing then reappearing with his boot already connected to her chest. She tumbled over the edge of the towering black pedestal.

"Raven!" X called as he was struck in the back by Zelda's light shells. Again the pain chilled him, weakening any movement he tried to make, searing him at the bullet's entry point. X roared and turned on her, exposing his X-Buster with a violent golden glow. Hating what he was about to do, despising the course of events, Mega Man X chose to spare her mercy no longer.

"_Ray Splasher!"_

The hailstorm of sharp, gold energy flecks shotgunned out, consuming the space where Zelda stood. At the same time, the dark sorceress emerged in a cloud of black mist, releasing black lightning from her palms to put Protoman on the defensive and keep him from being able to teleport the princess. With that defensive tactic taken, the rain of golden projectiles sprayed across Zelda. For X, the knowledge of what he had just done consumed him with bitter guilt. Blinded by the light of his own onslaught, X wondered if he had just killed the last of the Hylians.

X's furious remorse became an upheaval of pain and astonishment. A white arrow of pure energy pierced the elbow on his Buster arm, deflecting the last of the ray splasher barrage up into the endless blue sky. When X regained his focus and clutched his bleeding arm, Protoman was at Zelda's side, near the far edge of the onyx platform, but he hadn't defended the princess. No, the Hylian woman had done that on her own. Princess Zelda's blonde waves of hair were hovering upward, and her entire being pulsed with a fierce glow identical to the energy particles that had bombarded her.

A vile laugh from the Reploid Sage echoed across the expanse. "You thought you could fight light with light? I expected more of you, little brother."

X knew he was in danger, but he was fixated on Zelda's face, as well as Protoman's. Both of them had darkly colored veins pulsing near their eyes.

"What the..."

Zelda screamed in outrage with a voice that was not her own. "_Prism Splasher!"_

Surging from every surface of her body, the barrage of cascading light distorted color and sight, bleeding a rainbow aura of destruction, blasting fire and ice against every surface that the rays touched. The Master Sword shielded X meagerly, deflecting blasts aimed at the center of his body and his head, but his arms and legs were torn asunder with bleeding wounds and shattering armor.

As soon as X realized his immobility, he became face to face with electric green eyes filled with fury that didn't belong. So close to the princess, X could still see faint streaks of crimson in her irises that had yet to be tainted by materia's poison. Adding to the toxic deformity, foreign purple streaks accentuated the natural crimson veins spreading out from her bright globes of sight, and the darkly altered arteries exposed at the surface of her skin were spreading further. What was happening to her?

As the princess's palm neared X's face, he threw a blindingly swift fist into her chest, connecting hard enough for him to hear her ribs crack. She howled in pain, collapsing backwards, firing blindly in X's direction. The Hero gave chase, carefully dodging the wildly aimed shots as he closed in and raised his Buster arm, hesitating for a fraction of a second as he considered the former friend scrambling away from him.

X narrowly parried a lunging stab, but Protoman's flying momentum carried through, smashing the elder reploid's shoulder against the side of X's head. Stunned, Mega Man tumbled into a twisted heap near the edge of the platform and struggled to stand, even as Buster shots struck his exposed abdomen and exploded in welts of pain, burns and blood.

A cold and soothing wrap enveloped him, and X saw the world vanish beneath him. He regained his senses as he felt the dark energy dissipating around him, the result of Raven telekinetically throwing him high into the air. The light of the sky itself was painful to look upon when further away from their dark crystal platform, but what concerned X worse was every second that passed where Raven had to defend against both of them by herself.

That time was also a gift. X began descending, gaining speed rapidly. He sheathed the Master Sword behind his back and clutched his wrist as energy began pouring into his X-Buster. Using neither materia magic or the power of the Triforce, the pale blue resonance that pulsed from within him heightened to a translucent, neon pink, overshadowing every trace of the pale jade that composed his Hero's Armor.

Protoman knew the attack was coming. The Sage of Light was so heightened by experience that he was able to perceive the entire battleground, and the white and red tower shield on his wrist spiraled out in defense.

The Hero's face tensed with focus. His brother's defensive stance was exactly what he needed.

Thrumming cascades of bright pink plasma hurtled onto the battlefield with a high, thrumming hiss, in a manner that X had not used since his first campaign against Sigma. What made it special, unique compared to any other Buster style that X had used in all his years of fighting, was the wave motion it traveled in. Protoman's shield was nearly indestructible, but the snaking motion of the dozens of centipede-like plasma trails allowed some to slip just beyond his guard before swooping inward and making contact.

X knew that only a small portion of his huge expenditure of energy hit his target, but it was enough. As he tucked into a somersault and landed within blade's reach, he smelled the charred metals and tasted the residual plasma particles in the air. Mega Man's landing jarred his damaged legs, but he sprang forward over the unprepared and too-low swing from the Brotherhood blade, throwing his right shoulder into Protoman's shield. As Protoman stumbled backwards, the magenta energy saber grazed one of X's legs, but he refused to acknowledge the injury as he used his left arm to follow with a downward slice at the face that resembled his own.

The Master Sword only connected with the remnants of a stream of golden matter. Protoman retreated to Zelda's side and quickly manifested into solidity.

A vicious scowl swept across the elder reploid's face, lighting his white irises with a maddened demeanor. Protoman reached up to his forehead, touching a shallow but bloody cut at his chocolate hairline. Rage burned hot in the elder reploid's glare. He glanced at Zelda, whose expression turned equally dark and deeply submerged in malice, unlike anything she could have expressed just an hour before.

As Protoman shielded the both of them, a surge of materia's power spread across the onyx crystal, reflecting deep within its core as Zelda's crimson orb resonated within her body. The sky darkened into storms in seconds, and flashes of burnt lightning struck in the distance all around them. Penetrating the crackling strikes, a horse neighed from the clouds above, and from a black mist that descended upon them, a pair of yellow eyes burned.

Zelda called to the presence. "Come, Odin!"

The sky groaned as the black cloud enveloped both the princess and the Sage of Light. The mist departed, and a towering, armored aeon with pale skin and tall, curved black horns sat atop a six-legged steed with violet flesh and gold armor. A massive blade composed of metals as dark as night with indented segments swiped the air in front of Raven and X. Sitting behind Odin, Zelda flashed a maddened grin as she twirled a huge spear that emanated bloody light. It was if the weapon was as light as a feather to her. Unlike her, Odin's face was hardened by ancient war, but otherwise blank and emotionless.

X saw the aeon, Odin, dig his heels into the steed's ribs, but the blinding speed of Sleipnir was too much to counter. Odin swung his blade outward, clashing with the Master Sword at the same time that Zelda slashed the translucent red spear, colliding with Raven's Lotus blade that the sorceress barely had time to pull from her back. The two were thrown in completely different directions, wedged apart from each other.

Before X could even halt his backwards skid, Protoman's energy blade was arcing in a close swing to carve through the entirety of X's back. Mega Man felt the sting of the weapon graze him as he used his momentum to vault over the magenta sword. He swung the Master Sword to his side during the aerial leap, but the girth of Brotherhood stopped it cold.

The huge hooked blade came at X, then flurries of short swings from the energy saber. He deflected and dodged, swinging his blade at whatever gap he could find, but Protoman was always fast enough to prevent the sacred sword from connecting. Somehow, Protoman seemed to be growing even stronger as the battle progressed.

Raven now faced two enemies. The robotic enhancements covering her body were tiring her more, simply from the many small holes in her flesh that had been made when X's original armor adhered to her, but she stayed focused and awaited the aeon's charge, hoping that the pale warrior atop the six-legged horse was not adept long range combat. Even if he wasn't, Raven knew that she would still have to contend with Zelda's light bullets at a distance.

Odin kicked at Sleipnir's sides, and the beast propelled itself into a mad gallop.

Raven assessed her chances against the two riders, Odin ready with Zantetsuken if she engaged on her right, Zelda ready with Gungir on the left. The Sage of Darkness didn't dare try to withdraw for fear of what could happen to her in her astral form if the blood spear collided with her during flight.

An idea implanted itself into the sorceress, a completely stupid and reckless idea, but she knew that sacrificing pawns was necessary to defeat the more important pieces in play. A shout to psyche herself caused the flames of the Lotus to shoot higher, and a dark plume of mist flashed in her wake as she reached top running speed, angling herself toward Zelda's side and Gungir.

Bloodlust granted Gungir a rose red glow, and Zelda hefted the feather-light weapon into a throwing position. Raven watched intently as the galloping beast and hulking aeon closed the gap, showing her the true stature of what she faced, but her true focus was Zelda. The Sage of Darkness kept her eyes on Zelda's arm the entire time, only altering her path when the princess jerked her spear back an instant before throwing it.

Raven dove low to the other side, beneath the shadowy cleave of Zantetsuken, putting the sorceress face to face with Sleipnir's oppressively demonic aura for a tiny blink of time.

Then, she leapt between the creature's legs.

Sleipnir bit at her, clinking at the armor on her back, pulling out strands of violet hair that hung from her bright blue reploid helmet, but she slipped past, thrusting the Lotus into the beast's underbelly. The collisions with the creature's other four legs rang with smashes of her metal plating, and despite the pain, Raven thought only of keeping the Lotus aloft.

Vaguely, Raven recalled the horse and its riders toppling to the side as ochre from the creature spilled out from lungs to tail. She also vaguely remembered part of the reploid armor on her upper arm trampled in such a way that it caused constant pain until she ripped it free, and seeing her upper arm glisten with a thin layer of dark red atop pale skin.

Throbbing aches in her limbs wrested a cry of frightened agony from Raven as she fought to stand. Every way she tried to balanced caused different parts of her to wail out in frailty. There was little time to recover. The armored steed, Sleipnir, was gone, but Zelda and Odin still gathered themselves and faced her, closing in quickly. She had to think of something fast, anything to give the world time to stop spinning.

"Zelda!" Raven shouted, desperate to sound confident. "You and I made peace with each other. We protected each other. You gave me your blessing with the Triforce of Courage!"

Raven continued to plead as they advanced, not knowing what she would accomplish. "Why turn on me now? What happened to our friendship?"

Both assailants suddenly halted.

"I do this for Protoman, and for the Triforce," Zelda answered, her voice oddly shaky, and the dark veins on her face suddenly began to recede. Raven was startled by the sudden change in the princess's demeanor. "This has to be done, for the sake of the Sages, and for time itself."

"This isn't the only way!" insisted Raven as her stance became firmer, stronger. "You're close to Protoman. I'm close to X. Together, we can find another way. I know it, and somewhere, deep beneath whatever is happening to you, you know it, too!"

"I..." Zelda began. Her aggression began to fade, but only for a brief flicker of time.

Zelda clutched her forehead, scrunching her face in revulsion and confusion. Raven watched carefully, wondering what her words had done. After moments of tense silence between them, Zelda's posture straightened, and the poison arteries spreading out from her eyes took hold again, slowly stretching out to her throat and chest. Whatever momentary change Raven had caused was gone. There was no reaching her anymore. The dark presence inside her had tightened its grip.

"Kill her," Princess Zelda commanded her aeon. Odin obeyed.

In two massive and startling strides, Odin hefted his blade effortlessly at Raven's side.

The sheer force of the impact against the Lotus jerked Raven to the side so violently that she felt a shoulder threaten to pop out of its socket.

In another stunning motion of brutality, Odin brought the blade down against the wild and angry flames of the Lotus, knocking Raven to the ground. Stunned, the Sage of Darkness reacted as only her instincts allowed, the Lotus defensively poised to prevent her death. Zantetsuken's weight assaulted her arms with even more pain than before, but she somehow held.

Because of the indentation of Zantetsuken that the Lotus was locked in, the dark blade could begin slicing through Raven before the Lotus was pinned against her chest. It became a constant struggle of twisting and turning blades, with Odin alternating leverage between the base and tip of the black sword, and Raven using her telepathy to predict his actions ahead of time.

Through the flames of her weapon, Raven met the face of the aeon swordsman. The pale, yellow globes that matched the aeon's skin were narrowed by tension, a struggle that surpassed any that the aeon had ever faced, though surely Odin had enough strength to crush the sorceress, even through the sky blue armor of X's past attached to her flesh. He was letting up, lessening the weight that he leveraged down, but not enough for her to thrust him away, nor did she dare deflect the grooved blade aside for fear that it would slice her arm off. A surge of emotion coursed through Raven's body and mind, realizing that, even under Zelda's control, aeons could willfully choose to resist, and they did not side with the enemy.

"Odin! You will do as I command!" Zelda bellowed. "Kill her now!"

The pale, hardened flesh of the aeon's battle-worn expression was straining, fighting to disobey. Odin bared his teeth in a growl as he pressed down harder with Zantetsuken against his will

Raven felt her arms pushed to the brink of collapse. The aeon was valiantly struggling against his master's orders, but Raven knew she had but seconds left until her arms gave out and the black sword murdered her. Raven pushed with what little energy she could drive into her arms as her mind threw itself into a frenzy of possibilities, ideas for escape that all seemed destined to fail. X wanted to help her, wanted to come to her rescue, but the Hero suffered blow after blow every time he tried to slip past Protoman's position. She had to rely on her own strength, just as she had so often done when fighting alongside the Teen Titans.

Raven thought of Robin's cool wisdom as she frantically played scenarios out in her head. The giant soldier was so tall that his legs were too far away to kick. The sorceress couldn't release a hand on the Lotus, nor could she pour her dark power into the magical blade, and it sapped her strength the longer the dark flame remained lit. Though the flames did not cause her pain, having a second hand on the sword only stole her strength more quickly. There was not nearly enough time to morph into astral form without Odin's blade catching part of her physical body, almost certainly killing her. Perhaps, Raven thought, it was a risk she would have to take.

At Zelda's insistence, Odin pushed harder, and the gap between the black blade and the sorceress's chest shrank to almost nothing. Her head throbbed as she tried to force more adrenaline from already emptied reserves. The Lotus was so close that it covered her body in intolerable heat, but the flames did not burn her or her borrowed reploid armor.

A dangerous thought. She executed it immediately with all her might.

An explosion of fire and smoke catapulted the huge aeon skyward, engulfing the sorceress in a cloud of burning ash and heat.

Protoman jerked his head toward the sound, and Zelda was frozen with shock by the deafening blast.

X leaped to strike the most vulnerable target, the careening, burning aeon. At the top of Odin's flying arc, X met the swordsman, spinning the Master Sword in a cyclone, rising from the ancient soldier's dark plated abdomen and chest to his neck and face. Black fluids gushed from the many penetrating wounds, and as X ceased his spiral, a point-blank plasma flare from X's charged Buster blasted the curved horn helmet into fragments. Odin dissolved into a stream of silver essence and sparkling Lifestream particles before he reached the ground. Following its owner, the vibrant Gungir spear melted away from Zelda's grip, and the princess growled in frustration.

Protoman and Zelda dissolved into matter streams in defensive retreat, edging dangerously close to the lip of the onyx pillar. They became luminous in materia's glow once more, not hesitating to overuse the crystalized spirits of the past. Two glimmering spheres of ruby light surged from Protoman's right arm. Zelda placed her hand directly over one of them, lending the Sage of Light her strength.

Thick smog weighed heavily around the explosion where Raven had been. From X's palm, a small infusion of energy morphed into a breeze that cleared the smoke from around her. Coughing, bloody, and covered in ash, Raven was pulling stained pieces of reploid armor from her body. Despite how firmly they had been attached, the sky blue plates covered with flakes of gray dangled and dropped off with little argument.

"You protected me..." Raven stammered, trying to cleanse her lungs of the smoke she had inhaled. "Even when you couldn't get to me, a part of you still..."

X pulled away a loose segment of armor over her breast and pressed a palm against her ribs, allowing a soft green light to pour into her. "They're summoning more aeons. We need to counter! Can you manage?"

The sorceress heaved a tired breath from her lungs. X's healing touch was not enough to get her to her feet. "It could kill us," she grasped for air. "But we have to."

Without a second thought, equally fearsome pulsars of materia magic appeared through Raven's flesh and X's armor, the greater burden placed on X. The strain was immediate and paralyzing, but they knew they had no choice.

The two materia orbs inside the eldest Reploid and the Princess of Hyrule ate their fill of power.

"King of Dragons, Construct of Judgement, amalgamate the ancient spirits and forge a weapon of convictive luster!"

Bahamut and Alexander's orbs pulsed from crimson to blinding white, crackling within Protoman's arm as strength bled from the two feeding the merge.

X and Raven continued to fuse their aeons, ignoring the damage that they would suffer. "Spirit of Rebirth, Lady Inferno, become a single entity, erase the corruption of lost souls with inexorable vigor!"

Unlike the blinding white coming from Zelda and Protoman, the orbs of Phoenix and Rikku became miniature suns, flaring with beats of life ranging from lava red to fire orange, occasionally pulsing with waves of clean, blue fire. Just as the fires reached a swirling apex of blazing hues, Protoman and Zelda released their creation, and X and Raven then unleashed theirs.

"Come, Bahxolomer, _the Wrath of Heaven_!"

"Come, Alpha Corona, _the Flames of Redemption_!"

A cacophony of static stung in their ears as they saw their own bodies dematerialize, pulled away toward the endless sky in opposing directions until nothing remained of them. All four combatants no longer resided on the onyx pillar.

Where Mega Man and Raven had been, spherical clusters of smoldering matter began rising up from the depths below. So much heat wafted from them that the sky began to turn blood red. The magma mist began dissolving the alternate dimension's white pillars, melting fragments off that fell to unknown places. Opposing the orbit the other side of the black crystal pedestal, streaks of electrical energy began zipping in jagged manners, as if the air was being infused with circuitry.

The electrical currents began composing the dragon of holy wrath, dancing madly in milky bursts as the joints and muscle formed, half biological but armed with machinery of ancient origin. Covered in hardened silver flesh, the creature's legs began with three massive talons, spread evenly around the base of its legs, rising to thickly muscular limbs. At the joints of the knees and elbows were golden orbs, distinctly separating the two halves of each limb. Thick tubing sprouted from the base of Bahxolomer's legs, immersed with a stunning pallet of sparkling inner components, climbing up until the tubes wrapped around and linked with the creature's spine. The dragon's arms were segmented, detaching, rotating, and reattaching pieces of themselves as if it was as natural as breathing. As the arm fragments fluidly pulsed and retracted, the insides shone with streaks of glowing amber.

Bahxolomer's core expanded with a deep breath. As the electrical streaks worked inward, barb-like extensions of metal began jutting in opposing vertical directions, some thick or long that extended below the creature's waist, others narrow or short, merely filling the deadly gaps left by other hooked plates. The entire torso and chest of the dragon was appeared as a demonic wall of hungry teeth, their edges glowing with the same amber resplendence as the piecework arms.

Another row of teeth appeared, reserved and in perfect balance compared to the chest armor. With a spear spike jutting from its brow and two massive, waved horns with segments resembling a parasite's carapace, the dragon breathed in life, extending a long, thickly armored neck of silver scales. When the spiked breast breathed, shining rose-red orbs appeared within black embedded sockets on either side of the harpoon shaped cranium. A final rounded plate climbed along the back of its head between the exoskeletal horns, spreading outward in a fan shape of hardened metal bone. Centered at the mass of the creature's regal face, atop the shaft of the forehead spear, a third darkened indentation sunk inward, and an eye of gold came to light.

The mech-dragon neither roared nor screeched, remaining silent other than the crackle of electricity as its wings expanded. Huge and expansive, they spanned several times the width of the aeon's body with visible veins and arteries pumping the same array of colorful mechanical lighting that was in the coiled leg tubing. At the end of each gently waving wing was a small claw that flexed irregularly, as if it they were impatiently waiting to rip at something. A second uprising of wings jutted higher than the dragons head. Composed of thick metal plates, the seconds set of wings expanded and contracted, lined with the same amber glow of the arms and fang-lined chest. Unlike the wide and dominant wings, the metal extensions on the aeon's back were rigid in motion.

Bahxolomer waited, too wise to blindly charge into a wall of magma that slowly disintegrated inter-dimensional pillars that were supposedly impervious. The dragon of holy wrath landed on the edge of the onyx platform, chipping through the diamond-hard black crystal with its talons. The metallic secondary wings gracing its upper back suddenly lanced above its head, arcing around and connecting to each other until they formed a resplendently glowing ring around the creature's head and horns.

A screeching mass began growing and humming as the dragon opened its mouth. At the tip of the metal extension jutting from Bahxolomer's head, a rotating sphere of light began as nothing more than a marble. As the vibrating scree intensified and fluctuated in pitch, piercing to mortal ears, the sphere rattled. Bahxolomer leaned forward onto all fours, bracing himself as the connected ring of amber plates behind his horns grew white hot. The great dragon's head shook from the sheer instability that he gathered.

Not at all a projectile, but a fountain that could be tapped for as long as it had been charged, Bahxolomer exhaled, devastating the arena with a neon blue pillar of energy that was more massive in height and width than the dragon itself or the onyx pedestal. The ring behind the dragon's horns then released its energy, joining with Bahxolomer's Tera Flare, creating a tidal upheaval of sight and sound, dissolving clouds, ancient pillars and the globules of liquid flame hovering complacently in the eternal sky. The surface of the onyx platform melted, sinking inward as all matter touched by Bahxolomer's was razed into nothingness.

Even the matter of light itself was shattered, leaving visual distortions of color in the wake of the colossal blast. The cloud of blood mist had been eradicated, only still present on the outskirts that were beyond the range of the Tera Flare.

A divine presence of pure fire impacted the enemy from above, a graceful meteorite careening into the spine of the bionic dragon lord. In defense, disassembling both arms, Bahxolomer's sprayed shells of plasma and fire above him, grazing his assailant before the weight on top of him lifted.

Alpha Corona, paragon of beauty and destructive inferno, hovered gently to the opposing edge of the pedestal. With a face resembling Rikku's, but bearing sharper cheeks and a more delicate nose, X and Raven's aeon possessed three softly hovering extensions of flat, silky blonde matter atop her head that replaced Rikku's braided black extensions. A crimson robe shaped like an open hourglass was cinched around her waist, rigidly fixed around her shoulder blades and firmly spread at a wide distance around her legs and chest. With a gentle wave of her arms, golden flames came to life on the robe in perfect symmetry from top to bottom, and jewels that spanned the colors of the rainbow and beyond sparkled amidst the honeycomb of living fire. Her breasts and waist were narrowly cupped with sparkling shells of armor that glittered any number of stunning colors when the flames of her robe licked closely enough, and the artificial fire was indeed drawn to her, just as the remaining globules of magma came and hovered around her Athenian figure.

Using the slightest motion of her toes, Alpha Corona propelled herself away from the melted divot of the platform. Graceful slices of her arms became lethal rays of superheated plasma. Bahxolomer's massive wings launched him above the fiery streaks, and he dissolved into a stream of white matter, ultimately vanishing.

Dancing with pure beauty incorporated into every flick of her wrists and toes, Corona pirouetted with both hands and one leg, each limb becoming a glowing shear of lava at the moment that the dreaded dragon became whole behind her, but Bahxolomer sharply twisted at the waist, allowing the smaller, thickened plate wings to absorb the brunt of the magma streaks.

Rikku's aeon visage narrowed her gaze in devastated astonishment as a bombardment of materia magic erupted from the insides of the dragon's fragmented arms, far too close for her to evade. The separated segments of Bahxolomer's arms, radiating with amber light, were all weapons, firearms built into the creature's body. Focused holy bolts and bursting sprays of white lightning battered against Alpha Corona's ruby flesh. A veil of fire, whiter than a cloud and as blinding as a sun, shielded her as she backed away with blinding speed. Her skin and her robe were burnt in many places, but none had fully penetrated or drawn blood.

The thought was premature as she saw a streak of dark liquid splash from her cheek. Corona had barely been able to twist her head enough to dodge the impaling strike from Bahxolomer's tail, which had stretched the lengthy span of the entire onyx platform to reach her. Colored the same as Bahxolomer's head armor, the tail also matched the elongated spear-shape of the dragon's sharp crown, only lacking the horns and three eyes.

Alpha Corona clasped her hands together, and the lava globules following her condensed into a white length of matter, hardened and glowing, a blade of pure, solid plasma. The blade had no handle, emanating purely from her wrist and fingers as an extension of her body. It's reflection on the golden patterns on her robe gave her the appearance of a sparkling, living jewel, and the aeon rubbed the blood from her cheek with the side of her arm as she aimed the blade at the mech-dragon.

An explosion of sound and flame kicked behind Corona as she flew toward the machine aeon.

The dragon reacted to the sound, wriggling the plethora of teeth in his chest, sending the sensation down into his chain tail. Bahxolomer whipped his hind limb, missing her legs as she propelled herself in a smooth motion of lgith. Arcing the appendage upward, the dragon's piercing shriek rang out, and he sent the silver spear-tail in a wild twist, forcing Corona to throw her two-handed plasma sword over her head in defense. She deflected the tail to her side, but she had been halted at a dangerous distance. Bahxolomer's clawed wings reached in to tear at her, and she threw her blade down in a hammering swipe.

One of the dragon's wings suffered the pain of the plasma blade, having the claw tip slashed off entirely, but the other wing slashed open a dripping wound across the side of her ribs. Corona pressed further at the dragon, taking a second rake of claws against her midsection as Bahxolomer brought in his uninjured wing to defend himself.

A sound not unlike a sledgehammer against a sheet of metal echoed from the right arm socket of Bahxolomer, the limb having been sheared off at the same time that his wing had been deflected. The dragon hissed at the sight of two plasma blades, one extending from each of her hands, and Bahxolomer whipped a gust of materia-enhanced wind at the blazing woman. The gusts did little but shove Corona back and scratch at the surface of her skin. The three hair-extensions swaying gently at the back of her head flexed in a tense hesitance.

Wisdom from the Phoenix's ancient presence allowed the Rikku-half of the aeon to perceive shifts in the flow of battle more readily than she ever could before. Something was unusual about the mech-dragon, Bahxolomer, coursing with more power than before through the thick tubes coiled around the curved muscle and plating, giving the amber and silver portions a more menacing glow.

Bahxolomer flapped its wings, covering an immense amount of ground in an instant. The dragon dove low in an unexpected feint. Corona somersaulted, swinging her blades at the narrow area where one of the creature's silver wings was attached to its back. A cloudy distortion appeared within the confined circular gap of metal segments behind Bahxolomer's head. The energy pulled Corona out of her somersault, and although she sliced half way through the dragon's wing joint, Bahxolomer's tail wrapped around one of her legs, shredding through flesh as the dragon twisted and pulled the appendage.

Rikku screamed in pain and instinctively ignited herself until flames exploded all along her body. Her robe was half destroyed as the dragon's hind appendage shuddered and flailed, the sharp edges melting into dull lumps of hard silver hide. Using the fire as a source of propelling motion, Corona distanced herself from the dragon. Her leg, upon a glance, was cauterized, but nearly useless. She could not stand on it, and her ability to hover was hindered by the grotesque remains of her leg, still damp with blood and showing exposed bone in several jagged rings where the worst damage had been done.

As she gazed at the combination of Alexander and Bahamut, the dragon aeon regarded its limp left wing. The arm that remained on the dragon separated as it did before, an arsenal of machines housed within it. With rifle bursts of magic and energy, Bahxolomer removed its damaged wing entirely, and once more the creature basked in a more powerful aura as dark blood dripped down its back.

Corona understood. The less that remained of it, the more power that could be distributed to what _did_ remain. The disadvantage of losing a limb was not a handicap to the dragon of light.

In a prismatic flash, the machine beast was bearing down upon her. Corona thrust the white-hot plasma blades and ignited her entire body, but the impaling spike that formed the cranial plating of the dragon was dense enough to deflect what its tail had failed to withstand. The sharp protrusion of Bahxolomer's head plunged just to the side of Corona's windpipe. Shock and trauma overcame Rikku's thoughts, dimming her plasma blades and her bodily fire until they no longer posed a threat to the dragon, leaving her with nothing more than a dark red coat of skin that grew redder with her own essence spilling in a growing river from her neck. She began to flail in panic, and her hand was caught in the breast of wriggling teeth covering the dragon's torso. The hungry maw delighted in its meal and chewed vigorously. It grew worse as Bahxolomer's remaining arm opened fire directly into her midsection, slowly destroying flesh, then muscle.

The silver spear of Bahxolomer's skull drover further up into Corona's throat, splashing blood out of her mouth and down her breasts as the dragon clamped its teeth against her neck, fighting to snap the bone. Though Corona's hand was deep within the toothy maw of the dragon's chest, the deceptive lack of importance in that part of the dragon's body rending her arm of flesh. Soon the limb would snap, and Bahxolomer would rip it off just as she had severed his. She struggled with her other arm against Bahxolomer's clawed wing, her body burning from materia weapons as her abdomen was shredded open through to her backside.

A maddening pulse disturbed her fading sight. Alpha Corona focused all of her rage into a single action, sacrificing everything but her free arm. Just within her reach, along the length of the spike sticking through her neck, she gripped his third eye, squeezed, and thought of nothing but burning stars in the vastness of space.

Corona's hand melted the dragon's eye and dug even deeper, incinerating the inside of his skull. Molten mechanical flesh seeped through the dragon's teeth, dripping into Corona's mangled throat and down her chest, sizzling against the cupped metal covering her breasts as the dragon's liquified head mixed with her blood. Bahxolomer's other eyes dissolved in small streams of lava, and finally, after writhing and screeching against Corona's neck, the creature's head became lifeless husk.

The weight of the dragon toppled onto her, smashing against the onyx pillar, where Alpha Corona also stopped moving, even as more of the molten metal of the dragon's head spilled into her openly devoured throat. Both aeons faded into a pale, lifeless gray dust, blown away as the flow of magic came to an end.


	93. Brotherhood, Part III

**Chapter 93 - Brotherhood, Part III**

X, Protoman, Raven and Zelda emerged from the silvery ashes of their fallen aeons, all stunned and bloodied from fresh contusions and lacerations. Their wounds did not entirely match the gore and horror that they had experienced inside the bodies of their aeons, but the damage was still devastating.

Raven knew her left leg was broken below the knee, and the blows that Alpha Corona had taken now left one of the dark girl's eyes swollen shut. Her mind was a frantic haze, sensing X's presence but unable to clearly pinpoint him with natural eyesight or telepathy. Her left side throbbed with violent arcs of pain that shorted out her muscles, dropping her into a deformed dip of the reshaped onyx beneath her. When her hand rubbed at the wound on her side, it was damp and warm. She shouted with a cracked voice for the Hero of Time.

Mega Man struggled to find her, to hear where her voice was coming. The burns from Bahxolomer's final assault had singed him from head to toe, and he could feel the stinging pain beneath his armor as well as on the surface. Worse than that, X could barely see anything, and his wrist and Buster were damaged severely, inoperable, pierced through and dripping hot liquid onto the onyx surface beneath him. If he was injured that badly, then what of Zelda and Protoman? Of the two, Protoman could survive such damage, but the princess...

X's vision began to clear as the cool air eased his pain, and the pale flesh of a human arm was rushing toward him. He failed to react fast enough.

"Nayru's Barrier!" Zelda shouted, fiercely clutching X's face with her palm, though the contact only lasted for a moment. A iridescent diamond shell formed around Mega Man, separating the two of them as it encased the reploid inside. X immediately fought back, striking the shifting wall with slices from the Master Sword, lightning materia magic, and eventually his fists, but the barrier held strong.

Raven heard his anguish, and the adrenaline surge ached in every part of her body as she reached one knee, but no further with a broken shin, expending nearly all that the burst of anger and desperation had given her as pain flooded in with agonizing aches and piercing throbs.

X stopped and looked closely, seeing the lack of color in Zelda's flesh, but the infected plum streaks had thrived, expanding across the entirety of her neck and face. Her other arm wavered, covered with blood, and by the way she hunched, her abdomen and back had suffered injuries that were mostly concealed by her black ruffled top, other than a ghastly burn at the place where the ruffles had once crossed diagonally at the center of her torso.

Raven stumbled in a half-hover, half crawl toward X, unwilling to accept that she couldn't protect him.

A flood of golden particles blinded Raven as the solid form of Protoman became whole. He had intercepted her, standing firmly between her and the Hero. Raven's throat caught, her stomach ill at the sight of him. With her working eye, it was clear that he was badly injured, riddled with cracks, burns and blood, but he did not show it. Even a decayed and bleeding section of his face where part of a metallic jaw was exposed did not seem to faze the Sage of Light. His golden scarf was disheveled and stained, yet unscratched, and he flicked the article behind his back protectively. Though Raven's ultimate concern was X, she felt a slight pang of relief for herself upon seeing the reploid's mangled energy blade arm, which now emitted nothing more than sparks.

Of course, Protoman had many other ways of killing her.

The Sage of Light aimed the hooked white Brotherhood sword at her, a fitting weapon with or without his reploid saber. "Now it is just you and I, girl," he snarled. "Witness your Hero of Time fall."

"No, Protoman!" X entreated his brother from inside the prison. "Look what you've done to Zelda! She's a Maver-_rrragh_!"

The lighting inside the blue crystal attacked his chest, scorching and overloading him inside and out. X screamed in pain before collapsing, mechanically crackling huffs of smoke inside Zelda's crystalline prison. Raven stayed her urge to help him, knowing that Protoman, the first reploid in existence, would not be so easily moved aside.

The Sage of Darkness backed away. She knew that the passing seconds of their confrontation would soon evaporate, and Protoman would charge, far faster and stronger than she could defend against. What was he waiting for? Satisfaction to sink in? Or was he more injured than he appeared? Not that it mattered, for the elder Reploid stood, and that was something Raven could not achieve. For a fraction of a second, she shut her eyes and sought within her heart as the Brotherhood blade slowly came closer to her.

It was for X that she fought for. She loved him more than she knew how to express. He was her savior, many times over. He was her companion and friend. Since their first meeting, his kindness was a beacon of understanding, transcendent over the Titan youths that so often failed to reach the real person beneath her cloak. X was her light in the darkness, and the light of the world, the universe. In that moment, Raven knew the reploid she fought along aside needed her help more than any other time. She was the Sage of Darkness, and their enemy was one of their allies, the Sage of Light. Together, she and X had to end the strife between those of the Triforce.

Raven's thoughts condensed together in an unreal possibility. _Light... and Darkness._

A power inside her began to swell. The Triforce of Courage ignited on her hand, and veins of white warmth began climbing up her arm. The sensation had never graced her in all her life, never permeated through her in such a way. A heart and mind so clear, so focused, blanketed with warmth that no one could take from her and the confidence that her actions were pure. It was if she forgot the shadows of her past, her father, and the horrors she had lived through, instead isolated perfectly in that moment, where nothing else mattered.

In the palm of the Sage of Darkness, a small arc of light appeared. And it grew.

Raven squeezed, feeling the energy solidify in her grip. Without any strength left in her body, the pure emotions of her heart expanded into a graceful bow with dancing curvature in symmetrical beauty. As the string appeared, Raven pulled without any effort, and an arrow of pure, radiating light appeared between her fingers.

Knowing that light alone would never be enough against an enemy who already embodied it, yet conscious that the light inside her was their only chance at victory, Raven called upon the Triforce once more. With the golden marking feverishly resonating, coming to life vigorously, Raven poured every dark place of her soul into the luminous shaft aimed at Protoman. Ripples of furious black lightning curled around the tranquil glow of the holy arrow, snaking outward until they reached the piercing tip. The bond between the two energies appeared as a miniscule, thrumming pulse of gray just ahead of the arrow's point.

Protoman lifted his brow in curiosity. With one of her eyes swollen shut, Raven could still see the reploid's anxiety. She knew that he was fixated on the incredible weapon that she had composed of such pure opposing forces.

"You've merged light and shadow," Protoman observed, taking a step back. "Fascinating. But you're too weak to ever touch me with it." He roared louder in dominant anger. "Pure light shall overcome any obstacle, any enemy, and combined with the power of the Reploid race, I cannot be defeated!"

Raven pulled tight on the marble white glow of the string, ignoring the stains of sweat and blood itching against her brow. Barely able to keep her arm steady, vision still hazy, she stared up at Protoman, then to X, who watched in imprisoned pain, but he didn't fight to break the diamond shell of magic encasing him. The Hero stopped and waited, his faith willingly given.

"Who said," Raven struggled to her feet, tightening the bow as hard as she could, "that I was aiming for _you_?"

Raven twisted as sharply as she could, releasing the twilight arrow in the instant when its aim was perfect. Zelda released her hold on X and twisted Nayru's Barrier to her front, but the arrow of midnight sun shredded through it like brittle tinted glass. The spiral spear of opposing energies pierced through Princess Zelda's and dissolved into her.

The darkened veins spreading across Zelda's face contorted angrily, withdrawing as Raven's light and darkness overpowered them. From the entry point, even though there was no visible wound, blood began to slowly dampen her clothing. Zelda touched the spot gently, gazed at Raven in disbelief, then collapsed. As the infections tendrils on her cheeks and forehead receded, an expression of regret froze into her lifeless eyes.

"_Zelda!_" Protoman roared. He dashed blindly toward her, deflecting X's first swing of the Master Sword, but the Hero's follow-up spin and kick caught him squarely in the chest, throwing him well beyond where the fallen princess lay.

The sky rattled, and the onyx beneath them fluctuated, resonating in disturbing throngs of dark colors. Around them, blurs of places and people appeared, though only as fleeting images on the clouds. The dimension was opening gates to all manner of places as Protoman lost sanity and seethed in hatred over Zelda's defeat. Mega Man found a flickering image where he was certain he saw the rooftop of Titan's Tower.

"Take Zelda out of here!" X insisted. As he gave the order, the barrier around them began to destabilize further, blurring the sky into a diseased state. Tendrils of poisonous indigo began climbing throughout the dimension, weaving amongst the white pillars and bright blue expanse.

"Come on!" X urged, pointing toward the cloud that still held the image of their friends. "Escape while it's weak! I'll be fine!"

Raven hesitated, flustered with exhaustion and anger. She could not just abandon him. She couldn't speak straight, too distraught and bloody to fight his foolish instinct to protect her.

While Raven froze, conflicted with her emotions, Protoman was changing. Around his neck, his radiant scarf flickered bright, then dark, then bright, then dark again. Wings composed of gold and sun-bright matter grew from his back, elegant at first, but slowly expanding into grotesque, tainted things far from beauty as blackish streaks licked around them. Toxic black liquid pushed through the veins of Protoman's wings, bearing a nearly identical appearance to the alien life that continued to impose itself in vile, overlapping strands amongst the eternal white pillars.

A creature formed of oozing matter cracked and sheared through the metal on his back and began taking shape.

It was Zero. Zero had possessed the Sage of Light, stolen one of their sages. The second torso, arms and head were nearly featureless, smooth with violet ooze and streaks of gold and white climbing up the repulsive figure until it possessed a healthy glow of radiance and light. Soon, there was more light than darkness in Zero. Protoman's body seemed to go numb, a puppet to the master. X stepped back as the creature growing from his brother's back pulsed with muscle and dark, fiery eyes.

Mega Man faced Raven and embraced her carefully, but quickly. "You have to get Zelda out of here! She won't survive if she stays."

"You idiot, what about you?" Raven finally bellowed her heart's words. Tears mixed with the blood and burns on her face. "I can't leave you to fight him alone!"

"Don't worry," X smiled, his spirits strengthened by her desire to stay. "I won't lose!"

Raven exhaled, frightened and shaking. She nodded once to X, pouring some of her heart's emotions into him before she carried Princess Zelda to the cloudy distortion. In a final moment of care, the dark sorceress tossed the unlit Lotus Blade to X. He caught it just as the two of them vanished, and the small opening sealed itself.

The sky began to crackle with lightning. The pillars around them rumbled in earthy response to the ominous clouds that began to convene all around them. Bright light that had dominated the battlefield began fading, and in reflection of the poisonous sky, Protoman and Zero twisted and changed as well.

The dark veins on Protoman's face caused by the Maverick Virus had spread to his armor, and they even tainted the microfibers of his living scarf. The seemingly cosmetic accessory expanded and climbed backwards, attaching itself between Protoman and the Zero phantasm growing out of his back. The glowing wings on Protoman's bag had solidified, mechanical bat wings stretching beyond the reploid's arm span, composed of triangular segments with sharp spikes at the end of each bony rod separating the different pieces. Dark and light hues had hardened into a disastrous splatter as the last of the energies ceased their shifting glow. Zero seemed delighted by the additional limbs.

Wings and arms raised, Protoman and the abomination on his back both appealed to a distant beacon of ominous light, high above. Wearing a maddened grin on his face and bleeding the corrosive virus at the corners of his mouth, Protoman's wings lifted him into the air as the White Zero crossed its arms in defiance against X.

Golden power that did not belong to the parasitic being was slowly being sapped from its host, and X knew that Zero could consume the Sage of Light. His brother... no matter how much fault was his, X saw it for what it was. The jade reploid gripped the Lotus tightly in his other arm, jettisoning blue graceful flames of a darker shade than what Raven could produce, deep and rich like the ocean, yet violently hot. With the Lotus and the Hero's Blade, X waited for the first strike, suppressing his madness at losing another reploid, a brother, to the Maverick virus.

"_Come on!_" he bellowed in fury, a furrow of defiance on his tightened brow, unsure of whether his entreating challenge was meant for Protoman or the white Zero. He was conflicted, yet determined as he cautiously observed the enemy.

"Ha!" the two voices of the demonic amalgam responded with amusement that chilled X's spine. "You can't deny what is already lost. If you destroy me, then the Sage of Light is lost and the unity is broken. If I destroy you, then you still fail!"

A vocal burst exploded from the Hero, and he propelled himself above the dark crystal surface. With blades crossed, X shined with the power of chaos, his emotions swelling until his aura webbed outward with strands of emerald courage. The Lotus began taking shape beyond flames, tightening into a blue molten blade thicker and longer than the Master Sword, and the sacred sword of evil's bane began to hum a gentle pulse of pure white.

"Not a single soul more will die from this damned virus by my hand. Not Zelda, not Protoman. I _will_ kill you, with my brother alive!"

The two faces of the symbiotic creature shared tandem grins. "There is no victory that you can achieve," they spoke.

X hadn't realized what was already underway. The entire expanse of their battlefield had been engulfed in a runic circle, and streaks of light began connecting and arcing to various points in a cylinder, creating a symbol that began burning from below, catching up to X. The circumference of the onyx pedestal became a wall of white crystals, sharp and barring escape higher than X could see. Still, Mega Man continued his ascent, using his boosters to zip wildly at the last moment. Swinging his blades of fire and light, focusing all of his strength and speed into a combined force that unleashed a plume of azure and white rays, X was almost certain that he connected just before Protoman and Zero vanished into a matter stream in retreat.

Widespread throbbing numbed X's body and mind. The next sensation of crashing into the already mangled and uneven black crystal pedestal shook his senses, and he was immersed in the intimidating glow that Zero continued to nurture. It burned and chilled at the same time on X's knees and hands as he lifted himself to a fighting position.

Protoman's saber arm was a blackened mess, severed at the wrist by X's slashed, but he showed no inclination of pain or worry. The symbiotic pair began to lift even higher with winds and magic carrying them. The Sage of Light and the white abomination jutting from his back spread their arms to the light and sky, crafting the barrier even more tightly. Particles of intensely radiant azure began to bubble up around X's feet, crackling with energy. It became painful to stare at the Sage of Light, whose aura was fierce enough to blind a human being, and an increasing strain for a reploid.

The crystalline prison spewed thin strands of light inward, weaving diagonally, like hanging wires that formed a deadly mesh, and a spiral of pure white symbols with sharp curves began to swirl around the demonic Zero and the crimson reploid he had taken prisoner. As his hardened mechanical wings spanned a final radiance of all colors, Protoman and Zero spoke, bellowing to the skies.

"Grand eternal, bring forth divine judgment! I beckon to the greatest Light, shatter those who struggle against the holy chains of fate! _Shining Bind!_"

The crystal wall and thread weaves of light energy brightened, removing any gaps that remained until X, Zero and Protoman were sealed within the cylinder of pure white. The diagonal weave lunged inward with the sound of endless, searing whips, cracking with agony that immobilized every part of X's body, granting him no sensation other than the deep, mind numbing penetration of Protoman's light. The sensation repeated, shredding and freezing his body numerous times as the snapping energy ribbons thrust him upward into the air like a scrap doll.

A violent impact forced the air into a vibrating shudder, loudly disrupting the burning slashes of X's suffering. Though the thread weave of light continued to singe everything with violently surges of magic, X felt something touching him, covering him from behind, enveloping him in a protective fold. There was a presence, a living being alongside him, but he did not recognize the steadfast and wholly determined mind that had come to his rescue. Through squinted eyes, X could only see a wash of seafoam radiance clashing with the white aura that fought to finish him off.

X felt the embracing shield release him gently. The brief moments of pain he had experienced were enough to lacerate and sap strength deep within, corroding wires and exposing reploid blood vessels. The energy had been pure, brilliant light, possessing no true heat. Had the strange ephemeral glow – viridian green like the Lifestream – not come to protect him, X was certain that he would be at Zero's mercy, if not dead.

Below, the onyx crystal supporting X became visible again, though it was heavily marred with still-rippling arcs of holy energy. A plume of black splinters erupted from Protoman's landing, and the gelatinous white glow of Zero's infectious presence roared from the Sage's back.

"How is it that you still stand?" Zero demanded, Protoman silent. "Why will you not perish and let this be finished? Time shall collapse, bending reality in on itself!"

A flash of neon hammered explosively behind Protoman, driving him and the Zero phantasm into the pedestal with a thundering crack, and residual fragments of white plasma singed the pair. Tendrils of vile colors jutted from Zero, but the attacker had already retreated.

X's savior, ablaze with flickering energy that shielded much of her features, hovered next to him with her fists clenched and the tips of her toes gracefully overlapping just above the black crystal surface. Naked and burning with raw power, the woman's aura lifted her hair upward, which was pine colored and slightly darker than her glowing green skin.

Mega Man's eyes widened. The meager height, the slender but strong muscles, and the Triforce mark glittering on the back of her hand gave her away.

"Saria?" X whispered, but he was unsure if the Sage of Forest's body matched the unknown mind inside her.

Her eyes, though blurred by the energy amassed around her, blinked once in his direction, then nodded. Saria, or whomever had borrowed her body, squeezed her branded hand tighter. In immediate response, the Master Sword drowned out the remnants of the holy crystals and threads from Zero's binding assault, and glimmering warmth appeared along the sacred sword's blade once more. Following the Hylian blade's rejuvenation, the Lotus resumed its conflagration and slowly morphed into a hard cleaver of solid lapis lava.

In an instant of thought, Saria had empowered both blades and lessened some of X's wounds. Astounding as the action was, X sensed how deeply it drained her, whatever she had become.

Protoman and the Zero abomination cautiously stepped back, staring with hatred and disbelief at the forceful aura emanating from Saria.

X used the Master Sword to prop himself to his feet. He stared at the Sage of Forest, whose whole body was alight with the unique glow, though from where her power came was a mystery. Saria returned X's gaze with a fearsome expression that showed no fear despite how much she had expended to give him strength. Hex expression was almost completely absent, as if not a drop of emotion stirred her actions.

From Saria's palm, a shaft of wood pierced her flesh. Her nature blade emerged, more ornately designed than before, with raised imaged of roses and beautifully petalled flowers. When the weapon was fully out of her body, the bleeding opening in her hand sealed shut, and two sharp arcs of wood appeared on either end of the shaft.

Protoman fired streaks of plasma from his one working arm, and Zero hurled strange golden spheres at Mega Man, but X and Saria cut away each projectile with their blades. The explosions that followed the Buster shots were cleanly diverted safely to either side, and Zero's stolen powers of light dissipated into jolts of yellow lightning, but their swords absorbed the damage effortlessly.

A colossal orb of pulsing gray and white expanded from Zero's hands in a tiny instant.

Saria placed a hand on X's chest. "Get behind me!" she commanded.

Unquestioning, X did as she said and let his Sage of Forest put herself in the line of fire. The sphere bolted toward them, colliding with a web of branches and vines the leaped from Saria's arms. Piercing well beyond her defense, tendrils of pure shadow and surges of crackling light collided with her bright aura, each hit sounding like a fracture of stone. X was barely out of range.

Mega Man had been sure that no part of the attack had touched him, but he felt a sudden drain weighing his body down, worsening the fatigue he already suffered.

"You cannot fuel her forever, Hero of Time!" the melded two snarled.

X wondered if that was true. Sparing a moment between clashes to glance at his Triforce mark, he could see that it indeed pulsed with intensity, but it also wavered, inconsistent, growing weak as she did, and more so when X focused his thoughts on Saria.

Zero was right. X's arms responded well despite his Buster being inoperable, but the servos and complex hydraulics of his legs were massively damaged even with Saria's help. With boosters out of operation too, strength fading, and the use of chaos control not an available option, X was severely limited in the ways that he could use the Master Sword's great light, and there was no telling how long he could hold out while also being the anchor to Saria's strength, however that had occurred.

X swung the Master Sword twice, tapping into the magic of the blade. The cleaving slashes released arcs of energy that whipped outward, revolving in cycloids toward their targets. Protoman and Zero dissolved once more, distant enough so that the Master Sword's projectiles were easy to avoid. The waste caused X to growl in frustration, as if the poor choice of attack was somehow letting down his brother.

"Saria, you know this blade better than any of us," X pleaded, using his time to converse with the angelic presence of the Kokiri woman. "Help me defeat Zero!"

"Then let us take the Master Sword together," she gallantly stood at his side, speaking with a voice that was not her own. "He believes he can dodge any blow by altering light itself, but I can catch him. The window of opportunity to destroy him will be short..."

X held out the Master Sword to her, allowing his grip to slide to the lowest point of the handle to make room for her. "I won't miss," he assured, breathing heavily, understanding the entire unity of the Sages was at stake.

Saria, brimming with strength, touched the Master Sword, and the flawless, reflecting metal of the blade split with a white hot light, just off center along the length of the metal. The rigid streak, like a laser etching through it, carved a path from the tip through the deep purple of the sword's pommel guard, perfectly tracing around the three shards of the Triforce forged into it. With gentle ease, the handle separated into two, leaving Saria the shorter of the two Master Sword halves in conjunction with her Nature blade, and X held the remainder, still emblazoned with the ancient Triforce symbol.

"Wait for the right time," Saria whispered. "My heart will tell you the moment, and the Master Sword will guide you, but only if you trust me."

Seriousness washed over the Sage of Forest. Her eyes softened, her emotions bared. "Do you trust me, X?"

He stared at fierce green irises, powerful, yet vulnerable. Saria did not even blink, the importance of his response too vital, as were the moments leading up to his answer.

X opened his mouth to speak, but nothing would emerge. He glanced down, then back to her. After a moment, X nodded firmly, and he slowly closed his eyes.

An emotional swell of gratitude graced the lips of the Sage of Forest.

"_Thank you_."

X heard many things as he turned his senses inward. The swish of blades screaming through the air, the thrum of energy being gathered in reploid circuits, parried clangs of ultra dense wood and metal, and blows being dealt to Saria that she failed to stop.

Heat blasted across X's lower body as something exploded within inches of him. His body reacted instinctively, shielding his face and stepping back, but he kept his eyes shut. It strained X to act as he did, worst when he sensed the pain that Saria was taking for him, but he waited for the moment that she spoke of.

Immersing himself deeper, X focused on the Master Sword and nothing else. Metals beyond comprehension, infused with power that he might never understand, the sacred weapon of the Triforce always had a life of its own. Months ago, though it seemed as if an eternity, he remembered the moment when he asked the blade what it had in store for him. That answer had since shown itself, reuniting him with a past that he never knew existed, family that still lived, and a legacy that X needed to uphold, well beyond his experiences, stretching back to centuries before the sacred blade came to be in his hand.

X asked the Master Sword a new question: _What can be done for my brother?_

The Triforce responded.

Compelled more by the weapon he had discovered on Hyrule than by his own strength, X was flying skyward, aiming straight up as he watched Protoman fall. X didn't know what she had done, but the blow that Saria had dealt to Zero and his host reached X with a disorienting blur of sight and sound, ringing deeply in X's head. The Master Sword, more alive than it had ever been, led him toward the careening crimson reploid, but X did not rely on the ancient weapon alone. Combining it with the reploid mind he was created with, the Hero of Time slipped past the flailing Brotherhood sword and enacted a swift and fearsome blow of precision.

Protoman's shield possessed curvature to deflect any blade, but the tip of X's weapon stabbed into it at the perfect angle, perpendicular to the exact spot of impact. Inside of sliding to one side, the Master Sword caught Protoman's towering oval shield, cracked it, then penetrated.

The micro-mechanical components within the indestructible shield were never meant to see light. A chain reaction ignited, spreading cracks, then fire, then explosions from the end of Protoman's arm. He and X tumbled toward the black crystal, stunned by the eruption of smoke and dripping liquid flame from the crimson reploid's arm.

A sudden jolt brought a blanket of neon light over X's eyes, and his mind eased itself for the brief flight of Saria bringing him gently back to a place on the onyx pedestal that hadn't been scarred by battle. The crunch of Protoman's body striking the center of the platform was sickening, and Zero released a deranged howl of anger.

There was barely anything left for fingers on Protoman's shield arm. They bled dark and sizzling matter on the crystal surface beneath. With hands incapable of fighting on, the possessed Sage of Light fumbled on the bright Brotherhood blade, eventually finding something that resembled a grip. Foolishly, he began to charge, but Zero did not care for the life of his host as long as his goal was accomplished. He would drive Protoman to death, and he would win by doing so.

"Go, X," Saria whispered from behind him, her aura fading around her until it became only a thin layer of green around her unclothed figure. She was growing weak, sliced and burned in many places that the warm cloak of deep green could not conceal.

"You can stop him," the Sage of Forest insisted. "You must..."

X placed a hand on her, squeezing gently through her emerald hair.

"Leave it to me," X spoke to Saria as he stood between her and Protoman. The enemy possessed no more defense that X could not slide by, but Zero would force Protoman to protect him using any means. Hoping that his anatomy was similar enough to his brother's, X dropped low beneath the swing of the hooked blade of light and lunged upward.

A second squelch of piercing impact followed the first. Blood sprayed X's face.

Terrified, X's arm went rigid at what his eyes revealed to him. His half of the Master Sword was buried in Protoman's abdomen, jutting through a non-vital area, through his back and into Zero's waist, but the massive Brotherhood blade in all its bright radiance had plunged into the eldest reploid's chest, far enough through that it stuck into Zero's breast as well. The gaping wound dripped with blood and other dark reploid fluids down the length the blade in seconds, consuming the brilliance of the blade.

X gazed into his brother's textured white pupils, and they pleaded, Protoman begging to be destroyed along with the abomination that had possessed his life. The Sage of Light drove his blade deeper into his own chest, twisting it into the creature that clung with toxic presence to his back. Zero pressed against the blade, pushing it away, but it seared and bubbled the golden gelatinous matter that composed Zero whenever he touched the bright blade.

Protoman forced himself closer to Mega Man X and spat blood. Dire and desperate, there was hardened fear on his face, an underlying knowledge of what needed to be done, and terror of the hell that would follow if killing him wasn't accomplished. "I don't... want to be... a Maverick!"

"You won't be, brother!" X roared with divine assurance rising from his lungs. X ripped the blade out faster than Zero had time to counter, and he summoned the remainder of Saria's strength while sacrificing more of his own. Obediently, the Sage of Forest flashed in a blinding streak to Zero's back as X faced Protoman's crippled body. With Master Sword halves raised, they summoned the Hylian goddesses' strength and spoke its power together.

"Sacred blade of evil's bane, rend the infinite darkness! Free this wayward spirit from torment, and deliver the corrupted shadows to oblivion! _Divine Soul Shear!_"

Saria obeyed X's motions, and they both thrust a fierce palm, X at Protoman's gushing chest, and Saria into the golden matter of Zero's back. The blow stunned them both as Saria and X, holding halves of the Master Sword, dashed backwards, just as the silver metal of their blades burst into white flares of energy, vastly growing into pulses of calmly stirring, cloudy flames. In perfect unison, Saria and X dashed and slashed through the center of Protoman's body, crossing each other, striking so blindingly that armor fragments dissolved and Zero's energy spilled in streaks of ochre. Swifter than the first strike, Saria and X crossed again, arcing their luminous blades upward from foot to neck, incinerating leg and head armor, exposing the bleeding muscle systems and metallic frame within Protoman. Zero's ghastly presence screeched as he began melting away, arms first, into steaming puddles that filled small crevasses on the shattered black crystal below.

X and Saria spun once more within reach Protoman and Zero, and the Triforce bearers both raised their blades of white fire. The flames twisted, elongated, graceful and heavenly, beacons into the darkening sky. Taking the shape of massive feathers, together X and Saria brought the judgement of the Master Sword upon both of them.

As the feathers merged their radiances, time and space cracked, throwing gusts of wind wildly in all directions away from the Master Sword streams. Divine power swirled and erupted from where the twisted combination of evil and reploid were bonded, and it obscured the sight of the crimson reploid and his parasitic controller.

The dimensional reality that Protoman and Zero had taken them to was collapsing. Light faded, and darkness crept further, exceeding well beyond the revolting black tentacles crawling amongst the infinitely tall marble white pillars. Crimson and black streaks arrived with an ominous moan of pain from all around, dissolving the outer layers of the dimension with nothing but pure Deathflow.

A chain of explosions peppered Saria and X with tiny fragments, sending them hurtling away from the center of their assault. X landed badly and felt the weight of his injuries.

A moment later, Saria's green glow was around him, lifting him with what little strength the Kokiri woman had left. Nearly stripped of her borrowed strength, Saria's pale skin showed through gaps in her aura, and her fatigued but determined expression was fueled by adrenaline taking over.

"We're getting out of here!" proclaimed the Sage of Forest with less ferocity from her foreign voice. She latched her hand onto the crook of X's elbow.

"No!" X yelled, jerking free from her grip, though it was incredibly strong. "We have to get Protoman!"

"It's too late!" Saria insisted, having to bellow across the calamity of dark fissures rippling through the air around them. "You can't save him, X! Don't make the same mistake of..."

"He's my brother!" X forcibly shoved her away. "I'm not leaving without him!"

Exasperated but unable to argue him or disobey, Saria did not try to stop the Hero of Time any further.

Not pausing to observe the corpse of his brother, X scooped up the remains of Protoman, the charred, shattered, lifeless frame of the eldest reploid. As the sky fell around them, collapsing it in on itself, X realized that without Raven's astral abilities, he didn't know how to escape. He glanced to Saria, who still floated with a weak lime fire caressing her naked form.

"I can attempt to deliver us from this place, through the Lifestream. Hold onto me!"

X grasped her forearm firmly as she also took his. The short flight into the distorted clouds was a blur. Everything flashed brightly, and a moment later, all of the light twisted into a dark vortex, disorienting every sense that X had. The Hero thought of nothing more than holding onto Saria with one arm and keeping Protoman secured tightly over his shoulder with the other. Eventually, he blacked out, or otherwise he simply stopped perceiving what was there and what wasn't.

* * *

The Master Sword fell with a painfully loud clamor of echoing metal bangs, and the jade reploid fell after it, onto his knees on the roof of Titan's Tower, where he was swarmed by his friends and allies. The sight of them was as glaring and overwhelming on his eyes as the Master Sword's vibrations had been agonizingly loud. It took several moments for the spinning and throbbing to calm down enough for him to see the faces of those around him.

Where was Protoman?

Saria, also being cared for and clothed, glanced at X from a distance, a tender expression worn beneath the fatigue, exhaustion, and the last wisps of her green glow being snuffed out. With a dizzying nod, X tried to assure her and the rest of them that he was alright, that his injuries were manageable. Naminé tended to him anyway, pouring her soothing presence in without warning, a sharp chill that skittered throughout the reploid's mangled leg, charred Buster and other wounds.

Where was Protoman? The though passed through X's head a second time, but he could not focus on the idea for more than a blink, just as he could barely speak or comprehend the blob of sounds directed at him from the mouths of comrades.

"Raven, Zelda..." X eventually sputtered, finding that he couldn't speak without coughing on something sticky and awful tasting in his throat.

"Raven is fine," Nanaki responded quickly from Saria's side, but the wolf hesitated oddly before continuing, choosing the remainder of his response carefully. "Zelda is... she is not dead."

Almost inaudible, a mechanical sputter came from across the roof, the crackling, incoherent vocalizations of a computerized mechanism.

Protoman.

X shoved the many faces of relief and concern away from him and aimed his Buster even though it would produce nothing to defend them, not that he could have aimed it straight at that moment.

At the opposite end of the tower, where X had been standing originally, Protoman twitched, skeletal, stripped of his body, his identity. His armor was torn to pieces, destroyed, all traces of his semblance to humanity erased. A mass of dark titanium robotic limbs and weakly pulsing, dark reploid muscle, maroon colored fluids, and the weak glow of white, disc-shaped irises on a skinless face was the disfigured horror that Protoman had become.

He twitched a second time.

"Goddesses, he's alive!" shouted Saria.

Emerging from the Sage of Light's back was nothing at all, no foul presence feeding on his emotions or his mind. Only mangled, blown out fragments of metal, wire and synthetic musculature remained from Zero's perch. The abomination was gone.

Protoman stopped moving.

X ignored everything around him and carefully lifted the fragmented remains of Protoman once more. Nearly stumbling with every step on his broken leg, X rushed toward his ship on Titan's Island. He only faintly recalled the assistance that others gave to him as he stumbled through the Dreamweaver halls to the medical bay, hoping that it wasn't too late to save his brother.


	94. Brotherhood, Part IV

**Chapter 94 – Brotherhood, Part IV**

Reploids were never meant to fight each other. When artificial intelligence first became a reality in the world of Mega Man X and Protoman, it was treated with great care for fear that it could be used by humans for destruction or perhaps become a threat all on its own. Tight restrictions were set on sentient machines and their programmed ability to learn, and the ultimate rule of never harming another sentient being was at the very core of each robot's consciousness. Despite those precautions, war inevitably broke out among the robots and humans.

Over a century ago, it was not the fault of the machines. It was ultimately the mad programmers and corrupt engineers who were responsible for waging the horrors of mechanical conflict for the petty sake wealth, power, or simply to watch the world crumble to their will. The violence only grew, prompting the rise of a hero, someone to bring justice to those who abused a creation that could be beneficial and beautiful. That hero was the second reploid, a robot given sentience and full control over his emotions, though it took a great deal of time before that humanity was fully realized within him. That hero was a young but righteous machine named Mega Man.

Mega Man, originally a household robot named Rock built to assist Doctor Thomas Light, crushed the schemes of the criminal scientist, Doctor Wily. Time and time again, countless robots under the control of Wily were set to waste by Mega Man, an act that began to pain him inside. 'It is not their fault,' he had begun to understand. Mega Man knew that Doctor Wily was the one responsible, but that thought did not comfort him as dozens of sentient machines fell to his Mega-Buster.

There had been one exception to the many legions of destroyed robots who were programmed to serve Wily. That being was the first reploid, X's brother. He had chosen freely to follow Wily's legions at one time, and it was with great anguish that the memories of that time flooded back into Mega Man X like so many other events since he and Protoman vied for the right to wield the Master Sword. Of the vast sea of past memories, X's most painful recollection was the terrible sadness that Protoman's choice had brought to their father, Doctor Light, even though that alliance was only for a short time. For a father to have his son turn against him in violence... X could not comprehend what that could have done to the heart of Thomas Light.

Two days had passed since Protoman's defeat.

X reflected on his crippled brother, the collection of broken metals and polymers that lay within a healing capsule, suffering from damage that would have killed any other reploid by now. Through the thick glass, the signature red helmet that had been discarded at the beginning of the battle now covered what was left of Protoman's head, though the white, tri-point pattern at the forehead was tarnished beyond recognition with reploid fluids, dirt, and Protoman's own angry scratching, a reflection of self-hatred when he was conscious enough to inflict it. His reploid flesh had been completely incinerated, showing the thin red disks beneath his face instead of the cosmetic eyes that mimicked the human kind, and his teeth, stripped to the metal underneath, were mostly exposed, with only metal fibers and the hydraulic hinge of his jaws left to conceal them. Below his head, a skeletal collection of metal remained of Protoman. Broken movement systems in the neck were just the beginning. Armor had been blown apart on every limb. The engine functions and thick plating on his legs were destroyed, leaving barely enough material for him to balance on if he tried to stand. His torso was sealed in black, mechanical bandaging littered with nanites that allowed his digestive, breathing, temperature regulation and motor skills to still operate, but the bandaging was also meant to leave him with whatever dignity could be salvaged. Overall, Protoman's pitiful state left him resembling neither reploid nor human, mere discarded parts.

X wondered if it was his brother's humanity that had kept the rouge reploid going for so long. The two of them had been born not long apart, but Protoman was by far the oldest reploid. Having lived through all of X's hibernation, the fragile, broken Sage of Light in front of him knew more of life than any other of his kind, half a dozen times over. To live for so long... X could barely imagine existing through his own meager twenty years another five times.

What had Protoman experienced on his journeys? How many planets and species was he familiar with? Could he be responsible for some of the history of Gaia or Mobius? There were countless things he wanted to ask, but his brother's role as a Sage was more important than any of that. Still, X couldn't help his sense of curiosity from compiling hundreds of questions should he ever get the chance to ask them.

X's own healing process was underway, but it was far from finished. He had replaced his damaged Buster hand with a temporary, dark silver one that served little function beyond gripping things. It was slow and felt alien to him, also clashing badly with the various hues of green on his armor, though it was strangely comforting to see the Triforce symbol appear on it as soon as it was connected and functional. His new Buster was being operated on, partially by Cyborg, partially by him, but also by the automated systems in X's lab. It still needed at least a day or two, but thankfully there were salvageable parts from his old one, preventing the process from dragging on any longer.

Having stripped away the most damaged parts of his shattered leg, X had repaired it enough for him to walk on it, and he could put a fair amount of pressure on it, though certainly not enough for it to be battle-ready. Even though his leg had been the first priority for mobility's sake, he simply needed more time. Naminé was able to restore some of the Hero's energy with her healing wizardry, but the battle had left their other healers, Saria and Raven, indisposed in that regard, and the petite keyblade wielder ended up being overworked to exhaustion.

Two days having passed, Saria and Raven were at a point where they could heal themselves and allow Naminé to rest.

Something flickered in X's eye and drew his attention.

A red signal on the side of the capsule faded, and a blue one took its place, accompanied by a gentle bell tone. Protoman was awake, and the uncertain part of the healing process had finished. The Sage of Light would live. Once the sense of relief faded, X briefly felt anxiety tighten his face and chest.

The magnetic tubes supplying energy and regenerative nanites disconnected sequentially as the capsule glass slid back into the recesses on the sides of the device. Protoman lifted a skeletal set of titanium metal fingers against the edges of the container and slowly pulled himself upright. The reploid didn't speak, or possibly couldn't. Though his features were blank, Protoman committed most of his effort to averting his eyes as he struggled to maintain balance in his sitting position. With a very audible grind from his right leg, he forced himself past the capsule glass, but his weight, diminished as it was from so many missing parts, was too much for him. The glossy red armor that had comprised his right leg from foot to knee was gone, the entirety of his dense metal leggings having been broken or removed, and the nanites within him needed more time to heal the wounds of his inner leg sufficiently. Beneath where the crimson plating had been, Protoman's skeleton, a metal so powerful that it could survive a stream of lava for many minutes, was warped and torn, like tendons and bone slashed apart. His other leg still had a small amount of armor plating, and X watched him stretch the limb.

Movement in the other leg was good, thankfully. Protoman managed to stand with nearly all of his weight leaned on the better leg. Glacially paced walking was likely _all_ he could do. One step at a time, Protoman headed for the exit, both of the medical wing and the Dreamweaver, ignoring Mega Man's presence.

"You're going to see her?" X asked, calmly.

X figured there would be no response; Protoman's vocal processor and tongue were ruined. Nevertheless, the elder reploid stopped for a brief second and emitted a small, metallic hiss, an affirmative.

"I'll take you."

Protoman's bare fingers clacked against his palms. Refusal?

"I can get you to her in seconds," X reasoned with him. "Getting from the Dreamweaver to the top of Titan's Tower at your pace will take an hour."

Protoman froze. This time the squeeze of his fingers sounded painful. X knew it was a matter of pride, and wondered what his brother would choose.

They held in silence, and the Hero closed his eyes, feeling very tired. For many beats of his mechanical heart, there was nothing between them. Then, he heard Protoman move.

X's breath caught in his throat as he saw what was before him. His brother's hand, extended to him. X didn't know what to do with it, getting up from where he sat, just looking at it. And his brother's face... something about it was strange. He couldn't read the expression with all the damage, but Protoman was definitely staring at him.

Mega Man took his brother's arm and enveloped them in haze of blue energy, pulling their molecules apart and reforming them inside Titan's Tower, in the doorway of their medical facility. Starfire was there, watching over the one patient currently inside, and she looked up at the two reploids who had just materialized. As Protoman's knees buckled and X held him, Starfire came to his aid as well, helping support him at his other side. Wordless and silent, the young Titan woman looked Protoman in the eyes. Without judgment, without fear or anger or even skepticism, she squeezed his shoulder gently, showing a simple warmth in her eyes. When she left the room, Protoman turned to watch her go, not sure what to make of it. Was that her acceptance?

Wanting to stand on his own, Protoman pulled away from X's supporting grip, so the jade reploid let go. It took many slow steps for the Sage of Light to reach the seat that Starfire had just left, but seeing Zelda up close was for more torturous than the journey there. Her golden hair lay quiet and still, splayed across the white of her bedsheets and pillow. She breathed weakly, but that was all. Protoman closed a hands over hers and hung his head in regret, seeing the consequences of his actions. It did not matter that Zero had manipulated him. Ultimately, as it was with all Mavericks, Protoman knew that the fault was his own.

Zelda's color had all faded, the fairness of her skin reduced to a pallid and sickly reflection of what she had possessed mere days ago. She did not look like someone who was alive. The machines reading her blood pressure, heart rate, brain activity, and the rest of her vital statistics said that she was technically still with them, but Protoman had to look to X for confirmation, as if the machines were lying. Her injuries were severe, foul gashes and broken bones, adding more guilt to Protoman's battered conscience. A plain, silver disc smaller than a fist and of reploid design was embedded in the flesh over her heart, ensuring that Zelda's life force would keep beating while the device repaired the place where Raven's twilight arrow had pierced.

"The technology says she's in a coma," said X, "but medicine, technology from our world, and magics from the Lifestream spirits aren't curing whatever is wrong with her. Naminé has tried, as has Raven. We're hoping that once her heart is healed, she might come out of it."

Protoman thought about that as he stared longingly at the pale face of his Princess. He touched her cheek with the tips of his fingers, and it was colder than it should have been. Though Protoman knew it wouldn't help, he spread his hand across the side of her face and neck, passing some temporary warmth to her. Then, he pointed two fingers at her forehead and gave his brother an inquisitive stare.

"Her brain... the machines say that it's all normal, except that she's not experiencing REM sleep, and that her brain waves are functioning at a slower rate than they should be. We've tried to induce REM and other normal brain functions with no luck, and there's even more to it than that."

X hesitantly explained, head bowed unhappily. "Even in a coma, telepathy can detect a small emotional response at all times, but Raven can't find anything. I haven't had success either. It's like... her soul has been shut off. We don't know how to turn in back on again."

Disheartened, and angry at himself for being responsible for her sad fate, Protoman stroked through Zelda's beautiful hair that, coma or not, was one of her most beautiful features. The textures of color layered throughout her long, silky waves were still rich with hue.

X left his brother with the princess. Whatever had occurred between the two, it was their business alone. When the swish of the automatic door to the medical wing finished behind him, the Hero sighed, internally conflicted, but strangely satisfied at the same time. Looking back to the previous day, there had appeared to be no positive outcome when Protoman, infected by the Maverick virus, challenged him for the right to claim the Master Sword, and all things considered, it also could not have turned out any better. No one perished, and the virus had been purged from both of its victims. Compared to the many thousands killed on Mobius and Gaia, Zero's possession of Protoman had been relatively good in terms of casualties.

Guilt pinged X's thoughts for making that judgment. Zelda may have been alive, but her situation was not a painless one, and the misery clearly plaguing from his brother – X could sense it even outside the medical ward – would complicate the final struggled against Zero. X refused to say it to his brother, but Zelda wasn't likely to survive in her comatose condition for very long, not with her brain failing. At that point, Protoman would likely seek personal revenge against Zero, which was the last thing they needed. Beyond that, Protoman was his brother, and X could not ignore the pain the he was suffering, regardless of how dysfunctional their relationship had been in the past.

After many minutes of uncertainty, X cocked his head toward the medical ward door. The metal clangs of Protoman's imbalanced movements became audible.

He emerged, slowly making his way to where X stood. Protoman regarded his brother, his _younger_ brother, with expectation, waiting for something.

"I want to show you something, Protoman," X invited. "I found something several years ago on our home world, and I never understood its importance, not until now."

The reaction that X received was disinterest, but Mega Man applied a contented smile to the offer. The display of positivity irked Protoman, if only for the fact that he could not even feign happiness. However, the expression also made the elder reploid curious enough to accept the hand that X was extending. Once their arms were connected, the red carpeting and black metal walls of the Titan home blurred into a weave of bright, wide spectrum light, then promptly returning to darker hues. Protoman lost his balance at the end of the rapid transport, but X kept him on his feet.

Cool in temperature and dim in light, the memoriam of X's artifacts aboard the Dreamweaver had one final secret. It was hidden more securely than the chaos emeralds, and unlike the sacred jewels that Shadow guarded two floors above, only X was permitted to enter. On the bottom floor, X headed along the metal grating to the far right corner of the memoriam's entrance, where a large metal case stood, showcasing the sharp and prismatic Dragon Armor that had been recovered from X's personal archeological study of a pre-industrial world. X placed his hand on the side of the case, which was completely smooth and unadorned with the ornate craftsmanship on the front of the display. When he removed his palm, a green replica of his handprint remained, and the heavy case slid to the side, leaving just enough space in the corner for them to enter.

The last secret of X's memoriam, guarded by another holographic wall, tingled in their mechanical systems as they passed through it. Inside the undecorated but well lit space was a large, cylindrical device, about two feet taller than either of the reploids. The majority of it was composed of transparent alloys thicker and stronger than any glass or metal. At the bottom was a wide pad composed of lapis and gold metals with complex, symmetrical lighting in the center, arranged in a series of slotted, circular divots. The top was similar in design and color, though it was slightly larger than the bottom pad, and a number of ruby nodules jutted symmetrically from the top. The only out of place feature was a small, black box embedded in the front of the upper pad that resembled a computer screen.

Even without the polymer flesh to give his brother free range of expression, X watched Protoman's ocular discs and metallic jaw halt all movement. Disbelief. Awe. Great sadness. Protoman stepped toward the large capsule, and as he did, the black screen panel lit up with a warm glow, displaying a crimson helmet with a white, tri-point symbol. Protoman's helmet.

X was startled by a strange utterance, one of surprise. The eldest reploid's vocal chords had been destroyed, but there were pieces of them left, loosely functioning, still connected to his nervous system. Using fractured components of his throat and mouth that remained, Protoman managed to create scratching reverberations to convey his thoughts.

"Beh... ur... deys."

It took X a moment to decipher the fragmented speech, but Protoman had no strength to contain his freely flowing emotions, which were more enough to comprehend what the older brother wanted to say.

"Better days," X understood, and he helped his brother closer to the standing capsule. "Yes... all those years ago... they were. We'll make more of those once all of this is done. You, me, Raven, Zelda... we'll make better days again."

Protoman croaked a few more words with his head hung solemnly. X understood the sentiment and the agonizing regret, and telepathy filled in the rest.

X's response came without thought, certain of what he was saying. "Of course she'll forgive you. She loves you."

The red discs of Protoman's eyes opened wider, brighter. His chest, bandaged to keep his internal systems protected, rose high, proudly, and he stood taller, fighting his limp as he made the last few steps toward the capsule. Responding to the reploid's approach, a faint green laser light scanned him from head to toe. It beeped softly twice, then scanned him again, shifting to a more pleasant blue hue once it was finished. After the device hummed in approval, several of the ruby nodules atop the device blinked in tandem, and the transparent barrier between the two pads was engulfed in a whitish light, erasing its presence as if the glass-like substance protecting the device had never been there.

He had been accepted. But that was not the true reward.

In a haze of holographic light, Doctor Thomas Light appeared before his reploids.

X had experienced the remnants of their father in this manner before, in other capsules, but the sensation this time was different, and not simply because he remembered Doctor Light as a father. The holograms from other capsules that X had discovered throughout his lifetime were sophisticated enough to interact and answer questions, but they were weak representations of the Doctor. However, this old man, stern and serious with a face and head of hair like fluffy clouds and a large, rounded nose, simply observed Protoman for many minutes. The many wrinkles on Doctor Light's face stretched and deepened as he appeared to be summing up all the he saw in X and Protoman. The first reploid could only stare in return, his breath uneven, almost frightened.

"It has been a very, very long time, my sons," said the holographic father of the reploid race.

Protoman tried to speak, but he couldn't utter the right words.

"It is alright, Protoman. You do not have to justify yourself to me," Doctor Light regarded his oldest with a hard expression. "I know that your life has seen more pain than joy, and the choices you have been forced to make have been a terrible burden that no one should have to live with. I only wish that this old man could have made things easier for you, but I was a terrible father. I never knew if I should treat you like a child or an adult, a reploid or a human. Even with Mega Man and Roll I had not achieved the right balance, but you suffered the most from my ignorance. I always blamed myself for your defection to Wily's side when you were young and I was still alive, but I knew that as long as you survived, you would find your way. Your heart has always been capable of good. And now, more than a hundred years since this capsule was completed and hidden away... here you are."

His cloudy beard of white puffed up on his cheeks as the old man smiled warmly at them both. "It has been much longer than I had ever anticipated, but you and Mega Man are finally fighting to accomplish the same goal, as brothers. For me, it is a dream come true. I have never been more proud than I am now."

Suddenly the doctor's face became saddened, and he stared upward as if there were a sky of clouds or night stars above them.

Protoman made a desperate sound, and their father shut his eyes. "This capsule is designed with upgrades to your armor and your physical strength, Protoman, but more importantly, it was built with coding to lessen the growth of your flaw, giving you more than twice as much time to discover a solution to it on your own or with your brother's help. However, I can see that the flaw's growth is nearly complete. It seems that you were able to stop it temporarily, but with so little time left, this capsule will not give as much to you as I had hoped it would. Still, every second I can grant is worth the time spent.

"As a final gift, this capsule will grant your Proto-Buster the ability to interact and combine with the power of your brother's X-Buster, allowing for energies that far exceed what either of you can produce alone. Together, you can defeat any enemy that stands against you."

Protoman and X looked at each other. X's had been removed for repair, and though there was so little left of Protoman's, they both shared the anticipation of being able to test the powerful gift being given to them.

A greater sorrow then dotted Doctor Light's wrinkled face and kind eyes. "All of the other capsules I have left for Mega Man X have already been discovered. This is the only unactivated capsule that remains, and so this is the final time I will be able to speak with either of you. You have meant everything to me in my life, and you are and always shall be my greatest accomplishments, as a scientist, and as a father. Goodbye, my brave sons. I have been as proud as a father can be, even in death."

The ancient man took one final look at Protoman, then at X. A warm, old smile crossed his face, lifting his great white beard in a way that X realized he could remember from when he was young. He had seen that smile many times, back when he was just Mega Man, and even before that, when he was known as Rock. Tears rose in his eyes as the image of their father faded away.

Their father was gone, left only in their memories.

X wiped his eyes. He looked up at Protoman, who expressed so much emotion with his mangled body. The lights of his eye discs lowered slightly, and his legs shook, fighting to stay upright. X could feel his brother's heart fill with regret and longing for those simpler, more peaceful days more than a century ago.

"This was his final gift," Mega Man angled his brow toward the capsule from Doctor Light. "It was meant for you. We need you, Protoman. No one else can be the Sage of Light. You know that, and so does Zelda."

Protoman responded to the princess's name. His fists tightened, and a rasp of air expanded the black bandages covering his chest. Aiming his palm at Mega Man, refusing any sort of aid, Protoman climbed slowly climbed into the capsule. Turning to face his younger brother, Protoman stood strong, allowing the vast light from their father's gift to envelop him.

X, knowing that the repair would take some time, decided to leave the eldest reploid in peace. They had much to think about, and though they shared design, blood, and the same father, X decided that the thoughts that weighed heavily on their minds would be best contemplated alone.

At the top of the memoriam, Shadow stood, arms crossed as was often the case, in front of the collection of materia orbs. The black hedgehog nodded, having seen and heard what had happened, granting the Hero of Time isolation with the chaos emeralds. X, realizing how significant the gesture was, bowed with respect to Shadow. Without so much as a word, Shadow left the memoriam, and X climbed over the showcase of materia so he could meditate in silence with the sacred jewels while he waited for his brother's transformation to finish.


	95. Before the Storm

**Chapter 95 – Before the Storm**

X quietly watched the streets as automobiles packed the roads, citizens herding out of the city that they worked and lived in with pride. It had taken heavy pressure from he and Robin to convince so many thousands of people to evacuate for a non-specific amount of days, or perhaps even weeks. The event had become an international matter of politics and law, televised heavily and supported by almost no one, but Earth's governmental squabbles didn't concern the Hero of Time, the Sages, or the Titans, who gladly risked their reputations. After all, the Titans comprehended what was coming, but all that could be said to the people of Earth was that they would likely not survive if they stayed in the vicinity.

X had known for some time that Zero would come to settle things at Titan's Island. The small piece of fertile land rising from the bay and overlooking the beautiful ocean was where everything had started, first with X becoming inexplicably linked with the dark sorceress girl who meant more to him than any other person he had known. The meeting between Zero and Raven then bound the strings of fate between all three of them, and they would end as they had begun. With a battleground that the Titans all knew well, they had the home advantage. Even if it meant the destruction of the entire city in the process, the tradeoff of having familiar terrain, whatever it was worth, was welcome if it meant protecting the fabric of time.

It took two days for the many vehicles to flood out, and as the sun started descending into its ritual of painting the evening sky with roses and warmth, X continued to watch from the same high building edge, seeing the occasional straggler take off with a solitary purr of their fossil fuel engine. As the sun finished painting its canvas of colors into night, the city had become a ghost of its former self, comparatively dead in silence.

It would not happen that night, but what of tomorrow?

Raven had granted him total privacy on several occasions after the battle with Protoman, and X smiled as she recalled her hesitant but ultimately supportive 'yes' and the gentle kiss she had planted on his lips before he could even ask the question. His mind had been clear for much those two days, having much needed the pause. Though Raven was influenced by her desire for his company, she had agreed that everyone needed time to themselves, to gather resolve for the fight ahead and to consider all that was important to them.

Now, as Mega Man hovered gently down to the street, much of his thoughts that had been put on hold were flooding back. His brother's return from the past, Zelda's fragile and uncertain condition, the strained relationships of some of his Sages, and most of all, the incredible fear that held his eyes sleeplessly open, afraid of the destruction in his imagination should he shut them.

X paced with soft steps along the center of a lonely road. A red light turned to green, sharing some similarity to the color of his armor. For a moment, he stopped, looking up at it with an empty expression. The light gleamed against his arms and the diamond in his chest, which were vastly different from just a few months prior when his armor differed greatly. How many times had he reinvented himself to protect the things he loved?

A sad sigh hummed from the reploid's mouth, and he moved onward. Many of the lamp posts were still on, and X saw his reflection everywhere. In a puddle, in the wide glass windows of shops and restaurants – they all showed him what he did not want to see, a frightened leader whose responsibility was to protect everything that had existed and everything that would eventually be. Though there had been many moments in his life when he had been afraid, none compared to the task that lay soon ahead. There had been so little time to speak his feelings about Zero, about having to kill his best friend, and he could not bring himself to divulge the thoughts to anyone, not even Raven.

After traversing many empty city blocks, someone shouted his name. X looked upward and noticed Sonic and Mewtwo sitting at a second floor, outdoor patio table with a white and green patterned umbrella jutting out of it. He cocked his head oddly at the sight, recognizing the location as a favorite pizza parlor of the Titans.

"Hey, buddy," Sonic called down casually, with a doughy wedge of cheese and toppings in his hand. "Hungry?"

X boosted up to the second floor, and Mewtwo telekinetically pushed one of the restaurant's cheap, plastic chairs out for him. As X glanced at the greasy, savory smelling piece of pizza with enough toppings that he wasn't sure he could properly identify them all, he also noticed the two potentially untouched cardboard pizza boxes sitting beneath the open one. When X spied another two boxes left empty in an otherwise vacant chair next to Sonic, he couldn't help but be amused.

"You know, I think I would like a piece," the reploid reached for a particularly large one. He could feel the oil touch his fingers, and the meat-and-herb aroma wafted into his nose as he bit into the many meats, veggies and cheeses.

Mewtwo turned to X. "Sonic has been educating me on Earth's more _filling_ cuisines."

Sonic waived a finger at him, mouth full of pizza. "Not just – _mrsch_ – Earth. We have this – _shmrp – _on Mobius, too!"

Appearing somewhat amused, Mewtwo was working on a slice of his own, topped only with tomato and red onions. The telepath's pace was much slower than his companion's, but even the graceful Spirit Sage couldn't avoid earning a thin line of discoloration in the short fur around his lips, which he promptly wiped away with a napkin.

"How badly did you terrify the people working here?" X asked, imagining a human teen's reaction to the anthropomorphic hedgehog and the very alien-looking Mewtwo waking into the pizza parlor.

The telepath subtly licked his lips and explained the encounter. "The restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived, so it was a simple matter to manipulate their emotional responses until they could get used to our appearances. It also helped that Sonic was friendly while I was controlling them. I don't believe that my first impressions generally convey trustworthiness."

"Well," X shrugged before taking another bite, "I'm glad you didn't scare off the populace as they were evacuating the city. And I'm also glad you two seem to both be doing well."

Sensing Mewtwo observe him closely, X glanced at his former teacher.

"So," Sonic intervened, "does that mean you're _not_?"

One corner of X's mouth turned upward, a tired and strained attempt to emulate positivity. "I could be better."

Mewtwo and Sonic gave their attention, and X hesitantly shared his concerns. He needed to speak to everyone. X knew that if the Titans stayed, it was almost certain that they would die against Zero. Even though the young heroes had been vital during many parts of the journey, only Raven and Terra had the protection of the Triforce to defend them against Zero's own share of the golden power. Beyond the Titans, Tidus's emotional detachment needed to be dealt with, as well as Saria's exceptional displays of power and distant behavior. Going against the King of Evil with two of his Sages in such states was a threat to the universe. X also worried about his brother and Zelda. If they did not recover before Zero came, there would be little means of preventing their deaths. Lastly, there was the simple but nonetheless difficult strain of having to be strong for the rest of his Sages. As the leader he was not supposed to show such weakness, but where Mewtwo was his elder and brief mentor, and Sonic his close friend, X felt he could share what troubled him. His companions listened closely, Mewtwo often contemplative, Sonic often responsive, and though the weight was not lifted from Mega Man's shoulders, his head felt clearer, emotions lightened.

Mewtwo clasped his hands in reflective thought. After another bite of his dinner and an appropriate silence, he gestured to X. "I never did tell you why I chose to teach you telepathy on that frozen mountain."

X's eyes flicked toward Mewtwo. Despite being in the motion of taking another bite, X stopped, placed his late night indulgence down and breathed deeply. "I've always wondered why you did."

"The entire scenario was more complex than you realize," Mewtwo answered. His dark purple tail waved more vigorously, and X was beginning to think that the appendage was connected to to the Sage of Spirit's emotions. "Your ship was never damaged in the first place. I caused you to imagine that scenario, and since you had no proper teachings in telepathy, you were unaware of my interference."

Mega Man's vocal surprise jumped Sonic, and the greasy wedge landed in the hedgehog's lap.

"So glad that's not fresh out of the oven anymore," Sonic joked as he salvaged his piece of pizza, which had stained his fur with sauce. The hedgehog pondered the cheesy casualty, narrowed his large green eyes at it, then shrugged.

X frowned. "Tell me you're not..."

The remainder of the sullied slice vanished, stuffing Sonic's cheeks, which he seemed proud of. Mewtwo and X glanced at each other, somewhat amused, and the reploid rolled his eyes while the telepath raised his brow quizzically at the hedgehog's teenage behavior.

"If only we were all so carefree," X remarked.

"I disagree," Mewtwo stated. "Our Sage of Wind here is a fascinating being, but if that had been your demeanor, Mega Man X, then I would not have summoned you as I did."

"What about my mind drew you to me?" X asked his teacher.

"Many things," explained the Sage of Spirit. "When we met several years ago, you were remarkably strong willed, frequently optimistic, relentless in your goals, and even free of much naivety that comes with youth. As your Dreamweaver hovered above the planet I was residing on, your strength of mind was such that I could sense you at that great distance. At first I was merely intrigued, but when I sensed your corrupting dark side lying beneath your sense of justice, I decided that you were worthy of what I could teach."

X opened his mouth to respond, then found himself questioning his mentor's tale. Sonic pushed the pizza boxes aside and leaned on the table, interested by the assessment of X's persona. They both considered Mewtwo's choice. The trait of having a vicious monstrosity inside seemed like an unusual one for a teacher to seek. Although X had the superior intellect, Sonic vented an understanding hum first.

"That makes pretty good sense," the hedgehog stated as he leaned on the textured glass tabletop. "But you'd never have known that about X without telepathy."

Mewtwo nodded gracefully, acknowledging Sonic's correct answer. The Sage of Spirit then waited for his former pupil's response, which came a moment later.

"You chose me because I was able to resist the darkness."

With a flick of his tail, Mewtwo proudly bowed. "To have known such adversity and yet never allow one's inner demons to fully take hold is an achievement that only the strongest can claim. As I bear a shard of the chaos emerald just as you do, and thus a piece of The First Evil as well, I have always admired your ability to fight the corruption within." Mewtwo glanced across the table to Sonic. "And thus, you have my praise as well, young hedgehog."

Sonic grinned widely. "You're not so bad yourself."

Amused by the simplicity of the reply, X and Mewtwo shared a contented exchange of glances, which drew their attention back to each other.

"Your company is always welcome, Hero of Time, but as you have already shared, you have many other matters on your mind that needing tending, do you not?"

A list of faces appeared in X's thoughts, marking the plentiful tasks ahead of the reploid.

"I don't think either of us needs a pep talk," Sonic remarked. "This whole thing with the Triforce and saving the universe from falling apart was pretty huge at first, but I'm ready now. I know what I'm fighting for."

"As do I," Mewtwo concurred.

"And we've both got _your_ back," Sonic added.

A smile followed X's thankfulness for his mentor and friend. The reploid finished his slice of pizza, slowly stood, then sighed optimistically. "Wish me luck."

The scene around X vanished as his matter stream condensed and soared into the sky. Flying like a beacon over the darkened city, the reploid headed for Titan's Tower, arriving there only seconds later. As the blur faded, a royal blue cloak and iridescent eyes met him. She smiled and embraced him, and he returned the loving warmth.

"Get outta my head, you," X said with a grin.

"Hard to do," Raven playfully retorted.

X widened his smile. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

The common room of the Titans was not empty. Robin was watching the news on the television to gauge the social reaction to the city's evacuation, hoping to gain a foothold on the political and public recovery that the Titans would greatly need after the coming war was finished. Starfire sat closely to him, mostly for moral support, but she also made sure to be in subtle but constant physical contact with Robin, which he didn't seem to mind. The alien girl was a beacon of positivity, but many of the nuances of the political game eluded her. Even with that barrier, Robin bounced ideas off of her, and her willingness to listen made her helpful.

In the back end of the room Beast Boy was ruffling through the fridge, and Terra was quite attached to him, frequently giggling at the things he had to say, but in a reserved way, different from before her petrification. Despite the mechanical remnants of Slade still buried within her chest, she had matured and grown strong. Even the torn love and severing from the physical world had not broken her, and she still had the youth to laugh at furry blue food items that had been neglected for too long.

As Beast Boy smiled with affection at her, X looked at him and at the other Titans in the room, knowing that it was their friendship and forgiveness that gave Terra strength.

X reminded himself that Tidus needed to be spoken with, then set the thought aside.

"Robin," X called, and the Titan leader promptly muted the television, allowing both he and Starfire to listen without distraction.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," X continued, "but would you mind calling Cyborg in here? I wanted to discuss something with all of the Titans."

Robin happily obliged, and in a short time, all of them were assembled. With two red couches and a few matching chairs, they were all seated with room to spare. Raven sat closest to X, but Terra also temporarily separated from Beast Boy to sit with X, marking the clear distinction between the two Titan Sages and those who weren't tied to the Triforce.

"All of you have been so supportive," X explained. "Robin, you're a fantastic leader, and you've been so patient in letting me borrow your Titans for my needs. Starfire, you've kept us all sane many times over, but you've done much more than that. Without you, a chaos emerald would have been in the hands of our enemies, and I can never thank you enough for that."

Starfire smiled warmly, the acid burns on her face barely noticeable anymore.

"Cyborg and Beast Boy, you keep this place functioning, happy, and full of good food, even if Tofu isn't the most enjoyable thing I've ever tasted."

The two appeared embarrassed but pleased, both seeming to avoid eye contact in their own ways.

"Because of all you've done," X continued, "I can't ask you to risk yourselves anymore. I think you should strongly consider leaving with the rest of the city. This isn't your fight any longer."

For a short time, there was uncomfortable, motionless silence. Their surprise was apparent. Even Terra appeared startled.

Slapping his knees, Cyborg stood. "Man, are you nuts?" the half-machine Titan said with a glimmer of defensiveness. "Ain't no way we're leaving you to all the fun."

"Cyborg, this is serious," X shot him a criticizing glare. "I know death is always a risk in what we do, but when Zero arrives here, death will be a certainty. Us of the Triforce," he gestured to his sides at Terra and Raven, "we have some extra protection against the worst of what is to come, but you lack that defense. Like I said, this isn't your fight."

"But it _is_ Terra's and Raven's," Robin rose and waved a palm of finality on the issue. "We aren't about to abandon part of our team. And you're our friend, too. I couldn't live with myself if I backed down from this after you helped us defeat Vile and the Mavericks."

Starfire stood with Robin. "I concur. We will not abandon you for any reason."

"Hey," Cyborg spoke again, "Raven is like a little sister to me, and this place is my home. I'm defending it with every bit of flesh and metal in my body. Besides, I owe you pretty big, don't I?"

Beast Boy jumped in his seat, overflowing with enthusiasm. "Count me in!"

Terra crossed her arms with a grin and jabbed X with her elbow. "Looks like you shouldn't run for debate team captain."

X sighed with a half-hearted grin that quickly expanded into an appreciative one. "Looks like there's no changing your minds. Alright then. I don't know how much time we're got before Zero comes, but we'll have to train even harder together to be ready."

"Ha!" Cyborg belted as he deftly smooshed Beast Boy's head into the folds of the couch and yelled, "Last one to the obstacle course is a rotten tofu egg!"

As the metal man gained a significant head start, Beast Boy pulled his face free from the couch with his hair wildly rearranged. "No fair!" He angrily shook his fists before shrinking down into a hummingbird and darting after Cyborg.

Robin crossed his arms with amusement. "Want to join us?" he asked, extending the offer to X and his Sages of Earth and Darkness.

"I'm game!" Terra shouted excitedly.

Raven regarded X for a moment, reading his thoughts. "I think some practice coordinating new abilities would be good since I have a close range weapon," she patted the unlit Lotus at her hip. "Though I believe X has other things he needs to attend to for now."

"Is that so?" Robin glanced at the reploid with curiosity. "Can I ask a favor?"

"Anything," X nodded.

"I hate to add anything more to your plate," Robin said, "but our Teen Titan 'intern' doesn't seem keen on leaving. He isn't getting in the way, but I don't want him or his research to get to destroyed when Zero comes. I hear you threatened him pretty good a while back. Maybe he'll listen to you?"

Gizmo. X had nearly forgotten little engineer's progress on the cure. He knew, obviously, that the attempts to create a vaccine or even a treatment for Mako poisoning hadn't been successful, which was why he had placed the issue out of his mind. Perhaps there was something that could be gained from speaking with him one last time before his departure.

"I'll take care of it," X acknowledged. "I hope you don't mind overseeing training for the Sages while I tend to Gizmo and other things?"

"Not at all, I'm headed down there now, and I'll see who else I can get to join us."

"Try Sonic and Mewtwo, they weren't busy," X suggested.

Robin nodded. Raven began to follow her Titan leader, but she gripped X's hand gently in parting, allowing their fingers to graze each other as she left. With a gentle smile cast his way before they turned the corner out of sight, the sorceress eased a little more of the tension weighing on X's mind.

Already in Titan's Tower, Mega Man made the brief trip to the lower floors where the science and machinery of the Titans was kept. X entered the laboratory that had been set up for Gizmo, a large yet cramped hazard of tubes and electrical cords lined with complex computer equipment. The pale white lighting was woefully insufficient, and X assumed that Gizmo's experiments might require a dimmer environment. The primary monitor, nearly as tall as the reploid, was off, and the scientist of short stature was standing on a milk crate so he could properly stare into a medical microscope on the long metal table that he wouldn't have been able to see over otherwise. A narrow, transparent tube appeared to be feeding a dark liquid substance into the bottom of the microscope, so, with Gizmo still unaware of or perhaps uninterested in his presence, X followed the tube with his eyes, leading into the web of differently sized, transparent conduits, many of them hanging from the ceiling. Though it was difficult to see past the weave of tubing, X spotted something centered within the network of pumping liquids.

X's expression widened, and he felt a surge of tension clench his muscles. A human heart and lungs were suspended in separate glass cases filled with a colorless fluid, and many of the tube endings were connected to vital points in the two organs. The liquid pumping through was blood.

"This... is a circulatory system," X stared at the lungs and heart with severe discomfort.

"They were from organ donors," Gizmo insisted, only sparing a fraction of a second of his attentiveness away from his microscope.

X glared disapprovingly at the disturbing setup. He tapped his foot with scrutiny.

"They were from _dead_ organ donors," Gizmo added. "And they were _already_ dead. We didn't do anything crazy, I swear."

"Who's 'we'?" X prodded.

The little mechanic snarled and pushed his microscope aside. "Jynx and Mammoth. They sounded like they were gonna kill me when I asked them to steal a heart, lungs and enough blood to last for a while, but when I told them that I was working on a cure for a disease that comes from jewels that give you magical powers but kill all biological _and_ mechanical life that uses it, and that the universe and time itself might be at..."

"Yeah, I get it, they helped. But I'm not keen about this whole setup, stealing organs and such."

Gizmo pushed his microscope away once more and rubbed his eyes with his pointer finger and thumb, sighing with great irritation that he stifled with what appeared to be extraordinary personal willpower. "I already got the lecture from Robin, about both the organs and risking the Titans' reputations. The way I see it, stealing the heart and lungs was worth it to find a cure for this thing."

"I understand that, but couldn't you have..."

"Nope, already tried an artificial system," the mechanic interrupted, exasperated. "Doesn't work. The Mako particles go inert. Honestly, for stinkin' good guys, some of the loopholes you people have to jump through to make progress are ludicrous."

Ready to retort, X decided to bite his tongue. He couldn't disagree. The theft of organs intended to save lives bothered him, but the cause they were going towards was monumental. Compromising by sacrificing a few lives was unpleasant, but X had long since conquered the notion of fighting to protect every single life. He wanted the cure for Mako poisoning badly, for himself, for Raven and Zelda, and for all others afflicted with the disease.

X observed the temporary Titan, who continued to study Mako-infused blood samples, much of which likely came from Zelda. Gizmo occasionally scribbled notes onto a pad of paper to his right that, when X glanced at it, appeared incomprehensible except to the writer. Every so often Gizmo would inject a few droplets of a darkly colored liquid from one of several syringes into a small extension of the tubing just before it reached the microscope. A very long yawn halted his work.

"You haven't been sleeping much," X commented.

"Nope," the engineer agreed sharply. "I've been working at this more than sixteen hours every single day for the past week and a half. I sleep about four or five stinkin' hours a night. The only time I do anything else is when Starfire or Robin comes in to tell me to take a break."

X responded with a melancholy hum. The reploid couldn't help but feel depressed at all of the technology and research embodied in the single room. There would be no cure.

"I'm sorry to bring you bad news," X regretfully declared, "but we're almost out of time. The whole city has evacuated. You should probably go, too."

Gizmo paused, his tired eyes squinting together more then usual. He turned to regard all of the equipment that had been purchased, assembled and maintained for his experiments and research, most of it given by the Titans, people who were once his enemies.

The laboratory of Gizmo would soon go dark.

"Yeah, I know," he said solemnly.

"What will you do?" asked X.

The small man in the green jumpsuit heaved out a deep sigh. "Go see Mammoth and Jynx, probably. Cyborg's said he would help me pack up some of this machinery when I decided to go. I've got some computers and other tech in an apartment away from the city that's been left empty for a while. Guess I'll set up there and keep working on this."

"Thank you, for all that you've done."

Nodding as he diligently continued his research, he took a deep breath. "Yeah."

X smiled at the response, understanding Gizmo's resistance to compliments. Deciding to leave the matter at that, X left the little engineer in silence for his last hours of work in Titan's Tower.

* * *

Raven sparred with Terra since the earth-mover was the best one who could generate proper defense against the heat of the Lotus. One of Robin's staffs had melted in the center, making two useless halves, but when Terra's weapons of stone broke or overheated, she could simply make more. The Sage of Darkness also practiced tandem melee with Inuyasha, against the team of Cloud and Starfire. Inuyasha acted as the primary close-range attacker while Raven attempted to create openings for him with quick blows, meanwhile deflecting and driving off Star's energy blots from above. They all began learning their new partners and styles quickly, though making sure not to exhaust themselves.

At one point, as Cyborg and Naminé finished battling Beast Boy and Nanaki, Raven noticed the old wolf walking off on his own with potent emotion emanating from him. He rounded the stony outcroppings that jutted out of the beach, out of sight. There was no trace of Saria that Raven could detect, so he was definitely making a point to be alone. Taking a risk that she was confident in, Raven politely declined the next round of training to accompany the suddenly distant Sage of Fire.

Walking with a gentle pace and her hood lowered, Raven silently approached him. His sense of hearing and smell detected her easily, but Raven didn't hesitate at the initial irritation he exuded, for it was purely in his mind.

"Would it be alright if I join you?" she asked with pleasant warmth in her voice to be more inviting.

"That would be fine," he answered. His tail, which normally swayed gently in the presence of any company, and more with Saria, was laying weakly against the sand.

"Thank you," Raven responded as she sat and crossed her legs. She entered a state of light meditation, but she did not drown out the sounds of the ocean's foamy rise and fall. The sound of explosions, battle shouts and stone being forcibly rearranged occasionally echoed around the bend, but they paid little mind to the noise.

Conflict. It was the only clear sense of emotion she could gather from the wolf. He was remarkably good at keeping them withheld. "Were you thinking about your cubs?" the sorceress asked.

"What?" the wolf responded, startled. "Actually, no. I was not."

He returned to gazing at the water. Raven stared at his face well after Red XIII had glanced away, and when the wolf's long jaw tensed and adjusted itself, Raven let him be, returning to her meditative posture and demeanor.

As the minutes lapsed in front of the salty splash of the ocean, it occurred to her that Saria might be best suited to comfort him.

Despite Raven's telepathic prowess, Nanaki surprised her when he admitted his troubles.

"I am... seldom fond of water. Being that I am a canine animal, I'm sure the reasons for my incompatibility with the stuff are obvious, but I force myself to stare at it sometimes."

"Why is that?" Raven asked.

Nanaki exhaled, not taking his eyes off the rhythm of the ocean waves. "The reason is twofold, I suppose. After my mate drowned, I began experiencing periods of time when I hated every flowing, crashing body of water I saw because of how it reminded me of her death, and I have forever since been trying to dull that irrational rage and make peace with this part of nature."

"I'm sorry," Raven sympathized. Part of her was compelled to stroke his warm mane, but she decided against doing so, letting her words alone suffice. "We've all experienced death, but it affects us so differently. I've lost family, but I don't know what it feels like to hate rivers and oceans."

"It is a sensation that often reminds me how foolish we all can be," remarked the wolf. He seemed depressed, the creeping tones of sadness seeping into his eloquent speech.

Raven ran her fingers through the sand, thinking. "What was the second reason?"

A small, frustrated growl came from Red XIII. "To remind myself that the forces of nature are to be respected and feared, and that they can take anyone from us when time sees fit."

Raven nodded at that, and she gently placed a hand at his shoulders, as a friend.

"You have been quite selfless in your desire to know me better since we met on Gaia," remarked the Sage of Fire. "May I ask about your experiences with death? I would like to know what your personal 'ocean' is, if it wouldn't be too much to broach the subject."

Raven relaxed her eyes, if only for a moment, to reflect on her darkness that no longer loomed over her, having become all but memory after having met X. The pain still existed, making the sorceress wary of the joy that people like Starfire possessed, fearing what could happen to such happy people when devastation reared its unavoidable countenance.

"My mother died long ago. I killed my own father, a monstrous demon who raped my mother, which resulted in my birth. In my time with the Teen Titans, I've watched a lot of innocent people die in accidents or from our enemies. With my healing powers, I've tried to save people as they died in my arms, and there have been others who survived miraculously despite how certain I was that they wouldn't make it. I saw the slaughter of Icicle Village on your world, and I killed sentient Mavericks on X's world when they attacked. The list keeps going, but, after all of that... I suppose my 'ocean' is the very happiness that I now embrace."

The Sage of Fire nodded at that. "After so much pain, you fear happiness."

"Mmhm. It may sound odd, but a part of me, the small part that still resides in the darkness, warns me of what I've chosen. When I hid in the shadows of emotion, the pain I suffered when an innocent bystander died in my arms was tolerable. By allowing myself to be happy, openly and truly happy, I risk more than I want to acknowledge. Seeing all of the death on Echidnopolois at the hands of Balk and Rayquaza... it was very difficult for me. If we hadn't had that week aboard the Dreamweaver to return to Earth, I might still be withdrawn and sullen, plagued with guilt that we didn't do more to stop the atrocities there. Before I met X, when I was ridding myself of emotional attachments, I could have rationally accepted that we had saved lives despite how many already died and left it at that."

The longer she spoke, the longer Raven became distraught by all the death she had witnessed or had been a part of. She had to stop, breathe deeply, and reminder herself of all they fought for.

Nanaki rose to all fours and positioned himself between her and the ocean. "X must be very special for you to accept such horror when you possess an alternative."

"He is," Raven smiled, still a little uneasy. "And, I don't mean to change the subject, but may I... make an observation? A personal one?" Raven asked cautiously.

The wolf thought for a moment, then returned to his hind legs. "You may."

"You went swimming with Saria on this beach the last time we were here. What was different then?"

A subtle rumble beneath the Sage of Fire's breath signaled his disapproval of the question. However, Raven sensed Nanaki's initially sour reaction slowly retracting.

"I... feel comfortable with the Sage of Forest," was his eventual answer. "I find that her company somehow... makes me feel youthful. She is a very intelligent and complex person, and she listens well regardless of whether we are speaking about the nightmares of Zero, my cubs at home, or of the nature that she is so fond of. Saria is also... well..."

"Beautiful?" Raven interjected.

"What? No, I... I do not generally consider humanoids to be..."

The Sage of Darkness could not help her amusement, holding in laughter with a tight-lipped smirk. "It's alright, Nanaki. I'm in love with a sentient machine. It's not quite the same as you and Saria, but I can relate."

A small chuckle rose out of the wolf. "I suppose you can."

After several passing waves of the ocean, Nanaki adopted a sudden frown. "It is also rare to find someone who can... empathize with being the last living member of your species."

Raven frowned at her speechlessness. She jabbed at the sand with two fingers, smearing at its perfect consistency. "Sometimes I feel like I've experienced more than anyone else, but really, there's so much I could never hope to learn in my lifetime. I guess I'm still a little naïve like that."

With a heaving sigh, Red XIII pondered as he watched the water. Raven listened to his guarded emotions until he came up with an answer. "I do not agree," he said. "You do not give yourself enough credit for what you have learned. Your upbringing, however different from mine, ultimately shares many similarities of loss, suffering, distrust, and loneliness. As you said... you can relate, and truly, I believe that you can."

The two exchanged a silent glance, and Raven felt comforted enough to stop disturbing the ocean-swept sand. They sat in silence, and the vibrations of emotion in Nanaki, though already well controlled, reduced even further. However, his calm was temporary, and Raven shut her eyes firmly when emotion began spilling from him.

"I must ask a favor of you," the wolf turned, standing on all fours with the hot tip of his fiery tail loosely lifted behind him. His jaw tightened angrily, eyes focused downward with a depressed unease.

"Please, have X speak with Saria. Today. My presence no longer suffices to ease her anxiety when she is alone. She needs her to clear her conscience of whatever she has been withholding, and it seems as though she will only talk to X. Whatever is wrong with her, I cannot... _relate_."

With a disgusted scoff, Nanaki jolted into a sudden pacing, and his underside expanded more rapidly with bitter, angry exhales. Bowing her head, Raven assured him that it would be done. The wolf, words quick and reserved, thanked her and moved further around the island, and Raven knew that his desire to be alone had intensified. Something about the Sage of Forest had shaken the wolf badly, and Raven wondered if perhaps the deteriorating mind of the Kokiri girl was worse than they realized.

A startling emotional pulse came from Mega Man X, and Raven reacted, dissolving into shadowy matter that soared directly for the Dreamweaver.

* * *

Mega Man stopped short of the tall blue capsule bearing his brother's helmet insignia. He had been signaled by the device, which indicated that its programming was finished. X's leg urged to start tapping impatiently, and he fumbled with his hands. It had already been uncomfortable when his brother had been in pieces. Protoman was the oldest living reploid, and his senior. To give orders to him was... unusual, especially when he remembered the past long ago, when he was ordinary Megaman, and Protoman was often his enemy and still his older brother.

An avian stream of violet night flooded into the room.

"X, are you alright?" Raven asked before she had even fully reformed.

A hiss of released gasses and softly humming mechanisms drew their attention. The capsule's cylindrical shielding lowered, and the reploid inside emerged, radiant with new power. Protoman exuded regality. The tri-point pattern on his helmet was composed of lapis lazuli crystalline fragments, and it had also been elongated, the emblem jutting upward and toward the back of his head. His chest plate had been thickened with crimson and gold plating extending down to his waist, but the yin-yang emblem was still embedded over his heart. Thick white gauntlets lined with a deeper shade of blood shielded his hands, and each brace was adorned with a rhombus of lapis blue on the back of the wrist to further accentuate his appearance of a knight. His armored boots were similar to the new gauntlets, with more of the azure crystal protecting his knees. The gray of his non-armored upper legs and arms had become jet black, and the golden scarf that had once trailed behind Protoman now draped over his shoulder guards as a floor length cape.

"Okay, I know this is serious," Raven began, "but you are SO shiny right now, I think Starfire would die."

The jet black visor on Protoman's helmet retracted, showing his white irises and an expression firm with the harshness of age and war. Slowly, however, he granted them the mildest grin that could exist on a person, yet the strongest one they ever expected from him. "I am glad that you approve."

"How are you... feeling?" X asked.

The elder reploid stretched his joints, flexing the new physiology he had been given until he appeared satisfied. "I am well enough. Father enhanced my components better than I could have expected. Apparently Doctor Light was resilient enough to continue advancing robotic technology even in the ill decline of his final months."

"You never gave him enough credit."

Protoman raised an eyebrow. "No, I suppose I didn't."

The Sage of Light, still stiff, slowly paced away from the capsule, testing his body's motion further. His energy saber no longer crackled into existence, but instead hummed with a pulsating pitch as it emerged from his Buster socket. Newly colored, the white strip of energy solidified, perfectly straight, nearly soundless when swung and pointed at the tip.

"We have much to discuss," Protoman stated. "About the enemies to come."

* * *

A meeting among all the Titans, Sages and Lifestream Spirits convened that evening after dinner, which all but the Spirits and Protoman partook of. Other than speaking with X, Protoman had been unnervingly silent for many hours after emerging from the capsule. He spent most of his time with Zelda, waiting by her bedside, though not entirely consumed with guilt and self-loathing like before. It was as if he merely wanted the equally silent companionship that she provided while he thought.

Cyborg and Starfire arrived at the meeting last, both having opted to take their meals on the run so they could help Gizmo finish packing. Once the two returned, everyone seated themselves in the Titan main room, at the couches and tables, many of them mingling together as family despite how different they all were. Naminé spoke with Shadow as they overlooked the moonlit bay, while Terra chatted with the other Titan, especially Beast Boy. Tidus found an unusual chatting partner in Cloud, and from what X could see, the swinging hand motions that went with their conversation appeared to pertain to their single-edge, large-style swordsmanship. The half-demon Inuyasha shared a similar blood history with Raven, and they discussed their unique skills as result of their parentage, along with Mewtwo, who was genuinely fascinated.

One thing that stood out to X was the unusual distance between Nanaki and Saria, though according to Raven, it was to be expected. The old wolf was sitting on the end of one couch, speaking some with Beast Boy and the other Titans, though he only seemed to respond out of courtesy. Saria behaved the same way, though more intensely. Sonic, if ever there was a friendlier person, was conscious of her resistance, so he made the conversation light and only occasional, allowing her the solitude that she clearly wanted. Saria's responses to the hedgehog were cold, sometimes ignoring him altogether.

X resolved to speak with the Sage of Forest as soon as the meeting was finished, for her sake, Nanaki's, and everyone else's.

Protoman stood near the window overlooking the bay, waiting for them to be settled, but he seemed to be scrutinizing his renewed appearance. The lapis jewels on his wrists and knees were more extravagant than what he was accustomed to. Raven eventually cast a gentle wave of telepathy, encouraging silence so the meeting could get underway.

The Sage of Light's face was hardened with more than simply his decades of anger, though angry he was. "The situation we are faced with is dire, and I have called this meeting to bring clarity to what we face. I have encountered Zero several times now, and I have been able to extract some information without his knowing, and I can infer other things. Part of what I am about to explain was pieced together from lingering memories from when Zero possessed me, memories that he never thought would be a threat to keep stored inside my mind since he expected me as either a slave or a corpse.

"Zero has several hosts at his disposal, and even if Zero himself dies, if any hosts lives, the King of Evil will continue to exist. Still, that being said, it is likely that Zero will save his most valuable and powerful hosts for last. We have already killed Sigma, as you know, as well as Vile and Balk. Vile and the echidna were not hosts, but ultimately servants. I also believe that Jenova, the Cetra creature from Cloud and Nanaki's home world Gaia, has also been destroyed."

Naminé stood. "Yes, we are reasonably certain that she was vanquished inside the Lifestream."

"And who or what does that leave?" X asked.

Protoman glanced at his brother. "The knowledge in my memories is blurry, but I speculate that the hosts who remain are a creature of pure chaos, a source of supreme materia energy, and a very deadly aeon. I'm afraid I do not know exactly who or what all of these enemies are with certainty, only that we will likely have to face all of them to get to Zero.

"Perfect Chaos," Sonic spoke with bitterness. "Zero must've taken him right out of Master Emerald."

"And Sephiroth," Cloud clenched his fists with rage flashing over his normally staid expression.

Protoman held a silencing hand to the two. "I agree that Perfect Chaos is likely, as is Sephiroth, but we cannot be blinded by assumption. There have been other beasts born of the Chaos Emeralds in the past, and I could not discern if the force of materia that serves as one of Zero's hosts was even a living being, let alone a humanoid. It could be another aeon, an incredible force of magic that he has somehow inhabited, or some other beast from Gaia's past or future."

Cloud clenched his fists, furiously fixated on the idea that Sephiroth had found a way to return, and Nanaki snarled instinctively at each mention of the name.

"You also referred to an aeon," spoke Mewtwo. "Do you know which?"

Protoman stirred in a sudden lack of composure. Many of the Titans and Sages twisted uncomfortably at the silence, lending an air of trepidation to everyone. "Of that, I am certain."

X blocked the image that Protoman telepathically sent to them, refusing to look at the monster that his brother spoke of. He knew. He knew the creature, the aeon slayer. Of all the enemies that they could possibly face, why did it have to be this one?

Few recognized the demonic creature imprinted into their thoughts, but all were shaken by the greatest of all aeons, the Ultima Weapon.

The master never does a job that his pet can do for him. When the end came, it would not be Zero who threatened them first. Of course it would be the Ultima Weapon. How many would die? X feared what would happen if he lost a sage. How would he replace them? There would be no time to find another. There were the Titans, and perhaps they could be sages if needed. But they would also have to fit the role. Cyborg and Beast Boy didn't seem to fit in the shoes of any sage. Perhaps Starfire could be the Sage of Wind. Then where could Robin go? There was also Shadow and Sonic, and perhaps Shadow could take the role of Sage of Darkness if he had to.

X winced, ill at the imagined ways of Raven dying and Shadow having to take her place. All it would take is one unguarded swing of the Ultima Weapon's massive sword. The reploid's knees wanted to shake, but he forced anger into his thoughts to keep them still. He leaned hard against his chair, sinking against the cushion-back as he fought the images tainting his focus. It couldn't happen. Mega Man refused to think that she could die. He shuddered, unsure if he could continue without her.

Tidus spoke his mind, though his anger was tempered by intimidation of the monster imprinted in his thoughts. "What the hell is that thing?"

Naminé answered. "Powerful, huge, blindingly fast, more skilled with magic than any of us, and practically invulnerable. I... do not know when I encountered the Ultima Weapon, but..."

"It killed me, " Cloud glared at the creature, his youthful features wrinkled with rage. "If there's any aeon that could match Sephiroth, it's Ultima."

Shadow grumbled from the corner of the room. "What do we know about its weaknesses?"

"Nothing," Naminé answered the irate hedgehog.

No one else had anything to contribute. The silence was toxic.

Shadow's response was an even greater snarl of contemptuousness. "How can half of you have fought it but not know what its weaknesses are?"

"Calm yourself, Shadow," Protoman insisted, which caused the half-Sage of Wind to bare his teeth in opposition, but he listened as Protoman explained. "In some circles, the Ultima Weapon is known as '_The Undying_', and for several reasons. Firstly, the history of Gaia suggests that the creature has reemerged many times throughout history, always in a different form, stronger than the last. Moreover, among the handful of small witness and survivor accounts that exist, it has been said that Ultima does not respond to injury, no matter how great, and Ultima's armored exterior is nearly impenetrable. In short... we face a complicated enemy."

Terra leaned forward and place her hands carefully on the table with a defeated respire. "As sloppy as this sounds, are you telling us that we should just throw everything we've got at it and hope it works?"

At that statement, X angrily pursed his lips. "No," he inserted quickly before the tension permeated the room completely. "We're more organized than that. Our offensive tactics might be limited by lack of knowledge, but we can definitely focus on defensive strategies, and we have plenty of experience with that."

Looking to the Sage of Light for mutual agreement, X received a firm nod.

Protoman began. "I will tell you all that I know about the way that Ultima fights."

The meeting dragged for many hours, and X found it difficult to tolerate. He willingly gave his account of the way that Ultima had nearly killed him years ago, which shared similarities to Protoman and Cloud's experience. Being Lifestream Spirits, the deceased Cloud and Naminé could not remember as much, but together the Titans and Sages gathered a significant amount of information about the types of magic it was armed with, special skills, and its brutality with an enchanted sword, the Ultima Blade. The briefing became less focused when X and Protoman discussed time magic, the slowing and manipulating of movement through space, as well as the gravitational manipulation that Ultima could use when it desired. Most of the sages were used to combat tactics and planning, but the list of various abilities that the monstrous aeon possessed went beyond any villain they had faced. It was difficult to come up with strategies for everything. Many faces hung low with exhaustion before Raven wisely called for a recess.

"I think we would all do well with an ounce of rest," she suggested as her own eyes began to droop.

X saw his older brother's disapproving stare, though muted the elder reploid's expression was, and the whites of Protoman's irises magnified as his glare thinned.

"Very well," he agreed. "One hour. Rest, and then we must reconvene."

Some slowly rose and stretched before exiting the Titan conference area. The Lifestream Spirits lingered and spoke with each other, and the two hedgehogs quickly departed.

Something was absent. Green. How had Saria escaped before the impatient Sages of Wind? X sought her mental presence. Like being struck in the face with a palm strike, he was instantly blocked. X shook off the disorientation; the last of the Kokiri had given away her location, sloppily failing to conceal herself when she pushed against X. Surrounded by nature, but not real. X became certain that she had activated the holodeck, but when had she found the time to cover the distance?

Raven placed a hand on his shoulder, her face slanted with concern. She knew as well, but X had to confront Saria alone. Accepting her support, X took a deep breath, then dematerialized.


	96. Impostor

**Chapter 96 – Impostor**

"Saria?" X called out to the wide expanse of stone, cliffs and mountains comprising the distant view on all sides. Overcast skies shrouded light, and the spires on the horizon were no more than faint shadows, as was everything else more than a few steps away. The air crept icily over the dusty plateau, and as far as X could tell, the flat surface of stone he stood on was literally crawling with plant life. Thin tendrils, a dark olive color, slithering along the earth, grazing past his feet and gathering dust.

There was a path, leading beyond X's range of sight in the poorly lit night, but only the plants themselves made it visible in the first place. For whatever reason, the sluggish crawl of the vines avoided the narrow walkway, giving X the sensation that he was being invited, but to no kind event.

"Computer, terminate program," barked the reploid.

A faint crackle of resistant static responded to his command, but the eerie overhead storm and dusty plateaus stayed.

"Computer, _freeze_ program."

No response at all that time.

"How on..."

_**KATHOWWW.**_

A cluster of vines ignited a mere dash from where he stood. The echoing lightning impact repeated itself painfully in the side of X's head that had been closest, and the vines shriveled, organically shuddering as their life force extinguished into charred waste. X made use of the lingering light from the flames as it showed more of the path. Dreading the possibility of a closer strike, he switched his eyesight to thermal imaging in hopes of finding Saria quickly.

Other than his own warmth and the remnants of the charred plant matter that quickly cooled, there was no sign of human heat, which was impossible. Even though a holographic projection could appear to go on for miles, there was no way that both he and Saria could exist within it more than twenty meters apart, or one of them would collide with the very tangible wall.

X aimed his Buster toward the sky. Firing a single shot, he watched the bright projectile fly away from him, further and further, until its fiery heat signature simply dissipated far in the distance. There had been no reaction, no indication that his shot had struck anything. His pace quickened down the deliberate path, tensing X the further he walked with the vines inching toward the way he came.

X called to Raven for help, first telepathically, then loudly to the sky when she would not answer. Nothing. Their link hadn't been broken, X still felt Raven's life force passively existing within his. Rather, it was as if she simply could not hear him no matter how hard he focused his thoughts or shouted to the expanse of tormenting storms. Something walled off his calls to Raven, maybe both ways. That meant an exceedingly powerful telepath had to be impairing their contact.

Alone, confused, and with no other choice, X followed toward uninviting skies on the path that the creeping plant matter departed from.

The distance across the plateau was massive, visibly unchanging with the murky skies obscuring clarity, literally chilling X as he moved forward, and the more he progressed, the more he observed the strange behavior of the living matter at his feet. Twitching nervously, the vines seemed frightened, slinking away from a point too far way in the distance. Not only that, the olive stalks thickened over time as their origin neared, dwarfing the thin tendrils that X had first seen. The reploid's focus and nerves swayed as the shrinking path and growing coils of nature lent him a sense of disorientation.

A voice, indistinguishable, but pained in ways that the reploid couldn't rationalize. Soon, the subtle expression grew louder.

Maddened, the whisper in the darkness did not relent or fluctuate like normal emotion. Sensitive to the waves of thought, hearing them pulsate, X winced as the utterances of the voice began expanding into reaches of hatred and rage and sadness and regret, throwing violently against the inside of X's skull. He allowed the pain to course through him, shaking his knees, throwing his balance, chilling his insides, clenching fists and grinding teeth, never allowing the sensation to stay in one place long enough to break his limits.

"X..." the voice addressed him with whimpering fear. A moment after, the delicate movement beneath his feet quieted, then halted entirely. The life force from the plants ebbed away as he watched.

"Saria?" the Hero of Time answered as he spotted a glint in the distance, a pair of tiny reflections.

"Saria!" Mega Man called, weaving carefully through the trail of vines beneath him. Saria's figure slowly came into view. Behind her, there was nothing but abyss, with the Sage of Forest's back facing a sheer cliff.

The Kokiri's chest-length pine green hair was scattered across her face as her head hung limply. Sprigs of nature and thick stalks, the very vines that had been crawling away from her on the plateau, covered her limbs, staining them with blood where they connected to her flesh. One by one, in silence, the vines of all sizes began detaching, leaving crimson splotches on her skin. X could hear the churn in her barren stomach, the need to throw up what little was inside her. His heightened senses picked up the sour acid on her breath – she had already vomited, and another mouthful of clear liquid languidly spilled to the ground. Saria's figure was ghastly pale, emaciated, with dark swelling beneath her eyes, splotched red cheeks, and her consciousness was wild with horrific thoughts. Thick, hateful emotions emanating from her presence became so overwhelming that the reploid had to step back.

"Saria, what the... what happened to you?" cursed Mega Man, but the torturous sensations sharpened at his question, overriding the distance he had put between them. The violence encompassing the Sage of Forest's consciousness projected vivid scenes into X's mind. Saria imagined not only killing herself, but_ him_ killing her, running her through with the Master Sword, breaking her limbs until she was consumed by pain, torturing her in pools of her own blood. The sound of her hyperventilating, squeaking out horrified breaths – X shouted and forced the mental projections back before they drove him insane.

"Why are you doing this?" Mega Man uttered between winces of pain and distress.

The bones in her cheeks were protruded as if they would cut through the scant layers of flesh holding them in.

"It's all... my fault," she whispered, barely audible over the winds pushing back from the cliff's edge.

X stepped closer, barely able to unpin his leg from the weight of her thoughts. "What is? What's your fault?"

"Everything," she whimpered. "_Everything_ is my fault."

X dared to close the gap between them. The throngs of suicidal images were paralyzing. "I... I don't understand... just a few days ago you were..."

The crumble of loose pebbles interrupted X, darting his gaze to Saria's small backwards step.

"I've finally got all of it out of me. All of the nature inside me, it's all gone. It won't save me, it _can't_ save me when I..."

The last of the vines rapidly detached from her, opening wounds that bled down Saria's arms and legs, browning her tunic with the seeping liquid. X knew she wouldn't survive for long without help. Materia's healing power would be risky, but he could try if...

X reached out with futility, frozen in shock. Saria leaned back and fell below the cliff's edge. She was plunging to her death, and X followed without thought.

The force of acceleration disoriented X's senses, blurring his vision, casting ill sensations throughout his body. He was a short distance behind the Kokiri girl, closing in a dive with the thrusters in his boots burning with desperation. As he neared her, X could see Saria's shut eyes, her acceptance of death.

Tunic cloth grazed X's fingertips, sliding within grip, and he pulled Saria in, drawing her back into the madness of life.

"_Let me die_!" the Kokiri screamed in rage, prying at his arms to free herself, but X refused to let go. Tumbling closer to the ground, X spun, placing himself on bottom. There was no time to upright himself and slow their descent, leaving only one option. Finally releasing Saria, X used his palms to thrust her upward with as much force as he could manage, slowing her descent and accelerating his own. In an imperceptible moment, the solid ground appeared in the reploid's periphery.

X's impact into the icy stone below hammered his body, leaving him deleterious but conscious as the fragile Kokiri girl landed hard but safely on top of him.

Disheveled splinters of rock pattered down, activating X's instinct to protect, wrapping his arms around the fragile girl as thunder and lightning rang in the sky above, and the two slowly regained their senses as the dust settled. The Kokiri woman was nearly hyperventilating.

"Damn you!" Saria began slamming her fist onto his chest, then his face. She swung with more force than X expected, bloodying his nose before she collapsed against the reploid, screaming in tormented misery, crying violently against him. Bruises were already forming on her arms as she buried herself in a ball against X for a long time, and the reploid himself struggled to move after the blow to his back.

Most importantly, she was alive.

"Saria," whispered X, a simple confirmation of his presence to help warm her.

As much as X wanted to know what was causing so much terrible pain, he forced himself to ignore his telepathy, giving her the rightful chance to speak what was on her mind. Every time she made an effort to tell him, she would only begin to cry again, even without tears left. The wind irritated her blushed, cracked cheeks and eyes, so X leaned to one side and propped himself on one arm, shielding her from the unkind gusts. Seeing the damp blood stains on her torn tunic and the already-scabbing wounds on her arms, X wanted to do more.

After a great time more, Saria had become quieter, calmer, but still too terrified to reveal the secret. So, X continued to hold her silently, inhaling and exhaling meditatively as he waited.

Then, when her heart's pace was less frightened, the woman of the forest stared unblinkingly at the Hero's Mako-green irises. "I... I'm sorry about your nose."

X's eyes popped open, not expecting that. The blood had long since dried. He wiped it away from his upper lip. "It's alright. Are you hurt?"

Saria could not help the multitude of conflicting emotions that overflowed and forced into her trembling, scattered expression. "Worse than I could have ever imagined."

Still defending his thoughts, X separated from her, allowing Saria space of her own. Tucking her legs in, she stared to the deathly hallows of the sky and shivered.

"I caused everything," admitted the last of the Kokiri, eyes dark and sunken.

X heard the desire in her heart to finally speak, and he made sure not to pry, letting his telepathy go deaf despite his curiosity and concern He watched the cogs in her scarred soul turning, and he remained patient.

Eventually, with a shake of her head, she spoke the truth. "I'm... not Saria."

X found that he believed her without question or skepticism. After the Sage of Forest fought alongside him against Zero and Protoman, possessing abilities and power far beyond her gifts as a Sage, X and others had foreseen this. Things had changed greatly in the way that X viewed the Kokiri girl, but the reploid ultimately found himself speechless at her terrified, sideways glance.

"I'm... the reincarnation of Farore," she whispered. "I... _am_ Farore."

"One of the three goddesses who created Hyrule," X remembered the tale.

She nodded with trembling hesitation. "I started to have strange thoughts when I first became the Sage of Forest, back when Link was the Hero of Time. The thoughts, they didn't make sense, like memories I couldn't possibly know. I tried to ignore them, thinking that it was just part of the Triforce, that all Sages experienced what I was going through. The memories got louder, more frequent. I started remembering small things from thousands of years ago, long before I was born as a Kokiri. Ancient wars, spiritual creatures, even pieces of the birth of all of Hyrule. Then I started getting stronger."

"It was the Farore part of you that came to help me against Protoman, wasn't it?" X filled the silence.

Saria shied away at the question, as if ashamed. Her chest started rising faster. "She took over."

"Took over... what did the Farore part of you want?" X encouraged gently.

Saria stared at her Triforce symbol, almost as if she was disgusted by it. She glared, teeth bared at the golden insignia, and she began scratching furiously.

"Saria," X tried to calm her.

Scratching became digging, gouging until blood began collecting underneath her fingernails. X snatched at her attacking hand, clamping her wrist. With his other palm, he covered her bloodied Triforce mark.

"Stop holding your pain inside! Tell me what you did!" X commanded, seizing the moment to impose the order so firmly into her subconscious that she could not hide any longer. No part of Farore or Saria could keep the secret.

"I was responsible for sealing Ganon!" she screamed. "I was one of the eight! It was my responsibility, but I was disgustingly weak, and I loosened it so I could steal strength from the Triforce of Power!"

X listened, his head racing with the knowledge she had just given him. Saria, the Sage of Forest who helped seal Ganon away, loosened that seal, and it couldn't be repaired. By herself, Saria had allowed the King of Evil to reach out and impose his control on others, eventually granting the Gerudo man of Hyrule's past access to Zero.

A firm reverberation of anger pulsed inside the Hero of Time. It was perfectly rational, but X couldn't believe what he was hearing. If it was true, then Saria had caused all of this. But...

He squeezed a little harder on Saria's hand, trying to remain rational. "You don't want power," the reploid reflected. "Why would you weaken the seal on Ganon?"

Saria tried to pull away, tried to turn inward where she could hide her face, but X held firm. "I deserve to die... I... I deserve to die! All these deaths, thousands, millions because of me! I deserve to suffer every one of them!"

A thin crevasse opened in the flesh of Saria's palm, and a sharp edge protruded.

The Sage of Forest thrust the blade at her own neck, eyes widened in anticipation of the killing blow.

Stopped short by the reploid's intercepting hand, Saria's signature weapon had cut beneath her jawline, just the tip of the blade, and a small stream of blood began seeping into the wood and plant matter, staining it pinkish red. A toxin began working into X's arm with a corrosive sting that intensified the longer he held.

"Saria, listen to me, listen to me!"

Fueled by the devastation of a century of isolation, Saria fought harder, pulling the sharp tip with more strength than her depleted body should have been able to give.

X found himself struggling as he watched the cut deepen, nearing arteries that he might not be able to fix fast enough if she sliced through them, and her strength was still growing. He matched her movement for movement, watching her desperation and madness siphoning away as her fatigue grew.

"Saria, stay with me... tell me why you did this!"

Their eyes locked, and this time, X latched onto her thoughts, binding their minds. If she truly was Farore, then he would have no chance of overpowering her consciousness, but if he could buy a little time, it would be worth the effort.

"My... my sisters," she answered.

"What about them? Nayru and Din, the other goddesses, what do they have to do with this?"

Saria's strength wavered, and X gained enough leverage to pull the weapon back, but the corrosive sting was slowly paralyzing his arm where the blade cut into his hand. He knew he would not be able to fight her much longer.

Exasperated, eyes bloodshot and sunken, Saria answered. "Din was aligned with the Triforce of Power, so I thought I could just reach in and take some of Ganon's power to find her, but I couldn't fix the damage to the barrier as hard as I tried. Without Link and the Master Sword, I couldn't restore it to full strength. Because of me, Zelda had to imprison herself in the Dark World to hold back Ganon from breaking free. Then, when all the pieces of the Triforce were gone, Hyrule died, and it's all because of me! I'm responsible for the hell I had to go through, I killed all of the people of Hyrule and all of my friends. Because I weakened the seal on Ganondorf, he was able to send out his piece of the Triforce to Zero. Zero's corruption... all that he's done... it's because of my actions! Everything is my fault. The thousands of people who have died, their blood is my responsibility. Whenever I'm alone, all I can think of is of everyone who died. I... I don't even know how I... I just... I can never be..."

"Saria," X whispered to her. She looked to him silently, shaking, pale, sick. The darkness hung so heavily beneath her eyes, and X saw the true Saria, the same Saria whom he had first encountered in Hyrule a hundred years in its past. The impostor, Farore, a being that had joined him against the corrupted Sage of Light, was an echo from another life, a numbed, power-filled essence that only made containing her sanity a greater struggle.

Mega Man X touched her cheeks with his fingers, wiping her tears away, allowing his hands to carefully cup her face. Half frozen, unable to hold her glossed and damp eyes in one place, Saria shivered.

With delicate, smooth motions, X brought her in and leaned her against his chest. She shook, scared, and began sobbing. The Hero of Time didn't know what he was doing. Inside, he was furious, repulsed, unstable. Everything that had happened had been her doing.

But...

"Shh, it's alright," X said to her, not knowing how he stayed calm on the exterior. "I'm glad you told me."

Saria's eyes widened, then squinted shut with tears, and she buried her face against him again.

"How?" she sobbed. "How can you just forgive me? I deserve to die a horrible death over and over for every life I destroyed. The Triforce should have struck me dead for what I've done. I should have wasted away in the Kokiri forest..."

"No, you're wrong," Mega Man comforted her. "You couldn't have predicted any of this. Not Link's vanishing, the seal coming undone, or Ganondorf sending the Triforce of Power to Zero. You may have unknowingly set all of this in motion, but you can't expect me to want to kill you with all that you've done to fight it. You've been trying to atone for your actions since the moment we met you, a century in the past. Now that we're so close to the end, I couldn't possibly manage to find another Sage of Forest, and even if I did, they could never compare to you."

Saria stared hazily downward, exhausted, bloody, practically cadaverous, her clothes hanging loosely on her skeletal frame. "Even if... even if we stop Zero, everyone who died on Gaia, on Hyrule, on the Floating Island... those deaths can't be changed."

X placed his arm around Saria, which she allowed. Her emotions were numbing, a tactic she had long since mastered. "No, they can't. It's... hard to find the right words to help, but..."

A sideways glance from the tortured Kokiri girl showed X that she still had a sparkle of life, of hope. The reploid's thoughts weren't carefully chosen, they simply flowed at the sight of the poor girl whose soul teetered on the dangerous side of collapse. The diamond in his chest armor rose with a heavy breath and a strange serenity.

"Even now that you've told me, I'm still willing to protect you. And I'm not the only one. That's got to be worth living for. You know that, right?"

Blankly, no, accepting, the Kokiri girl lazily nodded and shut her eyes. "I know."

Saria vanished. The desolate plateau and calamitous sky faded as well. Then, X lost consciousness.

* * *

With a loose perception slowly returning to his eyes, X perceived the brilliant aura of sky and forest emanating from the hands that touched his cheeks. Saria's eyes, though shut, gleaned with it too. The entire experience on the deserted plateau had been a facade, an incredibly realistic facsimile initiated, X realized by the way her fingers were positioned around his face. Without any recollection of how she had lured him into her mental plains, X had to wonder, was it Farore's protective instincts that had caused the experience? As much as the foray into the pained recesses of Saria's mind could be called an illusion, X knew he would not soon forget the event. It had been real enough that he could not tell the difference, regardless of whether it was Saria or Farore who was responsible.

When X became aware of his surroundings, he was startled by what he saw. Vines and plant matter, some as thick as arms, spread throughout the confines of the holodeck, reaching every wall. Some had scaled the height of the ceiling, and all emanated from the same point: the lonely woman of the forest. Slowly, defying her small stature, the spawn of her powers slowly withdrew inside her. Thankfully, X could see that she was no longer as physically gaunt as the tortured soul within.

What little he could move from her grip, X darted his eyes over toward his shoulder at the cloaked figure at his side. Raven had heard him calling after all. In one hand, an aura of black energy pulsed, and her other arm was poised to wield the Lotus at her hip.

Shadow the Hedgehog stood similarly behind Saria, low in stance with one leg stretched back, ready to take out the Forest Sage at any moment. The holodeck, which they were inside after all, was inactive, the yellow lighting patterns and plain metallic surfaces a far cry from the mountain plateau.

"It's alright," X signaled hazily, his face still held firmly by the Kokiri woman whose powerful aura and intense gaze remained locked. "I'm going to separate us, ok?"

Miniscule darting movements in her facial muscles confused X; the Saria from only moments ago behaved differently. Eventually, X acknowledged the jittery nod given to him, and he gently pulled away the highest fingers sitting against his temples at the rim of his helmet. Pair by pair, X peeled the rest of her digits away from his face, and the aura of Farore gradually faded as well, leaving a much less radiant Sage of Forest.

Mega Man picked up her chin. "It's going to take a long time before you're alright again, but you need to understand that no one, _no one_, deserves to die for a mistake they regret. How do you feel now that you've told someone?"

A small modicum of relief came in the form of a shaky sigh, but Saria's sunken eyes, pained expression, drooping mouth and slumped shoulders left her looking hellish.

"Like shit," she answered. "I think I need to throw up again."

"That was all in your head."

Saria glared. "I need to throw up for the first time, then."

Sarcasm soured her tone, but her exhaustion dulled her negativity as easily as it stole her energy, and X knew she would have no strength to harm herself anymore.

Still...

X trusted his gut. With care, he made a request, something for her to work toward.

"Tell Nanaki."

Reluctance and fear twitched into the Kokiri's expression. She folded inward, tugging at her ruined tunic as she hid her face, but X guessed right. Drained nearly to the point of collapse, her emotions were flattened, easing their burden.

"It's alright," coaxed the reploid. "He'll forgive you. He won't be easy on you, but he _will_ forgive you."

Though weak, Saria silently nodded. The last of her organic extensions finished slithering back inside her, and the folds of skin that allowed their escape closed with small lines of blood in their wake. She ignored Shadow and Raven entirely, keeping her head down as she departed.

"Get medical attention," X added to her on the way out. "Naminé can tend to you."

Saria groaned without stopping, and the whoosh of the holodeck door followed her sluggish exit.

Raven's tension didn't abate, seething disapproval into X's mind. She stood toe to toe with the reploid, leaning her hip to one side with a perturbed expression that could have strangled him. "X, I seriously thought we might have to kill her. Mind telling us what the hell happened?"

X stumbled, his mouth listlessly open and useless. The strain of trying to prevent Saria from suicide twice had left the Hero exhausted. His knees nearly gave beneath him.

Shadow appeared on one side and gave X something to lean on, but the hedgehog's large, crimson eyes were just as agitated as Raven's.

"Are you going to tell us?" growled Shadow, insistent.

"Actually," X steadied himself and faced them both with a deep breath, "No, I'm not."

"Ugh, Unbelievable!" Shadow fumed, pacing angrily. "Saria is an unstable, untrustworthy element in an otherwise functional team. The Titans are wary of her, as are most of the Sages. Give us a reason to think otherwise!"

Raven shook her heard when X glanced at her for support. "I'm sorry, but I have to agree with Shadow on this. From our perspective, what happened just now is not something that inclines us to trust Saria."

X stymied his defensiveness. He glanced around at the holodeck, which was thinly stained with a repugnant mixture of blood and plant fluids. The spot where Saria had been standing was painted with a small puddle. "The first step toward mending herself is what happened," explained the reploid while inspecting the damp remains of their Sage of Forest. "Part of the hell that Saria's been through is a consequence of her own actions. Other parts... well, they stem from things that were beyond her control. I've never known anyone who's fallen this far yet survived, and now she's crawling her way back up from a very dark abyss."

The fibers of Shadow's gloves stretched audibly as his fists tightened. "She'll sink right back into it in time."

"I don't believe that," X retorted with enough force to quell Shadow's hostility. "Saria came clean, and she genuinely wants to repair the wrong that she's committed. As for what her mistake was, that's her business. If she wants to tell you, then she will. Foremost, Saria is going to need the support and wisdom of everyone from here out."

Raven stood thoughtfully, displeased but considering as she plucked details from X's mind.

X then aimed his glare specifically at Shadow. "If you can't give that, then at least be civil to her. Is that clear?"

Shadow the hedgehog folded his arms against his chest, showing the golden rings that stabilized his power. He and X faced each other, creating a silent standoff between the Sage of Wind and the Hero of Time. X was not in the mood, but the reploid didn't have to tolerate Shadow's stubbornness for long.

"Crystal," he answered, lowering his arms up in submission as he promptly exited before the indignity of taking orders from someone could sink in.

Raven slipped past and knelt down to absorb the sight of Saria's blood and plant residue more closely. The Kokiri girl's fear still lingered in the room, prickling the sorceress's mind. "Shadow will avoid her," she commented.

"Probably," agreed X. "He's can be a bit bullheaded at times."

"It often works in his favor," Raven countered. "Regardless, I don't think he's going to cause any problems. I guess I'm more worried about Saria, and about you."

X was somewhat stunned. "Why are you worried about me?"

Raven cocked her head with a twisted disapproval and used her fist to pound X's armored chest. "Oh, maybe because you got sucked into the mind of an impossibly powerful telepath who can't control herself or her emotions? Do you think maybe that has anything to do with it? And that's just the prologue for your book of problems. You didn't use any materia magic while in her mind, right?"

"That sounds like an accusation," the reploid scowled. "And no, I didn't."

Raven placed her hands up in apology, then gently placed them on the jade tunic armor just above X's waist. "I'm... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I'm just a little on edge."

X nodded, taking a moment to rub his face, as if needing to reaffirm reality. "I'm sorry too. And I don't blame you. It's stressful enough without internal problems. And what about you? Have you been feeling alright?" the reploid probed carefully.

The dark haired girl withdrew her hands from his waist and solemnly bowed her head. "I'm ok. I haven't used magic since I last summoned Rikku. Sometimes... well," Raven began, but she became tense, pushing away entirely, distraught. "My heart starts beating faster for no reason. I can't control it. When I'm not doing anything strenuous, it's usually fine, but it happened a couple of times during training, and I could barely keep pace."

Weakness, X thought. Having just asked the person working on the cure to evacuate, X found himself troubled much more than usual about being unable to fix the damage that Mako poisoning had done to her heart.

"What about you?" Raven pressed. "Has it gotten worse?"

"No, not really, but it certainly isn't better," X admitted. "I haven't noticed any symptoms recently, but I know it's there. We're both going to have to do our best to avoid using magic."

"As if that's a possibility."

X exhaled and slid his palm across his face in frustration. He wondered if he and Raven could continue to cheat death, as they had done so many times before. Raven's heart could have remained still when it stopped on the Dreamweaver. And yet, it did. The Ultima Weapon didn't need to spare X on Gaia, but it happened. And why? What was the creature's motivation for sparing him when it's entire purpose was to destroy all that stood in its way?

Dejected, keeping their thoughts to themselves, the two walked silently, hand in hand, for a long time. They both knew the implications of their use of materia and the magic it granted them. Either the symptoms would hold back and they could manage, or they couldn't. Of course, it was hardly that simple with reality itself in danger.

"X... I was wondering..."

They had walked far, off the Dreamweaver and onto the ocean banks of the island, circling its perimeter several times. Mega Man waited for her to finish her thought, having many of his own, but more than willing to listen to hers.

"What does it mean to 'snap' time? We've talked about it, I know, but we never found an answer. I saw the future myself. It's already changed, and I watched it twist in front of me, but I was alright. It didn't affect me, though it was frightening. If Zero really succeeds in altering time itself, what does that mean?"

Intrigued by the questioned, X took several paces of silence to think about it. "What you saw was likely a minor change, just the beginning," X said. "If Zero defeats us and alters all time, it would probably cause scenarios that are far worse than what you saw. What we know as reality might fall apart into something unrecognizable, where no one could survive for long. If Zero... if the King of Evil can spread himself and multiply like he's done on my world, through consuming the bodies and souls of others, then he could have dominion over everything for eternity. Maybe he's hell bent on revenge from something since the dawn of time. I really can't be certain of the motives, but I do know that most people won't survive if he succeeds."

Raven silently accepted the explanation, but a stirring frustration compelled her fill in the pieces. "I thought about things like that, but... I don't know, something doesn't seem right. There has to be more to it than that."

"I don't doubt it," X agreed, "but we need more evidence that I don't think we're going to get. Not even Phoenix was able to explain what the purpose is to breaking time apart."

Curiosity teased Raven and X equally, but the reploid managed to stifle his sense of wonder as they looped around the beach once more and back to the halls of the Dreamweaver. Raven considered what they knew, of the King of Evil's presence on Hyrule in the form of Ganon. Nothing more than domination and power seemed to drive the former holder of the Triforce of Power. The Maverick menace on X's world had been a spawn of the King of Evil with no distinction from Ganon in motive, even if they were swarms rather than one man. What did they have in common other than conquest and war and power?

They had arrived in X's chambers, where both regeneration pods and mattresses, though slightly less elegant than Raven's quarters, were situated.

X carefully caressed the curve of Raven's neck between her shoulder and jaw, easing tension that was, judging by the way her eyes almost crossed from the sensation, quite deeply rooted. The sorceress caved quickly from the influence of X's thoughts adding detail to her comparison, but the gesture brought them no closer to a conclusion. As Mega Man began working more of the muscles around her shoulders and neck, occasionally teasing down to her collarbone, she compartmentalized her need to draw theories about Zero's actions, allowing relief to flow through her instead as X keenly worked out a vast collection of knots along her spine.

Raven unbuckled the clasp to her cloak, pulled him onto the soft down of one of the beds, and they forgot about their troubles for the evening.

* * *

The gentle echo of life thrumming rhythmically in Raven's chest kept X peacefully in a state of slumber.

As consistent as clockwork, X's reploid design did similarly, contenting the dark woman as she slept deeply next to him.

A third.

Something foreign.

Unwanted, unwelcome.

Caustically tainting their rest, with virulence that was too distant to yet wake them, they began to shudder in their dreamless sleep. Weaving through their consciousness, not by force or by mischief, frightened breaths began to slip from them as they drew their bodies inward, a fetal posture of defense.

X woke sharply. Terror. Raven rose with him, sweat beading around her face, dampening her neck and chest to where she held the sheets around her. Before weak thoughts could focus enough to ask what had invaded their consciousness, Raven already knew the cause from X's panic stricken expression that he struggled to compose.

Before bothering to reach for her clothes, Raven placed her fingers against her temples for focus. "I'll warn everyone."

* * *

**Author's notes:** Thanks to all who reviewed recently. It keeps me going. Summer has been good so far, and writing is picking up. Here's hoping the gap between chapters being posted is much shorter than last time.


	97. Ultima

**Author's Notes:** Not my longest chapter, but writing 97 has definitely been the most difficult undertaking I've had thus far, and part of why it took so long. I hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 97 – Ultima**

Tired but alert Titans and Sages quickly filed in to the tower's main room, curious as to what they had been roused for, but no one dared question X's grim expression. Other than Raven, Robin was the next Titan to arrive, bested only by Sonic's speed. The Spirit Swordsmen Cloud and Inuyasha phased through the floor while Naminé hovered more naturally through the halls with Shadow following closely behind her. Cyborg's arrival was announced by the heavy stamping of his machine legs as Starfire floated more silently behind with Terra, Beast Boy and Red XIII. Mewtwo, the only living one without any sign of fatigue, hovered in with arms firmly crossed and tail swaying swiftly in anticipation. Strangely, Protoman chose to walk instead of teleporting, and he arrived with Tidus in tow, whose Brotherhood blade gleamed, misting and ready.

That only left Saria.

X frowned, deciding not to address the matter of the Kokiri as he explained that a presence was coming, that both he and Raven had sensed it in their thoughts. Mewtwo concurred with them, and unease quietly spread like the poison it was.

As everyone discussed the event and what to do, Tidus and Protoman, stood waiting near the ceiling-high glass panes overlooking the city and the bay. The two, almost at the same time, spotted something out of the corners of their eyes, clashing against the white of ordinary morning clouds. They pressed closer, and Protoman placed a hand on the glass as he eyed the object. Tidus could not see like Protoman could, but the Sage of Water still discerned a dark object with a tail, an ominous comet.

"Uh, guys," Tidus waved, but he was unheard over the clamor of questions that had begun between X and the others.

Protoman was silent as he saw the foreign streak of color in the sky growing closer, bigger, and the Sage of Water found himself absorbed by the sight before he tried again. "Hey, I really think you should take a look at this."

There was too much noise. Tidus jumped when Protoman's shield spiraled out on his left arm, and the reploid's energy saber extended bright white. After one last stare at the incoming meteor, Tidus placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled as loudly as he could.

Everyone snapped their attention toward him as the young man pointed high outside the tower. "I think that's what we're looking for."

In an anxious wave, all of the Titans and Sages pressed against the glass.

X sensed the familiar presence as his sanity raced. Cloud remembered the fear of his own death. Naminé knew the sight somewhere in the haze of her past, and it frightened her enough to distort her cohesion.

Curled into a comet painted toxic black, the Ultima Weapon plummeted from the sky, vaporizing the scattered clouds in resplendent flame. Its path arced subtly, deliberate in aim for the city's center of commerce, several city blocks of the tallest, most valued skyscrapers. The highest tower in the center splintered, dissolved and shattered from the top down as the organic meteor's descent impaled the heart of the city with a vibrating upheaval that echoed across the bay to Titan's Tower.

"Hang on!" shouted Robin above the rising earthquake.

X knelt low in the center of the room, as people were tossed about, but the tower was sturdy, it would hold. The reploid reached his mind out to all of his friends and allies. Tension grew quickly for everyone who watched clouds of smoke and fire blast through the surface of the city as more ballooned upward. The Titans felt nauseating helplessness as destruction spread, and even the Sages were rattled by the sight.

"Stay strong, everyone," X spoke calmly as the tremors subsided. "We need an update. Where is it?"

Robin jumped to the computers, still working on the tower's independent power. Safe distance through the luxury of satellite imaging did little to abate the terror of the creature that X, even in his sleep, had sensed. Switching from one satellite feed to another, Robin sought it out on their main screen, seeing its destructive power. A shining ray melted through a building, its source too difficult to locate. Bursts of fire erupted from abandoned vehicles blocks away. Hydrants exploded, showering the streets and dousing some of the quickly rising blazes. Tarmac of a major avenue began to crumble with an ominous yellow glow, abruptly exploding into the sky at one end, collapsing into the sewers at the other.

X and Naminé drew nearer to the screen, letting the fullness of the carnage sink in. The blonde girl in the white dress and the reploid in jade armor were particularly affected by the raw lethality they witnessed. They glanced at each other questioningly. A brief telepathic exchange – they _both_ knew the creature, though X's memory was vivid, and Naminé's was fleeting.

There wasn't time to discuss, but X realized that Naminé's death may have been caused in some way by the Ultima Weapon.

Robin managed finally to isolate the monster's location, displaying it on the main monitor. Every block of urban civilization it neared was slashed into rubble by a radiating double-edged sword that was longer than Cyborg was tall and nearly as wide, bearing tremendous thickness and a dangerous weight. X recalled with an unsteady breath the sight of the blade, its core matching the deep purple of the Ultima Weapon's thick, metallic hide, and the colossal sword's outer edge pulsed with white hot energy. Though the sword's glow was easy to spot through the debris clouds that continued to spread, Ultima was not so easy to discern. The monster did not hesitate to show its skill with the blade, shearing skyscraper foundations with the sharp edge, then smashing through an abandoned truck with the flat side. The vehicle was hit so hard that shock waves distorted the image and the burst of static startled many of the Sages and Titans. What remained was a hunk of metal and plastic folded up lengthwise, barely recognizable as what it previously had been other than the blue shade of paint it had worn. Beast Boy swallowed hard enough for the others to hear him.

As they all continued to watch the live satellite image, a building toppled in Ultima's direction. For a moment the creature was gone, obscured by the collapsing tower. Robin wore a hopeful look, but X knew better. On cue with X's frowning head shake, the spot where the beast had been standing suddenly caved inward, compacted tightly, and pulsed outward in a geyser of green and yellow rays, spraying stone and concrete as high as the many-storied towers that still stood.

The Ultima Weapon emerged unharmed, shaking concrete and metal from the long dreadlocks jutting backwards from its head. X then watched the curious reaction when the creature's massive blade grazed the stone around it. Each spot that the sword touched superheated into explosive cinders or outright flame. X looked back to the Titans, the Sages, and the three Spirit Swordsmen, confirming that everyone witnessed it. They knew that contact with the blade for more than a short time would mean permanent injury, or death.

Protoman remembered the searing, destructive force of it bearing down on his reploid armor, burning deeper the longer it had pressed on him. The Sage of Light shuddered at the memory. He reminded everyone how easily his aeon, Alexander, had been slain by Ultima, and that it would be inadvisable to expend energy on aeons at all, being such large, prime targets.

Their frozen stances barely thawed with Protoman's warning, if only because it provided a momentary reprieve from watching the city crumble in the dark aeon's wake. X, Robin and Naminé followed next, shouting orders and suggestions: avoid hand-to-hand without a clear opening, be ready to change locations after attacking successfully, and, possibly the most important, watch the foundation of any buildings nearby. The last thing they needed when Ultima was trying to kill all of them was to be crushed to death by a falling piece of debris. Sonic, Shadow and Raven were recommended to focus on defensive tasks due to their speed, the power of Chaos Control, and Raven's telekinetic shielding and astral abilities.

"Remember what we've discussed," X cautioned. The pause he left hanging afterward gave everyone chills of discomfort or nervous sensations in their stomachs. For many, it was both. "Always try to attack it from the sides. The barbs on its tail are poisonous, and at the front... well..."

A nervous throb pulsed behind the Hero's eyes. He nervously recalled the brief moment in his last encounter with the Ultima Weapon that punctuated the terror he now felt.

"Don't spare us anything, brother," Protoman said firmly, laying a hand on X's shoulder. "Any experience you can share with us is valuable."

X nodded, swallowing his discomfort. "There's a second face on the front of it, down lower. You can't see it now, but if it comes to life, don't go anywhere near it. I don't know if it's a second consciousness or if it's just where it keeps extra reserves of energy, but that second face is far more powerful that the one on its upper body. It can use tremendous magic. The one saving grace is that the lower face can't turn, it's fixed in place. Don't even try to defend or counterattack anything the lower face does, just get out of there."

X received several nods of acknowledgment, and the battle-hardened veterans quickly considered how it would affect their fighting styles. Once again, distraction became their ally to quell their tension, however short the time.

The moment of contemplation was ended by the bright pine hue of the Kokiri woman's hair, tied back in a tight braid. Her cheeks were less sunken, her complexion somewhat healed. A sleeveless, earth green body suit had replaced her ruined Kokiri garb, hugging her subtle curves with a brown armor corset covering her abdomen. On her chest, a small likeness of the emblem of forest from the Chamber of Sages was embedded. Secured at her waist was a utility belt and skirt with thick waist guards at her sides made of intricately carved wood. What she kept in the pouches of the belt was anyone's guess.

"Saria... are you up to this?" X asked.

"I can handle it," answered the Sage of Forest. "Can you?"

X was taken aback, but he reluctantly nodded. If there was a single person with them who showed no sign of terror, it was somehow Saria. Though not all of the sages looked on her with acceptance, Terra welcomed her with an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder, and Nanaki soon planted himself next to the Forest Sage.

In the brief minute between that moment and their confrontation of the Ultima Weapon, entire city blocks were lying in mountainous heaps. Everyone had their gear and weapons. Raven, X and Protoman were designated as the primary transporters, bringing everyone in pairs to locations at the edge of the city where the buildings were still intact, but that space was beginning to grow thin as the seconds passed. Nanaki carried himself, soaring across the water's surface in a low trail of flames, and the Spirit Swordsmen kept close before fanning out along the shoreline where boat docks, restaurants, beaches, and other structures waited for their turn to die. At the city's edge where the stench of destructive flames turned salty from the ocean's waves, everyone who stood in defiance, each Sage, Titan, and Spirit, glanced to those near them, glad that they had each other.

X silently gave Mewtwo the order to move out, and the Sage of Spirit relayed it to all others in an instant.

They spread out in pairs and entered the city, carefully converging on the Ultima Weapon, avoiding the ruinous perils that had been created only moments ago. When they converged on the aeon's presence, witnessed the permeating glow of its blade, Sonic and Shadow each pressed their palms together, summoning winds to dispel the fog of debris. The dark aeon roared to the sky and waved its great sword, rearing up on its hind legs.

X felt the trepidation of his Sages throbbing in his head. The reploid struggled to keep focused from all the fear that flooded in telepathically, as if he didn't have enough of his own, though he and Protoman knew that the fear was justified. As the Titans, Sages and Spirits moved closer on the intersection where the fiend screeched its mighty rage for them, the Hero of Time felt a tremendous weight of angst that was like no other, crawling through him like a heat sucking parasite, muddling his senses, adding weight to his limbs. The satellite feed they had watched did not capture the nightmare of seeing the aeon in real life as it turned on them.

Mega Man X locked eyes on Ultima's sightless face, and yet, the source of his fear somehow stared down at him. Taller than him threefold with four massive, clawed legs and the barbed tail of a dragon, the Ultima Weapon's flesh was supremely armored, segmented with black metals and scales like plates of smooth violet titanium. Resembling a centaur, a humanoid body was erect at the front possessing the musculature of a slender Adonis. Ultima held its transparent blade with one hand, and both arms ended in three sharp claws with an opposable digit. The creature's head was horrifically close to being human, with a tight-lipped mouth, but no nose, no eyes, no ears. As if being tormented, a blindfold of metal covered the upper half of its face. Massive extensions of a toxic lavender hue hung around the creature's upper body and back, something grotesquely and gracefully between dreadlocks and tentacles, and rings of gold were attached to the ends of each extension, giving the aeon's head an ephemeral chime.

As a warning, the creature cleaved the corner support of towering department store within its reach. The concrete and metal barely slowed the sharp blade, and smoke spewed out from the freshly made crevasse, its insides burned by the blade.

X pulled the Master Sword from its sheath, then retracted his free hand into Buster form. "Everyone, now!"

Weapon works of every persuasion converged on the Ultima Weapon.

Spark bursts, flames and colored plasma thickened around Ultima, slopping into magma as Stafire's bolts, X and Protoman's Buster volleys, Cyborg's arm cannon, Raven's dark energy and more pummeled Ultima. The sound was deafening as the onslaught quickened. The air itself began glowing hot around the aeon that they intended to kill.

"Don't stop, hit it harder!" X called, and his allies answered. Mewtwo's psychic force alternated between massive mauve spheres and scattered bursts, Nanaki skipped forward close enough to breathe a column of fire into the mix, and blade beams from the three Spirit Swordsmen caused the the energy drippings to bleed green.

A deflecting force shattered the encasement of hot air and liquid, splashing the liquid leftovers as well as burning tar at the Sages and Titans. The Ultima Weapon revealed its sword, covered in stains of the assault that slowly absorbed into the blade's white shell. Other than minor singes, the aeon was unscathed.

A blinding leap – the creature propelled itself toward Mega Man X.

X felt his body jerk to the side as the Ultima Sword slide past his face and pierced deep into the ground where he had been.

"Focus, brother!" Protoman threw himself and X to their feet. The blade cleaved down between them, and the creature's humanoid upper half backhanded Protoman in the chest with enough force to knock the reploid into an uncontrolled spiral in the street. Raven snatched him and slowed his tumbling enough for Protoman to skid with his boots and somersault back to his feet.

The beast's organic dragon-scale flesh responded no differently as Cyborg strafed and fired his arm cannon relentlessly, but the physical force of the weapon jostled the creature enough to give X an opening with the Master Sword. Without wasted movement, Ultima raised its blade and deflected X's attack, absorbed Cyborg's laser cannon fire, and with a minor adjustment, diverted Nanaki's flame. The speed was incredible, calculated.

Beast Boy's embodiment of a Pterodactyl flapped vigorously from above, carrying a pointed hunk of broken pavement. With perfect accuracy, the blow thudded loudly against Ultima's skull, interrupting the creature's movement until the Weapon's free hand aimed and unleashed a white streak of light that collided with Beast Boy's stomach.

An avian scree smashed out of his lungs. Starfire shouted to the changeling, following his crippled flight pattern toward a nearby rooftop.

Satisfied with the lack of airborne nuisance, the Ultima Weapon pounced forward with its massive rear legs, cleaving a wide arc at everyone's knees.

Inuyasha's counter was perfectly timed. Daring to leap forward while everyone else acted defensively, his hooked Tetsusaiga slashed heavily toward the pavement.

"_Wind Scar!_"

Air sheared as a fanged trio of energy spikes surfed toward Ultima, annihilating the street and diverting all winds in the direction of the slashes. Ultima made to defend with his blade, but thick vines shot out from behind a mound of rubble, snaring the creature's wrist and elbow. Saria felt the creature tug violently, and the pain instantaneously throbbed in her arms and legs as the Sage of Forest braced against fallen debris.

The wind scar impacted, slicing the vines away as the Ultima Weapon was engulfed in shattered concrete, smashing the creature into the bottom floor of the department store it had already sliced one corner out of.

"Regroup, prepare to counter!" X called.

Ultima tore through the store's lobby as the creature screeched, the agonizing sound of metal scratching and ripping apart with a high pitch guttural rumble.

There was barely enough time to observe the creature's wounds, but X and the others at ground level noticed the three narrow burns on the creature's torso where the wind scar had been focused. X fired his Buster as the others used their own distance attacks, but the repeated impacts of energy didn't faze the dark aeon as it emerged onto the street.

"Alright then," X whispered to himself. Clenching his fists at his hips with his head lowered, a pale shade of lilac began rising, spiraling in scattered strands of light as the circular symbol appeared beneath him.

Raven's heart tensed, she ceased her offensive of dark spheres as she was drawn to the power emanating from X.

Dashing forward, still charged with the same lavender light, X thrust both of his palms at the creature, arcing bolts of lightning at the centaur's abdomen, numbing Ultima with potent materia magic, burning through the thick scale plating. But X was not finished. Before the aeon could counter, X altered his stance, raising one arm to the sky with fingers splayed as he braced with his elbow with his other hand. An instantaneous storm cloud pulsed with bright light, and as X thrust his palm to the ground, summoning an onslaught of thunderous strikes upon the creature.

Everyone stopped as the blinding lights and deafening cracks of thunder smashed the creature down, buckling its legs. X saw Ultima's inky, obsidian blood as he continued the lightning storm, seeping out from where the first bolts had struck, but Ultima withstood the second round better. The swing of Ultima's sword thrummed over X's head, grazing the light jade of his helmet with ashen burns. Sharp claws raked after him, and X could not backflip fast enough from a crouch.

"_Aghh_!"

Dark maroon blood trickled from four separate gashes in the armor around X's torso. The wounds stung, making him grit his teeth as he leapt out of Ultima's range.

There wasn't time to tend to the injuries, Ultima barreled forward on four legs after X as he barked orders. "Cloud, Nanaki, Protoman, materia is its weakness! Four teams of three, each supporting a materia user! Everyone else hold tactics!"

Ultima retaliated with materia of its own. A quick uprising of glittering energies danced around the aeon's, and flame lit up the sky wherever the creature pointed, turning their environment arid. Ultima cast a blazing inferno into the streets, molten rock splattering the surface of the road. Sonic was barely able to scoop up Robin in time to avoid a gushing ripple of lava. Next came lightning, destroying power lines, annihilating massive chunks of the landscape with energy that was not absorbed like normal electricity. This had unreal power, beyond X's casting ability. Terra's wall of stone was blown apart, but she moved fluidly with the collapse, retreating without more than scratches and bruises.

Tidus doused the streets with swings of Brotherhood, sizzling out growing flames and puddles of magma, clearing a path for Cloud to penetrate the barrage as the Spirit's ghostly outline grew bright. They closed the distance, timed with Starfire swooping below a blinding swing of the Weapon's massive blade.

Star gripped the creature's wrist, holding the weapon back as she screamed for more strength. She was quick to see the light swelling in Ultima's mouth.

"I do not think so!" yelled the young girl, firing tightly focused beams from her eyes. They jostled the beast, accentuating the unsettling chime from the rings on Ultima's dreadlocks. Starfire pressed harder as Ultima did, but she was too focused on diverting the sword to see the other hand coming toward her until it clawed into her collarbone, bloodying her chest. The sword followed her to the concrete.

An explosion of sparks blinded Starfire's vision from where she lay, and the sound of welding flame loudly pulsed in her ears. Steam sizzled upward and hot water dripped on her as she struggled to move.

Poised with Brotherhood on his back, using his entire body to withstand the impact, Tidus stared down at Starfire as the ruthless scorch of the glowing sword singed and melted the yellow fabric into his back. It burned his flesh even with the oceanic sword providing a barrier, and Tidus watched his feet crunch down into the concrete from the weight. His legs threatened to collapse beneath him, and he breathed rapidly, red faced, buckling.

Cool air suddenly soothed Tidus's back as the pressure lifted, and Cloud's Buster Sword, sheathed in streaks of wind energy, slashed the creature's abdomen. Cloud didn't wait to see what his attack had done while Tidus escaped with Starfire.

Cloud jerked sharply, shifting his heavy blade the other direction, arcing down past Ultima's waist, near the shoulder of one of its front legs. The aeon's free arm thrust down, but the swordsman anticipated the movement, leaping with the tip of his blade slicing up to Ultima's chest before the creature batted him away with the flat of its glowing cleaver.

The wound was shallow, but Ultima bled from it.

Even without eyes, the Ultima Weapon stared down at its injuries, almost surprised. A metallic and scratching snarl rumbled deeply from its bared teeth, and the talons on the four legs beneath it dug into the street, cracking the debris. Electricity danced along the length of Ultima's free arm, and pure heat distorted the creature's face as hot liquid dripped out, followed by jets of dark blue flame.

Nanaki bounded with Saria on his back, the girl clutching tightly as the old wolf spewed flames to match and deflect Ultima's razing breath. Flanking Ultima, Naminé flung frozen shrapnel with every swing of her crystal keyblade, drawing his lightning magic to her. Her keyblade withstood the shocks, but not without scorching into her arms, diffusing her ghostly presence. Droplets of Mako green dripped from her wrists.

They were all nearly close enough when Ultima reared up, then drove his blade into the ground. Pillars of earth, awkward and jagged, perforated the street corner with pale yellow pulses of light. The light made them easier to dodge, but there were too many. Naminé was cut off entirely as portions of the street collapsed into the sewer, and when a blunt mound of stone arced out from the side into Saria's chest, Nanaki retreated with her.

X watched as his allies unavoidably collected injures, and every moment made him fear more for when they would not be so lucky, when someone wouldn't be fast enough. He did what he had to do, watching the battle, coordinating what little healing could be done by Raven and Naminé. Starfire's lacerations were mostly closed, and Raven had helped mend his mechanical wounds as well with her magic, but that was a limited commodity.

Protoman deftly swerved between the columns of fire and the lightning strikes emanating from Ultima's free arm, readying a spell of his own. Mewtwo and Inuyasha weaved along behind him, but lightning caught the Lifestream spirit, spinning the half demon onto the burning ground. His essence distorted like gaseous emerald blood before Shadow pulled him out with Chaos Control.

Only for a moment, for that was all it would halt the creature for, Mewtwo clenched his hand, pulsing with golden light from his Triforce emblem. Light crackled in the Sage of Spirit's eyes as his face grew fierce. With his other hand, three tendrils of white whipped out and manipulated the Ultima Weapon, raising it off the ground in a telekinetic field. A second later, the effect wore off, and a sickly green aura enveloped Ultima's arm.

Protoman's bashed Ultima's wrist and thrust his other arm at the creature's chest, unleashing the force of Lifestream he had readied, sensing the immense drain as soon as he called its name. "_Flare!_"

Light and gravity distorted inward, twisting the sight of the Ultima Weapon as fantastic heat and streaks of energy like solar eruptions from the sun engulfed the creature. The building behind the creature was caught in Protoman's spell, and it began tipping. Behind it, two others began collapsing toward them and Ultima, and the ruined streets rattled once more.

"Retreat to shore!" X ordered as loud as he could over Protoman's corona of magic. The Flare spell devoured the department store's foundations, sealing the fate of the entire block as the white hot expanse encapsulating Ultima.

Sonic and Shadow wasted no time snapping up Saria and Robin, and Raven enveloped Nanaki and Cyborg in darkness. Everyone else fled on their own, except Protoman. The Eldest Reploid held his magic, bellowing until the globe of bright light consumed even more.

"Go, idiot!" X's brother chastised. "I won't die from this!"

X hesitated. All of his Maverick Hunter years urged him not to leave any man behind, but this man was his brother, the oldest of his kind. The cacophony of the flare magic and the crumbling buildings drowned the Sage of Light's voice, but X could see him mouth the words.

"You can't be replaced, X! Go!"

The block began toppling. Part instinct, part his brother's plea, X dissolved into a matter stream and aimed his consciousness toward Raven, reuniting with her and the others at an open construction site close to the water. No tall buildings, open space other than massive steel beams forming the skeleton of a young structure. As X touched down, the ground shuddered from the impact several blocks away. Terra placed her palms on the dirt ground and steadied them.

Raven gently touched X's wrist. She wasn't injured beyond bruises and scratches, which X was thankful for, but his mind was too occupied to focus on anything but the wreckage he had left behind.

The sorceress, of course, shared the worry inside him. "X, where is..."

He pushed her aside, angry for a moment at his harshness, but he had to create distance from his thoughts. Beast Boy was the worst injured, his abdomen bloody, crumpled and moaning in a way that implied broken ribs, perhaps internal bleeding. Naminé, her ghostly arms distorted from injury, tried to mend him. Tidus had a cloak of dry blood covering his shirtless back, but he could fight. Saria's nose was broken and twisted, bleeding down her mouth, and one of her eyes was blackened but still working.

"Sorry," X apologized as he grabbed the Kokiri girl's nose and snapped the bone back in place. Saria screamed, but she was thankful once the pain subsided. She took a handful of a pale white powder from one of the pouches on her utility belt and sprinkled the concoction on her nose, even sniffing some into her nostrils.

"For the pain," she said. "I'll tend to others."

Starfire, patched up enough, brought Beast Boy back to Titan's Tower. Before the Tamaranian girl could return, an explosion rose high in the city, rattling the earth once again as a blackened object soared above the eruption. The projectile, massive and smoldering, aimed directly for them.

"Oh hell," Cyborg panted.

No one else spoke, but all agreed with Cyborg. They were being worn out quickly.

Ultima's descent was dangerously fast, and they all knew that the aeon could alter his trajectory, so X deduced that running would only end up with one of them being a target.

Terra surveyed the ground beneath her, struggling for an idea. Observing with sharp pivots and glances, she took in the structures newly under construction and the nearby inlet of water that opened up to the bay. She hoped it would be enough. "Tidus, I need water, as much as you can give me! Everyone else, open fire!"

There was no hesitating. Every able Titan and Sage fired what they could, from Buster shells to balls of flame to psychic spheres, attempting to slow the creature's descent. Tidus waved his sword in a rhythmic motion, dragging a torrent of ocean water from the bay, concentrating it in a massive bowl of hardened earth that Terra pulled up from below. Filled with a small lake's worth and still filling, the earth molded with delicate, swift movements of Terra's tightened hands. The bowl became a funnel, then a cannon. Simple physics did the rest, but X sensed the strain overwhelming her as the stone compressed tightly around the water, propelling a tightening stream of liquid at Ultima, consuming the fire, the creature, slowing it down. Terra's nose bled. Her face reddened as capillaries began bursting despite her controlled breaths. She pressed harder, squeezing the last of the water out, nearly halting Ultima. With an upward thrust, the earth mimicked her arms, gripping the aeon in a fist of stone, smashing it down with malice.

Searing cracks weakened the earthen limb, and everyone stepped back as the splits began glowing. Terra released her hold, and the stone fist shattered as the Ultima Weapon sliced through, setting the dark mass of dirt and rock ablaze with its radiating sword. The Sages and Titans shielded from the debris, backing off as the creature screeched in hatred. Ultima breathed heavily, angrily. Without moving or even acknowledging how surrounded it had become, a slow, heavy light of pale Mako began rising along the creature's bloodied, burnt flesh and armor. Like gentle ocean waves, the aura thickened, intensified. A deep pulse resonated in their heads and their eyes as they watched. Runic symbols in many rings circled outward to rapidly to escape, stretching beyond all of them, into the city and throughout the bay, nearly reaching Titan's Tower.

X felt a choking sensation cutting into his thoughts. Disorientation gripped everyone, their focus, their very thoughts hazed, but it was not equal. Through squinted eyes and the blur of potent magic, Raven, Mewtwo, Starfire, and all three of the Spirit Swordsmen were paralyzed by the sensation.

Panic. X sensed fear. He couldn't think straight, and the fear seeped into him. X fell to his knees as

a wave of bright light radiated outward consuming all in its path. It did not cause X any pain, but he sensed immediate confusion seep in from his allies, then terror.

There was screaming. A snarling half-demon, a tortured young man, and a vibrant young girl, all consumed. Three flumes of burning neon fire ignited in the battlefield. Inuyasha and Cloud were devoured violently, disintegrating as their cries imprinted into everyone's ears, lingering even after nothing was left of their bodies. Naminé held on longer, gripping her keyblade hopelessly. Shadow, weakened by Ultima's magic, could not reach her before her light was extinguished.

Gone. The Lifestream Spirits were gone.

A moment of silence came over the crumbling city in the distance as the Ultima Weapon knelt down on all fours and the upper torso leaned hard against its massive blade. The creature clutched its bare chest, staggering with labored, rasping breaths.

There was no sign of the Lifestream Spirits, no trace of their emotions. In their wake, bright emerald liquid, semi-transparent, slowly absorbed into the dirt beneath their feet. Faint trails of their life force, nothing more than quickly fading ribbons of energy, climbed into the sky and became nothing. Gone, in seconds.

Ultima's breathing began to steady.

A streak of white energy slammed onto the battlefield, and X's hope rose enough to break his mind free. The golden cape of Protoman billowed as his matter stream gained cohesion, but the Sage of Light hadn't escaped unscathed. His visor was shattered on his left side, and burns and blood matted his face.

"X, what happened?" called Protoman. "I can't sense Alexander or Bahamut!"

Mega Man opened his mouth, speechless and confused. He reached within his consciousness, seeking the ever-present aeon of rebirth, but he found no trace of the Phoenix, only empty silence.

Ultima rose to all fours and pulled its blade, hungry and pulsing with energy, out of the soil and stone.

A furious presence throbbed in X's thoughts, pulsing behind his eyes. A vicious scream of rage belted from Shadow the hedgehog, bloodied with a twisted, crimson aura, and strands of the malice revolved around him like lines of wire attached to his flesh.

"Everyone, back!" X ordered.

Shadow's insanity tore from his vocal chords in madness as the Sages and Titans gave distance. The hedgehog bolted a straight line to Ultima, who sprayed the ground with fire. Shadow vaulted, manipulating the winds to distort his path. He swayed just beyond the swipe of claws, landing his fist right into Ultima's throat.

To X's amazement, the creature stumbled back, and Shadow went after more. Tucking into a ball, Shadow revved violently without ever touching the ground, propelling into the creature's chest, his dark spines grinding into the violet armor hide, spraying bits of toxic blood.

Raven reached X's mind, desperate. "_X, I can't use my dark powers. I can't shield or transport anyone. Rikku is gone too._"

X's mind raced. What had Ultima done to them? Why couldn't they reach their aeons?

Shadow's fury was going beyond his control. Ultima adapted, sensing the hedgehog's path of wind, and wide blows from the flat of the massive sword and raking claw slashes sliced open wounds that normally could kill. Only the murderous aura maintained Shadow, fueling his rage as it mended his flesh, but each wound sealed itself more slowly than the last.

Protoman, between bouts of Buster fire, relayed the effects of Ultima's sealing magic to X. "_Mewtwo can barely charge his energy spheres. Red's materia magic is gone and his fire powers are weakened._"

X continued to shout orders as he listened and fired his Buster.

Telepathy was still intact, and Saria, the most powerful of them, sensed something unreal a moment before X and Raven where hit by the same. The Kokiri woman felt dizzy, ill, and she squeezed the corseted armor around her abdomen. "Goddesses... what _is_ that?"

Shadow broke through the aeon's guard, recklessly striking the side of Ultima Weapon's blade with his fist, melting through his gloves and burning his fingers. The blow was hard enough to jerk Ultima's arm back, leaving the creature vulnerable. Shadow unknowingly leapt past the frightful presence that Saria, X and Raven had all perceived. A presence of pure nightmare, two glowing slits opened beneath the creature's waist. An emotionless maw of sharp teeth joined the eyes, just as emotionless. Shadow had no idea.

The hedgehog clapped his hands together with energy brimming through his fingers. "_Chaos SPEAR!_"

All of his vengeance mustered into his arms, but all that Shadow released was a feeble trail of bright sparks. Shadow's hatred was blunted by confusion, weakness. The aura that enraged and protected him began to fade as he stared at his hands, too bewildered to react to the orb of crimson fire gaining mass in Ultima's hand. A swell of putrid light surged from the dark aeon's second face as two separate rings of energy crawled out on the soil and concrete.

X recognized them at a distance. Marks of darkness and fire, at he same time. "Shadow, get out of there!"

Sonic had the speed, darting for Shadow with a plume of dust in his wake

Ultima squeezed a single clawed foot into the earth, and Sonic didn't know what hit him until the blunt shaft of manipulated rock batted him toward the steel girders of the skeletal building. The precision was as good as Terra's.

Dark, floating globules from the second face splattered out as the upper body's arm hurled a flaming globe at Shadow. Terrified, he shielded his face. The darkness and the inferno merged, expanding, swirling, incinerating and infecting as the razing heat and globules consumed him.

A forceful yank from his whole body eased only a fraction of the pain. Disorientation gripped him until he fell into water, the pain crippling, worse than his arm being sawed into, worse than breaking his own bones to escape, though not worse than losing Naminé.

Saria's vines retracted with Shadow in her grip, pulling him close, using the momentum to throw the burning hedgehog into the bay and numb his pain.

"His wounds are magical!" Saria warned X. "I have to heal him, or he'll die!"

X, hesitant, nodded to the Kokiri woman as she sprinted toward the water, reaching into her utility belt once again as Shadow started to sink.

Protoman and Raven joined Mega Man, and the two reploids renewed their Buster fire as others regrouped and attempted to counter the loss of their magic.

"Did you see that?" X shouted through the calamity to his brother and the dark sorceress.

Protoman glanced his way. "I saw. It combined two materia powers."

Raven's voice was frightened, but she held tightly to the Lotus, comforted by its flickering blade, accustomed to the blood price it took. She thought rationally. "With our eight elements alone, the combinations..."

Ultima was eager to finish Raven's thought. Unnatural fire burned black with a rancid stench. The frosty chill of ice spears crusted into vivid clusters of electrical ooze wherever they struck. Pillars of rock rose high at Ultima's command, wrapped in thorn-bearing vines.

Protoman drove back arcs of light and fire shooting from the upper body's mouth, absorbing the blows with his shield. Starfire's bolts diffused the electric gel that littered the battlefield. While she focused on the traps, Cyborg aimed for the aeon's arms. A heavy blast from the Titan knocked Ultima's arm astray, and the creature's second presence pulsed, a momentary widening of its eyes, and a haze of violets and maroons merged into an orb of swirling darkness in front of the creature's mouth. The twisted mass of energy shot out to the skeletal framework of the construction where Cyborg attacked from. The ominous sphere was slow, easy to dodge, but it expanded rapidly, pulling Cyborg closer despite his efforts to sprint away. The Titan fell, shouting with panic as he slid toward the dark matter, grasping uselessly at the concrete and dirt beneath his fingers. His abdomen struck a support beam, and he grabbed it with just a few fingers.

A white gloved hand latched onto him. "Hang on!" Sonic yelled.

Protoman dashed toward the creature's lower face, but the sharp end of the Ultima Sword caught his shield. The force of the blow was unreal, driving him yards away into earthen debris, stunned. Before Raven could even reach Ultima from the back, the creature's long, barbed tail batted the earth, throwing up a protective wall that Raven couldn't surmount in her sealed state, unable to fly.

Sonic and Cyborg could only hold on. The gravitational force pulled hard enough to plant the Sage of Wind sideways against the metal beam. The hedgehog channeled the currents of air, trying to fight it, but Ultima was stronger. Sonic's knees bent, and Cyborg's feet were caught in the swelling abyss. The metallic crunch was sickening, Cyborg's scream far worse. Growing dense and hot, the structure caught in the gravity well twisted, melting inward like a child igniting a plastic toy. Cyborg's legs did the same, now up to the knee. He watched as they burned up, liquefied.

Sonic's position moved, he felt the steel bend further. The hedgehog looked up, then without thought, he thrust his free arm toward the ground in a fierce redirection of currents, propelling them both vertically. Sonic sprinted toward the sky, climbing the warped metal beams out of the gravity sphere's range, but its intensity only grew, distorting the light that passed through it.

Terra, weak, hurled boulders at Ultima, but the creature's blade smashed and deflected them. Robin crept from the opposite side, but he hadn't the strength to even harm the creature. It ignored the blows from his staff until it decided to backhand the Titan leader.

The girders bent, snapped, violently echoing as the mass of colors burned bright with melted steel. Sonic and Cyborg knew they had little time left.

A different tactic came to the Hero of Time's mind. The idea was insane, but he had to do something more than fire useless Buster rounds. Letting the Master Sword hang down in his grip, he approached the aeon.

"Ultima!" he bellowed to the aeon. "I know you recognize me!"

There was no response from the the dragon-like beast. X paced closer.

X charged his X-Buster while holding the Master Sword as he furiously calling to the creature. "Why did you spare me when we last met? Was it for this? To be controlled by someone else? To annihilate a planet just because someone told you to?"

The creature sharply glanced over its shoulder at X, but the reploid didn't know if it was his words or simply being near that provoked the aeon.

A sudden shout of pain came from his mouth. Ultima's barbed tail had grazed his head, knocking him off balance as the toxin began working, but he resisted, kept going, kept prodding at the creature. He knew that his reploid physiology could handle the poison at least for a while.

"What are you? You tried to destroy humanity on Gaia when you perceived a threat. You acted with deliberate purpose. It was no different when you spared me! So what is it that you choose to do now?"

X was now staring up at the creature's face, close enough to reach out and touch the dark purple scales and metal armor on Ultima's front leg. In response, Ultima snarled in a disgusted exhale as the radiant shell of its sword pulsed brightly, hungry.

"Come on then," the Hero challenged. "Come and get me!"

The gravity well clenched once more, and Ultima drew his arm away from the sphere. It began to pulse wildly, losing cohesion, burning more brightly inside. X cringed, watching lashes of sickly black flames lick outward as the sphere grew. The creature had already intended to release the sphere, and X had walked right into the trap.

Ultima leapt over X's head, too high for the reploid to strike a blow with the Master Sword. X's mind urged to pursue the creature, but Sonic and Cyborg were still trapped. He couldn't precisely teleport to them, no one could get close enough to help.

X sensed his brother's presence as the golden cape and dark shades joined his side. The elder reploid aimed his Proto-Buster. "We have to contain it."

"I know. Darkness and fire... we need Tidus."

"There's no time, brother!" Protoman insisted, charging a blinding energy within his body, channeling the light to his arm. "Light will have to suffice! Father believed in us, that together we could surpass the sum of our strengths! Believe in that, X, now!"

The reploids hooked arms, and their minds synced, allowing one another to share energy as they aimed against the gravity well that had begun to split at the seams. Sonic and Cyborg held desperately, seeing the light pulse bright against the corona expanding beneath them.

Arms thrumming with energies they both knew well, a cloak of bright white climbed from wrists to elbows, elbows to shoulders, and the Sage of Light and the Hero of Time discharged a blinding coruscation, together.

"_Ray Flux Deluge!_"

Twin _Ray Splashers_, the spray of light energies from each reploid bound together into globules, then streams. Dozens of dense tails shredded the exterior of the gravity well, tamping down its flares, containing the mass as more of the lustrous beams punctured the sphere's core, diffusing it, drawing the essence from it as jets of flame spilled out.

Shrinking, the gravity well buckled under the many-tailed beast of white from the two Busters, collapsing into a fractured explosion that didn't come close to Cyborg or Sonic on the wilted girders above.

The screech of shredding metal marked the Ultima Weapon's wrath. X and Protoman turned, drained from their combined effort, and the creature was wildly charging at them.

An upheaval of the entire construction site opened like a ravenous maw, cinching Ultima's torso and legs in a stone vice as Terra, Tidus, Raven, Robin and Saria emerged from below, carried by a floating rock platform. The Sage of Water sunk Brotherhood into a gap in the creature's armor at the base of its tail, managing to penetrate the creature's flesh. Robin jammed his staff in the wound, widening it, splattering black blood.

Ultima's arms were free only for a moment before Nanaki clamped his teeth down on the thinnest spot available, Ultima's wrist. The creature flailed, but X and Protoman gripped around the wolf's torso and ignited their leg boosters, pulling Ultima's upper half forward.

The Titan leader shoved an explosive device into the gash on the aeon's tail while Raven plunged the Lotus into the Ultima Weapon's exposed upper body, slowly melting through the heavy armor plating and dragon-like flesh as Saria stabbed her own blade further down, at the lower set of shoulder blades. The Forest Sage's Nature Blade was insidious, inserting roots into the tiny gap she had made in Ultima's body. As the vines sprouted, they spread deeper into Ultima's back, widening the injury, spilling more black blood.

The monstrous aeon thrashed, jolting its earthen embrace as it hammered Nanaki with its free fist, knocking the wolf and the reploids free. A tower of flame engulfed the creature's head as its dreadlocks caught fire from the Lotus. Ultima hissed and screeched, bucking all of the Sages off, shattering the stone. Tidus, Robin, Saria and much of the stone that had encased Ultima were all thrown in opposing directions, but Terra was behind the creature where mounds of her own rock, both sharp and blunt, violently rained outward, too much for her to stop all at once. Terra only had time to raise her arms far enough to protect her midsection and chest, leaving her head open to the assault. The first blow cracked the blonde Titan's nose, another sliced the center of her forehead, reopening the scar, and a third gouged her in the eye, smashing the consciousness out of her. Raven, still tightly gripping the Lotus in Ultima's burning back, watched with horror, unable to help Terra as the rest of the stone vice shattered and Ultima's tail flicked the Sage of Earth into the bay. Mewtwo, unable to find any way to effectively fight without telepathy, dove clumsily without levitation into the water to save her.

Ultima stomped its feet and released a telekinetic wave, sending more earth spiraling out and prying Raven and the flame sword free. Once the sorceress was clear of the blast, Robin signaled his explosive device. A cackling snap, then a gaseous hiss, and the Ultima Weapon's tail was crusted in a thin layer of sickly looking ice. The limb dangled lifelessly, and the creature rumbled, baring its teeth in a disgusted scowl as the lower face abruptly exhaled. The creature turned toward the cause of its crippled tail, to the Titan leader it had flicked off its back like an insect.

Robin's legs were pinned beneath a heavy rock slab. The black-haired Titan stabbed his staff into a small gap and leveraged it, using his thigh as the fulcrum, biting into his lip until it bled from the pain. The weight was too much to budge, but Robin kept trying, even as the Ultima Weapon came close enough to cut him in two.

Saria and Tidus tried to rush in, but Ultima jerked its wrist and swung the flat of the blade at both of them. Both sages were too injured to dodge the sword's girth, and Tidus used Brotherhood to defend himself before they, too were smashed backwards into an uncontrollable tumble.

The second face exhaled once more, its long teeth opening to a dark void inside. Robin froze. Milky, dead eyes, stared into his soul, and his mind went numb. A bright light quickly replaced the darkness in the creature's hollow maw.

Sonic and Shadow both skidded to a halt on either side of Robin, fighting to lift up the slab pinning him as Nanaki stepped in front of the Weapon. The creature swung the blade horizontally.

The wolf leaped high to dodge, but Ultima stopped. Nanaki saw the feint for what it was, but there was no time to do anything but swathe himself in protective flame as an uprising of sky blue energy crackled around the creature. The aeon's free arm thrust forward, claws bared, with a throng of magic. A thick javelin of ice held aloft by cyclonic wind splintered apart into frigid lightning fragments, sending electrified shards of frozen matter at high speed into the wolf.

_Three kinds of magic, together._

Nanaki summoned enough fire on his body to melt some of the sharp tips of the ice blades, but not all. The shards that survived peppered his shoulders, his legs, his side, drawing blood onto his fur as voltage and the cold bludgeoned him into unconsciousness when he struck hard stone.

"_Chaos Control!_" yelled both hedgehogs, sending the world into a haze of inverted hues. Brights became dark, and shadows became light. The Ultima Weapon kept coming, unaffected. X's Master Sword and Protoman's energy saber stabbed into the creature's back as Starfire landed and grasped the edges of the slab pinning Robin down. The moment she began to lift, the creature grabbed her torso and squeezed, threatening to snap her sturdy ribs as it used the energy sword to bash Sonic and Shadow out of the way. It ignored the Master Sword cutting deep into it, accepting the wound as it reared up on its hind legs.

The creature landed, and the light pillar came.

So bright that Robin never saw it strike him, large enough to engulf him from head to toe, the beam tore out of Ultima's second consciousness, reverberating in a loud pulse and engulfed everything it touched. Robin had no time to scream. He had no time for anything once the light enveloped him.

The light pillar was over as quickly as it had begun, and in its wake was nothing. No stone slab, no debris, no Robin. Only powdery ash.

X felt his grip slip on the Master Sword. He made no effort to stop Ultima's fist from slamming into his chest. A piece of his will and strength had been ripped out, and he stayed still in the dirt and debris, crippled by the loss.

Robin was dead. The spirits, they had already... but Robin was different. X's heart sank as he sought the willpower to rise to his feet, but it became worse when his mental walls dissipated, and everyone's emotions spilled inside him. Raven was in anguish, her tears loud inside his head. Cyborg was numbed, stuck in denial that he had just witnessed his best friend killed in an instant. Starfire... a hollow void emanated from her thoughts, and only stifled cries choked out from her tangled throat. The deadened, heart-crushed emotions inside Star were silenced as Ultima smashed her body into the ground, then again, and again, right next to where Robin had just been. The aeon, satisfied by how saturated in blood the young girl had become, tossed Starfire aside, into the ash streak it had created.

Rage pulsed in X's mind, but the waves of emotion came from another. Thirst for vengeance, hatred and sorrow. He turned to the source, a battered, half blind Terra, who leaned heavily on Mewtwo for support. Her blood lust thawed X's overwhelmed senses, and she slowly made her way toward Ultima, who awaited the next combatant, sword ready.

Terra's Triforce mark consumed her fist with golden light that seeped down to the ground, igniting rock and soil in a golden shell of the Earth Sage's might as she pushed Mewtwo aside. Unlike Shadow's fury, there was sadness in Terra, emptiness, and it balanced her hatred with even greater strength.

"You _bastard!_" she spat blood, gritting her stained teeth. With one eye nearly swollen shut, only half of her tears could come out, and the Sage of Earth stayed conscious only by her overwhelming desire to avenge the friend who had trusted her and forgiven her despite all her failures.

X telepathically sent the order to fall back, as far as was needed to get out of her range.

"Flesh of the planet, _rise_!" Terra bellowed.

The Sage of Earth was bathed in a resonating honey light. Stretching far beyond the construction site, into both the bay and the city, every speck of soil and stone obeyed her, leveling every skyscraper in the distance, compounding the debris and smoke clouds that drowned the city until it reached their battlefield, but anywhere within Terra's influence drove out the thick fog of destruction. She wanted it that way, to see as clear as day the monster that killed Robin. Great spheres and javelins of rock formed out of the wreckage, rising by the dozens, then hundreds, some as large as Ultima, others even more massive. Terra's thirst for vengeance grew as the moments of knowing Robin flashed in her mind, reliving them since Robin couldn't. The blood beneath her nose began to drip faster.

The Ultima Weapon glimmered with a prismatic polyhedron of energy forming around it, a spell that X recognized as one to shield from magic. A second one, more smooth and transparent blue, enveloped the creature before vanishing, protecting it from physical harm. The sight of each barrier made X fear that Terra was wasting her strength, but there was nothing he could do other than evacuate his allies until the Sage of Earth was finished. He prayed that he would not lose her too.

Boulders littered the sky in vast numbers, and they began to burn with the same honey light that surrounded Terra. She called to them, summoning all of her strength and focus. "Heavens ignited, return from whence you came! _Meteor Storm!"_

The sky became fire and earth. One after another, tumbling in hordes, wild without order, the boulders became unrelenting destruction, burying Ultima rapidly. Nothing could be discerned in the apocalyptic rain other than deafening sound and blinding explosions of stone and street. The power that Terra had imbued the meteors with became bright fire as they detonated by the hundreds, large and small, pooling magma into the crevasses between shattered stone.

A scream pierced the disaster, and the rain of fire and earth destruction began to cease. Still hovering, the blonde Titan's aura wavered, eventually flickering out as the remaining boulders fell haphazardly, without the burning intensity. Paler than a ghost, face caked with blood, Terra cast her hand out in one last effort, raising a thin column of stone that she slowly collapsed onto not far above the raze of ignited earth.

Tidus ran to her, not caring for himself or anyone else. Boulders continued to fall, constantly nearing him as he bounded through the disaster, scraped and bashed by some of the smaller stones. His heart and head rang with desire so fierce that his control over water intensified. The desperate Sage jettisoned liquid from the Brotherhood to propel himself over the pile of burning rubble. He landed on the lip of the stone column that Terra had molded, and the panic inside him made him realize what his heart desired.

She wasn't breathing, and one blue eye stared lifeless as they lay open, aimed at the sky. Tidus tore her padded shirt in half and began pressing against her chest where the metallic remnants of Slade still sat, a flat mechanical chest piece the size of a fist just beneath her heart, centered at the bottom of her chest between her breasts.

_Damn it!_ Tidus raged in his mind. He didn't care that they wouldn't be together, and he truly did love Yuna, but Terra was special, meaningful in ways that no other person was to him. She was far more than a friend and as close as a lover, but not the same. Tidus clamped his fingers on her nose and breathed into her lungs, then pressed against her chest, then breathed into her more.

She was his _companion_.

Tidus, unaware of the tears streaming down his face, pressed harder against her heart, striking her chest with force.

"Wake up, wake up!"

Her body only jolted with each compression.

X didn't know what he could do beyond what Tidus had. Magic was sealed, there was no way for him, Protoman or Raven to heal. But there was...

Saria felt his thoughts and was already sprinting toward the disaster area, navigating the shattered coastline with graceful, springing leaps until she reached the two.

"Don't stop what you're doing," she calmly encouraged, though her mind was constricted with tension, fear, the ache of battle. Staying rational was agonizing, knowing that Ultima was still alive beneath the rubble, all of its injuries lessened by the barrier magics it had used to protect itself.

When Tidus switched to chest compressions, Saria slipped a pale brown powder into Terra's mouth. "Deku root powder I cultivated for many years. It has the power of life. Mixed with an herb I picked on Gaia, it should give her a burst of adrenaline, even with-"

Terra's eyes sprang open, and she gripped Tidus by the face, gasping for breath, hacking and sobbing through pain. For a moment, the swollen mass on her left eye opened enough for Saria to see the wound. Tidus was overjoyed, embracing her, and though Saria was equally relieved and elated, the Forest Sage was almost certain that Terra would be half blind for life.

The earth shook beneath them, steam suddenly escaping from the small mountain of rocks, like a breath of fettered life, gathering strength.

"We need to move, quickly!" urged Saria.

The flood of steam multiplied, frigidity leeching the heat from Saria's face. Tendrils of green sprang for her palm and coiled around Terra's midsection, but she kept watch over the boulder pile as the magma solidified with frost.

"Tidus, come on!" she insisted as she bounded away along the rapidly cooling rocks. The earth shook, but it was not Terra's doing.

Crackling snaps of ice crystals ushered across the ruined battlefield like a wild stampede of horses, weaving about as they galloped toward Tidus. Saria turned back for a moment, but she could do nothing about the Sage of Water's brash decision. Nanaki stepped in behind Saria, breathing flame to slow the sub-zero charge.

Crooked spikes of ice emerged not far from Tidus, consuming boulders the size of cars, small houses, forcing them to rise and sit trapped, and from the core of the emergence was Ultima. Tidus remained on the stone pillar, just above the frozen field, ready with Brotherhood as the monster climbed out of the hole that Terra had forced it in.

Ultima was bleeding black, the creature's nearly impenetrably hide cracked and torn, genuinely wounded all over its body.

Tidus waved his weapon, looping it in graceful waves, calling the ocean's waters. His Triforce mark burned brightly, fueled with rage, and the Sage of Water kept the bloodied image of Terra fresh in his thoughts, feeling it give him power as he envisioned her mangled eye, the broken bones, and most of all, counting the pulses of his heart, knowing that Terra's had nearly been robbed of her.

"Legions of Dark Water, _Consume_!"

The wall of briny surf climbed high, for a moment draining the tides as the sun was blotted out by liquid that then itself grew darker, deadly, a reflection of the rage inside the young Sage. Tidus inhaled a massive breath as the tsunami reached its peak, and a resounding scream summoned it all to its target.

Ultima thrust both palms forward in a rapid motion, driving a telekinetic spike into the water, diverting it to the sides as a the downpour became a river, an avalanche. Throngs of blinding blue snapped out of the creature's arms, meeting the tidal surge, climbing upstream. Tidus blinked in surprise as he absorbed the charge that constricted his muscles and confused his heartbeat. He fell, slumping over the thin stone column below. Without the Sage of Water to direct it, the poisonous tint of his dark waves hammered Ultima with a completely normal deluge, wiping the blackish blood from the creature's carapace of metal and scales. Tidus fell from the pillar and landed with his back against slowly melting ice.

"Damn it," X whispered to himself, watching from well down the shoreline. Mewtwo hovered at his side, and X noted the telepath's short purple fur singed and matted with blood. They exchanged a glance, and the Sage of Spirit eyed the Master Sword in X's grip for a moment before tightening his forehead. Rationally, X knew he shouldn't consider what Mewtwo suggested as a viable option, but Terra had hurt Ultima with absolute brutality, not coordinated strikes and energy weapons.

X took his Sage's advice.

"Everyone, advance with melee attacks! Protoman, Raven, flank from land side! All others with me, in pairs!"

The hedgehogs took the first assault, with Shadow weaving through the shoreline as Sonic sprinted at full speed, enough to turn his legs and shoes into a blue and red blur as he defied gravity on the surface of the ocean.

Ultima's palm clenched, and the lingering ice obeyed, snapping off in all fragments of all sizes, some massive enough to crush the hedgehogs like insects, but they continued to approach head on. A bright red aura surrounded the aeon, and the hailstorm shrapnel ignited, making bullets and mortar that bubbled in the sky. The dual mix of ice and fire peppered the hedgehogs, but Sonic and Shadow clasped their hands, forcing the winds to obey, to twist and tunnel around them, pushing all of the fragments away.

A screech came from the monster, and a massive fragment of ice altered course, directly for the surface of the water where Sonic sprinted. The hedgehog panicked. He couldn't alter course without leaving Shadow to fend for himself, and no amount of wind was enough to stop the frozen berg. Bellowing louder at the floe, mountainous as it fell toward him, Sonic twisted the winds, hurling himself faster as he slowed the icy mass. He tucked into a ball and prayed that, as he had so many times before, he could rip through the obstacle in his path. Revving as fast as he could with only a thin stream of air steadying him, Sonic's spindash collided, soaking and burning at the same time, numbing his body as it also overheated. The conflict of the materia elements was disorienting, but Sonic kept going, feeling the mass encase him, cocoon around him until the darkness inside lifted, and the other end splintered apart.

No more than a few seconds, but X felt his chest pounding, unsure if he was shivering from the cold or the fear. Sonic landed on a platform of withering ice, just as Shadow was about to land a blow. The dark hedgehog saw Ultima's free hand ready with a pulse of electricity as the giant sword swung from the other side, and Shadow allowed the blade to hit him at the bottom of his shoes. Controlling wind, Shadow pinned himself against the blade, and as the swing finished, Shadow spindashed down the flat of the blade, tolerating the searing burn as his spines perforated into Ultima's arm. The electric charge struck, knocking Shadow out of his spiral as Sonic connected with the creature's front leg, and Shadow used the distraction to get Tidus to safety.

Ultima flicked Sonic off, its leg bleeding worse than before. As the others charged to attack, the aeon backed away. X and Mewtwo took the creature's sword arm side as Saria and Nanaki hooked the other way. As the four converged, Ultima took the defensive, crossing its arms, raising a pale white coating on the creature's body. The creature thrust its arms apart and bared its chest, deflecting a kinetic wall toward them, shoving the four frontal attackers back just as Protoman and Raven arrived to flank the creature.

Protoman's energy sword pierced in a hot hiss of gutted flesh, burning blood, extracting a wail of agony from the monster. Ultima swung a claw at them both, and the puddles at their feet lunged with charged electricity, striking Protoman like a blow from a sledgehammer to his abdomen. The sorceress had been fast with the Lotus, and the licking flames of the hungry weapon diffused the water column, but not the puddles beneath her. Voltage coursed up her legs, tightening all of her muscles to their limits for a brief and blinding flicker. Absent of choice, the Sage of Darkness collapsed into the mud.

Ultima faced the downed sorceress and picked itself up on its hind legs, a feral glow emerging from the long rows of teeth on the second face.

Protoman stepped in to defend her, but the jolt had made his reflexes sluggish. A simple sideways swing of the Ultima Sword's sharp side produced a deafening crash of metal, a shower of sparks, and the snap of reploid bones breaking. Ultima flicked the blade upward, and Protoman careened away from the disaster area.

Raven's muscles twitched and refused to do as she wanted. She crawled, but a terrible throbbing in her skull sent her back into the mud. In front of her, the same bright light that had killed Robin nearly reached its peak. She fought desperately, knowing what would happen, but her limbs refused to obey. When she raised her hand in an attempt to create a force field, nothing more than pitiful black sparks emerged. Her hand collapsed in front of her, and she gave in.

An emerald light then took the place of the white light.

Mega Man X stood between them, using the Master Sword... and his body... to hold back the deadly magic. He glanced back, nothing more than an outline against the fierce effulgence, but Raven felt his heart, saw in his mind the determination that propelled him into the ray.

X bellowed above the chaotic distortion of light. "I love you Rachel! Be strong!"

She reached out for him, all but frozen.

_No_.

Flames of jade erupted from the bottom of X's legs as he forced himself into the light pillar.

_No!_

Raven screamed for him to stop, to come back to her, not to leave her alone. She bloodied her fingers, clawing toward him, throwing herself at the vanishing outline of Mega Man X in the blinding light. A flash of brilliance burned her face as she reached.

And then he was gone, just like the spirits, just like Robin.

Raven met the ghoulish stare of the Ultima Weapon's lower consciousness. She backed away, tears instantly falling down her cheeks, a scream caught in her lurching stomach, burning her throat with bile, with misery and hatred. Numb, she watched as the aeon's upper half stared down at itself, confused, then panicked as it began clawing at the lower face. Raven didn't understand at first as faint streaks of light trickled from the creature's body, stretching out and connecting into a triangle at the core of the Ultima Weapon, binding it tightly. With edges alight, the Triforce symbol burned inward, sealing the monster in place.

A single, fading word touched Raven's mind from within the monster.

She clutched her chest, drowning in despair as she shuddered and relayed the message. "_Run_! _Everybody RUN!_"

A squelch of flesh and a grinding of metal slammed against their eardrums as Ultima's side burst open with a gush of blood and magical energy. A fountain sprayed from Ultima's back, drenching its body. Of those who were still conscious, a weightlessness pulsed into them, and it took only a moment to realize their own magic returning to them, and run they did.

Saria rode Nanaki's back, and the the hedgehogs took Tidus and Terra. Mewtwo's psychic force brought other injured to the skies, leaving only Raven, who refused to budge. A fragment of Ultima's carapace became a deadly projectile, messily piercing through her thigh through to the other side. Raven's mouth jolted wide, but the pain overrode her urge to scream, confining her to silence. Struck with too much to bear, she fell limply to the soaking muck.

A face appeared in front of her. A face that wasn't fair. Protoman looked too much like X.

"We have to get out of here!" he shouted over the rising destruction of the demonic aeon.

"Leave me," whimpered Raven, defeated, uncaring.

"You have to use your astral form," Protoman insisted. "I'm too badly damaged to teleport!"

The sorceress's violet hair caught in her eyes, blown by a kaleidoscope haze that followed the blood from Ultima's gushing wounds. The creature flailed, and as it aimed its sword at the sky, the aeon began disintegrating.

Protoman cursed. He hefted his mangled shield arm and let it sit against the back of his neck, wincing from the effort. Expanding the shield to cover their retreat was agonizing. His jaw tightened painfully, teeth clenching as he picked up Raven in his other arm and ran as fast as he could.

The Ultima Weapon perished in a slow eruption of magic, as if an explosion was being held back by glacial movements of time, devouring all it touched in a swathe of colors. The ballooning cascade grew, and Protoman could feel the pressure against his shield, taxing his crippled joints.

_Faster, faster,_ he told himself, for Raven's sake as much as his. Slumped over his shoulder, the sorceress sobbed quietly. Protoman reached the water, and with nowhere to go, he dove, using his boosters to leap into the bay and into the ocean's depths, taking Raven with him.

Unable to sustain, the glacial explosion withered, leaving a barren crater with high ledges of stone that stretched into the bay and the city, but the tremors and the heat took longer to subside, leaving everyone to wait in pain.

* * *

A hollow abyss remained of Raven's heart. Mind torn, deadened like a paralyzed limb, she could only stare at the newly grown cliff side as she clung to Protoman in the water. The reploid's left arm bled deep maroon, tinting the surface of small, unsteady waves, but he managed to keep afloat, kicking toward the calming core of devastation. With pained effort, he reached land and climbed the jagged rocks with Raven on his back.

Little was spared. Mounds of rubble and cinders of construction site. Buildings on the fringe of the crater had toppled inward, lending all manner of marble, metal and glass to the mix, but one thing stood out clearly in the wreckage above the others. A massive double-edge with a glowing shell and a deep purple core, the Ultima Sword, was sticking out of the ground at the epicenter.

Raven searched for X's mind. She found nothing. She searched for his memories. They had been torn from her.

Protoman, looking with his white eyes and not his mind, sought a trace of his brother.

Never letting go, Raven tried harder, using her telepathy as Protoman shifted fallen shafts of metal and concrete. There was no sign, and Raven wept silently.

Others joined. Mewtwo lifted heavy objects within the radius of the blast with telekinesis, solemn and silent as he sought the Hero of Time. Nanaki, his expression a mixture of anger and desperate determination, tried to catch the scent of the reploid amidst the overpowering stench of materia cinders, dust, and salt water. Sonic and Shadow silently moved the winds, thinning the dust cloud, aiding the old wolf's nose and everyone's ability to see.

At Titan's Tower, Cyborg had replaced his ruined machine legs with a backup that he always kept, but he did not return, nor did Starfire. Worry for the girl who was their rock of happiness spliced with the fear that their leader was gone. Robin's death on top of that, the loss of the spirits... all of the loss compounded, and anyone dwelling on it for more than a moment froze, overcome in their own ways, some with tears, some simply numb.

The severely injured, Tidus, Terra and Beast Boy, were mended by Saria. The three of them all volunteered to join the search, even though they could barely move from their injuries. Once the forest woman was satisfied with the bandaging and treating of the three, she released small, thread like vines out of her palms, down into the crevasses of the ruins, searching for a trace of Mega Man X.

After hours of digging and searching, the cliff sides began casting shadows as the sun began its descent toward the horizon.

A shrill, frightened gasp came from Saria, and her vines jerked. "I... I think..."

She swallowed hard, pointing her finger as she tried to shift the debris. A light jostle was enough, and everyone converged on the spot. For the first time since the battle had ended, a fire roused Raven's spirit, swelling in her like a conflagration of materia flame. Her dark powers dove into the rock and metal rubble, throwing it aside violently.

Several feet beneath them, Raven's dark power sensed metal, blood, a familiar aura, a sensation of home, of love. The debris cleared, and they found Mega Man X.

Raven fell to her knees, reaching out to what was left of the man she loved. Her eyelids felt as though they were being pried apart as she stared. His face was blank, half of it burned down to the sheen of silver metal, but the other half was no different than it had been just a short time ago. There was nothing left below his waist. Maroon fluids stained the exposed metals, mechanical likenesses of a spine and a ribcage. She reached out to touch the wound, still hot enough to burn her fingers. She pulled away, horrified, but her longing tugged her back to suffer more.

The rest of Mega Man X was carefully uncovered. His left arm was nothing but a stump of wires beneath the shoulder. His other arm was skeletal, and he held tightly to something covered in dust and dirt. Brushing away the layers, a stainless gleam appeared, the Master Sword, never having left him, even in death.

Death... X was dead. He had no energy, no consciousness. Frightened, blinded by burning tears that were more painful than the bloody wounds she had earned against Ultima, she glanced to Protoman, who merely shook his head, shutting his eyes.

That was it then. The Hero of Time was gone. Her love, destroyed. The fate of the future, sealed.

Raven sobbed. She didn't hear the sounds of anguish coming from everyone else as she leaned in and kissed his cheek, shaking with pain at the touch of him. She kissed his shut eyes, and when she could not bear it anymore, she let her forehead fall against his.

A spark. A connection. She pulled back from it, too confused to fight her instinct of fear, but a thin channel of ruby light kept them connected, her chakra and the red jewel embedded in his forehead. The exchange consumed her with a scourge of nausea, as if her entire body wanted to vomit the sensation out.

There was no hope. The connection was not a living one.

On the back of her hand, her Triforce symbol pulsated as the other of the bottom two triangles burned hot, etching color into her skin. It seared, then ceased. Memories flooded, crashing angrily through her mind until finding the places they had been ripped from, as if they could simply fall into the holes they had left. When the jewel in the reploid's helmet was finished with her, the ruby light severed, jolting her head and neck like an unwanted doll, dropping her to X's side.

She weakly pulled lifted herself up and saw her hand, glowing with a second piece of the trio, the Triforce of Courage. When blood dripped into her eye, she numbly pressed a palm against her forehead, prodding for the source. What she found only hardened her more. A second chakra, small, red and triangular, sat next to the first one, all but touching. The Master Emerald Shard was fixed into her forehead.

But none of that brought back X, and that was all that Rachel Roth cared about. She opened her eyes to see the last swirls of life escaping X, gentle wisps of the Lifestream, their prismatic tails leaving bright color in the wake of their fluid movements. They danced gently for a moment, then left, climbing up until they vanished into a world beyond, where Raven could never find him.


End file.
